The other day, I think it was last weekend, I barreled out of the office as usual and was surprised to see a vehicle at the taxi stand. But it turned out not to be a taxi. It was one of those big black SUVs.
The male driver was waiting for his lady passenger, who appeared to be buying a drink at the dispensing machine. In a few seconds, though, a taxi came rolling up. The SUV just continued to idle where it was, right in the middle of the two taxi waiting lots, and right in the middle of the two lanes that make up the taxi stand. Which means, first, that the taxi is unable to make it past the railings into the taxi stand proper to pick up a passenger. Second, it is also unable to make it past the SUV to get out of the taxi stand once his passenger has boarded.
Needless to say, the cab driver wasn't happy. I'm sorry to say the consideration campaign hasn't succeeded.
But he appeared to put it quickly behind him. 'Did you hear the bad news today?'
I answered in the negative.
'You didn't hear the bad news?? Wasn't it reported??'
I was becoming alarmed, since weekends are typically quiet.
It turned out that he was referring the closure of a section of the train line. Apparently, it caused a big inconvenience to lots of people despite the free bus shuttle services provided. The roads in the vicinity also got congested with stranded passengers calling for cabs.
I was somehow annoyed he referred to it as 'bad news', since the train lines were in fact being upgraded to serve more passengers. On top of that, I had personally been 'inconvenienced' by the closure that same morning. I'd gotten out of bed early, packed a huge bag and rode my bike to the train station intending to head to the vicinity of Little India. Faced with the prospect of getting on the train and then switching to a bus before getting back on the train, I'd unlocked my bike and returned home. I can only refer to my deteriorating memory as 'bad news'.
So, thus annoyed, I retorted, 'The train line is being upgraded - why is this bad news? It's already been announced in the news a week ago that there would be disruptions this weekend.' No witty comeback.
Guess what, disruptions in-store again next weekend. This time, they've even been handing out leaflets and visiting residents in the area to inform them of the pending inconvenience. Obviously, complaints were received after last weekend because people do not follow the news or read notices. Just how much coddling do people need? You're going to become like those people in WALL•E if you don't be careful.
