What used to be a 45 minutes drive to Tagaytay and an hour back has become a three hour long drive each way. Tagaytay seems so far away now.
I was in Tagaytay today. I thought of asking a different driver to accompany me but decided to bring this driver who made an SLEX merry go round. I thought maybe this time he already remembers the directions.
A—–“Sa Edsa tayo dadaan, aakyat tayo ng Magallanes. alam mo na ang daan?”
Driver—–“Yes mam”.
A——“Pag akyat ng Magallanes, pakaliwa, papuntang Skyway. Natatandaan mo na ba? Dalawang beses ka dun umikot nung una”.
Driver—–“Yes mam”.
He went up the Magallanes flyover, wow, he knows the way.
One kilometer away from the Skyway ramp, he switched lanes already.
Wow, he knows the way.
There was a passenger jeepney on the innermost lane which was going to the service road.
My driver, my Pentium 18 driver, suddenly switched to the service road lane and followed the jeepney. We were a few meters away from the ramp, I yelled at him.
He swerved to the left lane after I yelled at him “SAAN KA PUPUNTA, DIRETSO SA SKYWAY!!!!!!!!”
Galit na galit ako.
“Ano ba? Ilang beses ka ng dumaan dito. Nakakainis ka na ha, hahampasin na kita ng tsinelas. Nung una tayong naligaw okay lang, pangalawang beses hindi mo pa rin alam, pinagpasensyahan na kita, ngayon pangatlo na, inis na inis na ako sa’yo, hahampasin na kita ng tsinelas!!! Pikon na ako sayo.
I also got mad at Sgt. Pepper ”
Ano ba ginagawa mo? Nadyan ka sa unahan hindi ka nagsasalita. Kumpas ka ng kumpas, hindi nya nakikita ang kamay mo! Magsalita ka! Sa halip na ma relax ako na-i-stress ako sa inyong dalawa. Hampasin ko na talaga kayo ng tsinelas!
I controlled myself na after that outburst. Baka makulitan sa akin, pitikin ako. Tsinelas vs pitik. When I am driving in the US I also make a lot of mistakes. I also couldn’t remember roads and exits.
Coming home, Sgt Pepper entertained me by telling stories about his encounters with bus hold-up gangs. Nalibang naman ako.
One incident happened 10 years ago when he was not yet assigned to us. He was going home at 3 am. He rode the bus from Cubao. When the bus reached the dark area after Balintawak, two men declared a hold-up. Sgt. Pepper was sitting at the last row. The hold uppers started collecting the wallets, jewelry, etc. of the bus passengers and even molesting the female passengers by touching their breasts and kissing the better looking female passengers.
Sgt. Pepper pretended to be asleep. He rested his head on his left arm while his right arm was hidden in front of him, with his gun ready.
One of the holduppers reached the last row and used the barrel of his gun para kalabitin yung ulo ni Sgt P. “Hoy, wallet mo”. Sgt P. didn’t move. The guy repeated it “hoy, gising, wallet mo”. Sgt P moved his head up, shoved the holdupper’s gun away from him with his left hand and shot the guy in the head with the gun in his right hand. Sgt P embraced the guy’s body to use it as shield in case the other guy shoots at him. But the other holdupper jumped off the bus after seeing that his companion had been shot dead. Sgt. P. didn’t let the bus passengers leave till after the investigating team had arrived because they were his witnesses– that the guy he shot dead was indeed a criminal Sgt. P received a promotion and a medal.
The second story was about a pick-pocket he caught inside the bus. They already spotted the guy as soon as he boarded the bus. When he started putting his hand inside Sgt. P’s pocket, pinagpupukpok daw nya sa ulo with his gun.
When we reached Magallanes flyover, he found the perfect timing to apologize to me “Mam, pasensya na kayo kanina ha?” I didn’t reply. I didn’t say okay. I just kept quiet.
Traffic update:
Tagaytay to Magallanes 1 hour and 20 minutes
Magallanes to Buendia 1 hour,
Buendia to Guadalupe 50 minutes
Guadalupe to Ortigas Ave 45 minutes.
