after i left my work place and to a cab ride with my colleages to orchard to take a nightrider/#N home.....this was exactly what had happened.....
my colleagues had stayed in the cab and headed down to Kallang, while i travelled on foot to the bus stop opposite Far East Plaza to wait for the bus "NR3"......
20 minutes had passed, and the expected crowd at the bus stop where i was, started to show signs of impatience(it was obvious to me that they were already there for quite some time...)as some had decided that they should stop waiting and take a cab home, but...usually, if you're someone who takes those late weekend bus services frequently, you would know 20 minutes is not quite something you would want to start worrying about yet.....
30 minutes gone...and i decided to quench that irritating feeling of thirst in my mouth...so i cross the overhead bridge to Far East Plaza and walk to a 7-eleven to get myself a drink...after which...i crossed the overhead bridge again(it's not about the overhead bridge though...it's just me trying to blog like some other blogs i see...so anyway...).....this time...as i got down the bridge at the other end, i suddenly remembered a notice that was about some changes to the NR services which i saw a day before at some interchange, and gut feeling told me it's got something to do with the "absolute-no-bus-in-sight" phenomenon.....
so i went on to the places where i most likely might see notices at a bus stop, and to my "excited-horror", i found the notice.....(excited 'cause i was right on the money, horror 'cause that translates to no bus ride home).....
being me, i went to tell the others at the bus stop about the notice...pointing to them where i had seen it, just in case they decide to doubt a stranger, who wouldn't right?.....then i saw this young man, in his late 10s and beggining of 20s....which i predict he's actually the same age as me.....still patiently waiting for the bus while enjoying songs in his MP3, i tapped on his shoulders and he took one ear piece out and looked at me with the look of enquiry.....
"erm...i saw a notice there(pointing with my hand) that says there won't be NR services tonight..." i said
"are you waiting for NR as well?" asked the young man
"yeah..." i replied shrugging my shoulders
he then asked me where i was going, and after i told him my destination, he proposed the suggestion of sharing a cab since it was on the way for him...
thinking that he wouldn't have enough money to pay for a cab ride himself, and that he looks like he misses home badly (it's really just me thinking a tat too much, i know)...i actually agreed, even though i know at that time all i need to do was to cross the freaking bridge and walk towards lucky plaza to take the bus 3N home...cheap but slow...but i had time on my side.....
so we agreed...and as we started to walk down the road in search of a cab...we saw this couple, who, after my announcement, decided to take a cab home as well...so the young man being rather desperate to reduce his potentially expensive cab fare, asked them about their destination as well just before they closed the cab door and move off, and what so happens is that they too, are heading to similar places as us...and then again he proposed the suggestion of sharing a cab to the couple who rather reluctantly agreed.....
so the "5-stranger-taxi-ride" began(why 5?...let's not forget about the driver alright?), and it was absolute silence in the vehicle, other than my music from my mp3 player, and the cab's engine's noise, there was nothing else(pretty much not the best time to have gas in your tummy)...
as the ride was coming to an end soon for the young man, he offered me SGD10, and asked me for like a change of SGD4, which was probably the right amount of change...but at that time i only had a small change of SGD2, and i told him exactly that...
"it's okay" he said, passing me the 10 and taking the 2, while alighting the cab.....
as the door close, we proceeded on to the couple's destination...that portion of the journey was pretty fast, like about 2 mins or so, the cab came to a halt upon the couple's request...
the couple, both in their late 20s, handed me three SGD2 notes.....feeling rather guilty of making the young man pay too much, and that we kinda robbed the couple off their lone, quality time in a cab, and making them feeling awkward and all, i only took one SGD2 note from them.....and they alighted...not saying thanks and all(perhaps it's just me who didn't hear it)...but well....at the end, i was the last one to alight the cab, and the fare was in total, SGD16, inclusive of the slight discount given by the sympathetic cab driver, and the ruthless midnight charge......
okay...so after that long winded story....."WHAT'S THE POINT?"
the point(s).....
why hadn't the couple offered to give the young man his change when they had so much change in their wallets?.....
why didn't anyone in the cab, including the driver, offered a change of small changes with the cab driver?.....
i would just like to thank the young man here, if you happen to be a blog hopper, and you are living somewhere around Bukit Panjang, tanned skin colour, wore a white shirt, a pair of bermudas and held a plastic/paper bag that night...i thank you for your generosity...
awakening the memories...like never before...
