Cold Feet

On the way home last Thursday and last night, I had cold feet -- literally.

For the past couple of early evenings, the commuters and motorists and pedestrian of Metropolitan Manila have been hit by a deluge of tears from the sky. Rain has fallen incessantly the past two days just when people, tired from 9 hours or so of work, are making their way home ... myself, being one of them.

I had cold feet mainly because I've been forced to wade into flood waters brought about by the sudden downpour. Blimey sewerage system cannot handle the deluge and many of the streets here in Makati end up flooded.

Last Thursday, rain fell just when I was shutting down my PC in the office. And since I was in a hurry to go, I braved the rains and got myself drenched in the process. I managed to get a ride but got myself wet during the mad scramble to board the jeep. Getting off at Zapote corner JP Rizal, I boarded a tricycle to go to the talipapa to buy rice and a viand. I was deposited by the trike at the sidewalk and lo and behold! Sacramento was freakin' flooded? Choosing between going hungry or wading into the floodwaters with my new Rusty's, what was a fat man to do? Naturally, the stomach won over the shoes and I found myself wading into the calf-high waters to get the errand done.

Yesterday started out like how Thursday started -- sunny in the morning. However, by 6pm, the inevitable happened again and while shutting down my PC again, rain fell hard.

Once again, I braved the foul weather which whipped water in all directions. I crossed Ayala to People Support to buy dinner and once again, got drenched in the process. Still, my feet were relatively dry as there was still available landspace to do hopscotch with and managed to make my way to KFC.

I had to go cross Ayala again to take the ride home and since I was once again in a hurry, I grabbed the first jeep that came along that went my way. It was a Zapote jeep and had to get off at Zapote corner Kalayaan to take another ride to Pililla. As luck would have it, 80% of Zapote was flooded and the unflooded areas were still many footsteps away from the area where I was to disembark. Left with no choice, I once again had to wade the flood waters, this time ankle-deep just to get another ride.

Arriving at home on those couple of days resulted in cold feet, literally. And to be honest about it, I'm smelling the onslaught of alipunga one of these days as a result of these recent mishaps.