While attempting to cross a particularly busy street today where a seemingly endless parade of motorists were doing their utmost best to make that right turn while traffic was still moving, I made the impulsive and foolhardy decision to join the throng of madness, and attempted a crossing, despite common sense telling me otherwise.
So I boldly stepped forward onto the street, held my hand up to signal to the driver to stop and let me cross, and then when the driver did somewhat slow down, I hurriedly ran across, repeated the same for the vehicle on the next lane, then thankfully made it to the other side in one piece.
In Manila, the streets belong to both the motorist, and to the pedestrian — and ultimately, the victor in the battle of who gets to go where they need to go first all boils down to whomever shows more spunk and gumption.
It wasn’t lost on me then that in Canada, our experience on the streets were quite different. Especially in a province like Newfoundland and Labrador, motorists were obliged by law to slow down when there are pedestrians who need to cross the street. I don’t remember ever having to hold up my hand to stop traffic to safely make my way to the other side.
Despite having enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of life on the streets of Canada, reacclimatizing to life in the Philippines hasn’t…