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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 07/09/2010 : 05:19:37
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I was struck by a speeding taxi yesterday afternoon. That I survived the mishap is scientific and philosophical proof that I am immortal. (At least that's my scientific and philosophical layman's application of the Anthropic Principle. I'm sure it works something like that, right?)
I was crossing a street at a clearly marked pedestrian crossing. Here in the Philippines there are crosswalk, lane marker, and no parking zones painted at least as commonly as Stateside, but they have a different purpose. These are intended only as decorations, and as a source of hazardous work for street painters.
I knew all these things already, and I was crossing carefully, stepping forward a few meters at a time, and only when I could see no traffic bearing down upon me. Hordes of locals were also crossing the street in cautious stages. Then a white taxi (all taxis here are white) ripped out from behind another car to pass on its left side. The taxi's slab side hit the bill of my SFN ball-cap, twisting the cap to the right, slid along the tip of my nose, set my neck-lanyarded cell phone swinging like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, and brushed my clothing from shirt to trousers.
Behind me, I heard several voices exclaim first "Oh!" then "Ah!" as they saw me survive being hit, completely unhurt. I managed to keep my bladder under control.
Yesterday, you see, I was out on my first unguided random walk around downtown Baguio City.
I noticed the steep streets have sidewalks with steps. Ugly, rough, uneven steps. Some parts of the sidewalks are simply missing, replaced with mud. Hazards are placed on the sidewalks randomly with an eye to keeping pedestrians awake and mentally stimulated. The hazards include parked cars and trucks, rusty re-bar protruding from buildings and walls, legless, blind, and legless blind beggars squatting with hands out in the middle of foot traffic, piles of trash, cargo being unloaded, etc. The hazards would give any American tort attorney an erection.
I had set out on foot from the SM mall, walked downhill to Burnham Park, circled the lake there, then got lost in the twisty, crowded, narrow streets and alleys near Saint Louis University. It began to rain. No, what "it" began was the hardest thunderstorm deluge I've ever witnessed. I was soaked through in seconds.
Within minutes, every street had become like a Southwestern dry wash during a flash flood. I tried for over an hour to find a taxi, but this is a city where half the population are university students, and all of the colleges had just let out. So I walked along with my clothing sopping wet and clinging tightly to my body. Everyone else apparently was in on a conspiracy, and had brought along umbrellas, secretly sharing their knowledge that it always fucking rains every afternoon in Baguio during July.
By the time I finally got a taxi to take me the four klicks home, I was actually cold. In the Philippines.
July sunset over Baguio
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/09/2010 07:41:31
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 05:36:23 [Permalink]
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So the morals of the story that I am getting is that I had better purchase a SFN cap and to be sure to carry an umbrella when in the Phillipines.
So how about the romance with Bim? Getting anywhere? |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 05:43:00 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
So the morals of the story that I am getting is that I had better purchase a SFN cap and to be sure to carry an umbrella when in the Phillipines. |
BINGO! You got it in one try!| So how about the romance with Bim? Getting anywhere? |
It's a work in progress, thanks. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 05:49:48 [Permalink]
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| BINGO! You got it in one try! |
I'm a fart smeller dontcha know!
| It's a work in progress, thanks. |
Alright, fine, be that way, be discreet. Never mind my nosiness.
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Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 06:35:07 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ebone4rock
| BINGO! You got it in one try! |
I'm a fart smeller dontcha know!
| It's a work in progress, thanks. |
Alright, fine, be that way, be discreet. Never mind my nosiness.
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Ah, but the wooing really is a work-in-progress. Still to early to know if it's going to work. But I'm enjoying the attempt! |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 06:48:42 [Permalink]
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| Ah, but the wooing really is a work-in-progress. Still to early to know if it's going to work. But I'm enjoying the attempt! |
hehehehehe....Keep me posted. Being a married guy I need to live vicariously through somebody. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 17:28:28 [Permalink]
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Eeeep! 
Lovely sunset. I looked around in Google Earth. I see Baguio is almost a mile high.
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 20:33:39 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by ThorGoLucky
Eeeep!
Lovely sunset. I looked around in Google Earth. I see Baguio is almost a mile high.
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Yes it is. And I probably wouldn't have moved to the Philippines at all if I could not find a cooler climate like mile-high Baguio.
(While you're looking at Baguio with Google Earth, notice the horrendous traffic jams on the city streets. I can testify that those are a daily reality.)
Oh, and a note to nosy Ebone4rock: The wooing was finally successful. Bim and I are now a happily cohabiting couple. I left whether to get married as a choice for her to make. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Baguio Pedestrianism and the Anthropic Principle
