The Great Downpour

Today is Friday. A wet day. The whole day.

The morning saw a downpour that clouded visibility and slowed traffic down. It even stopped traffic in several places. One such place was the expressway along TPE just before the Punggol exit.

I took a cab thinking that the bus will make me late for work. I was dead wrong. The rain made everyone late for work.

The cab I took was dead in its tracks just like the early warning traffic sign flashed as we entered TPE. A tat too late for a warning. The driver made a clever "escape" from the expressway by taking the first exit at Punggol and straight down to Sengkang East Road, my exit on a normal day's ride.

I was relieved to leave the snailing traffic on the TPE, but was short-lived a few traffic lights away. Another traffic jam was trailing vehicles just after we passed Compass Point Mall.

"I think we should go by Jalan Kayu and exit by Yio Chu Kang." The driver suggested. "May be there's flooding further down." Pouted his lips to point to the jam ahead.

I just agreed, since I had never seen a traffic jam on this route before. An accident maybe... with all this bad weather and poor visibility. Flood? Not likely, I thought to myself as the driver diverted another time passing the SMRT LRT building.

"Oh no." The driver sighed to himself.

"Oh man!" I shouted in my head.

The traffic condition was the same everywhere after all. I ended-up being stuck in the cab for almost an hour in what would normally have been a 20-minute ride.

I had to pay the price for an urgent ride to work today that cost me S$24.00! Still, I reached my intended destination in one peace. That is good.

The whole day turned-out mostly wet, with rain stopping for a brief moment only to blur the sights again with heavy downpour and clouding mists. A drenching scenery out the glass doors as I looked out from my desk.

Like the day, the pace at work was slow too. Since manufacturing was not working overtime today, an exodus of the support people took leave off work too, so the whole office seemed gloomy inside, reflecting the weather outside.

I am however amazed at the suggestive power of the mind... I was late an embarrassing hour for work today. Paid a significant amount of money for a cab fare, had soaking wet pair of shoes that was air-con dried under my desk, worked a full day's worth in a sleepy office, yet my spirits lifted more and more with every passing hour.

Why? Simply because it is Friday. The weekend is here! I live for the weekend.

The bad thing is that it is only for two days. The good thing is, I get to celebrate the weekend every week... starting 5:30PM.

Enjoy your weekend everyone, as I will with mine!