Was at the SoC Orientation Camp the past few days. Had to leave early this morning for a meeting in school.

Thought one and a half hour would be sufficient to reach school but then discovered that bus 403 serving Elias road arrives every half an hour and I just missed one.

So while I sat there donating blood, I estimated that by waiting for the next bus, I’d probably arrive when the meeting ends. Which would be about half an hour before the rest of the camp arrive. Which would mean I would have wasted 2 hours of sleep and public transport fare. Urgh.

And it didn’t things better that the meeting was moved to Friday morning to accomodate me.

Then a few minutes before the next bus was due to arrive, an available taxi came down the ulu road. Made a split second decision to take it, knowing full well that the trip would cost almost $20. Turned out to be one of the most amusing taxi ride I have taken.

Cos there in the front seat was the driver’s wife. The driver said that if I didn’t mind he would take my fare. Well what other choice did I have? Anyway it wouldn’t really have mattered if his wife was there or not.

Discussed with the driver over the route to take and I think they were amazed at my knowledge of the roads. Because of the high ERP charges on the CTE we discussed other slower but shorter alternatives.

Anyway the ride felt like it was being driven by your parents, relatives or friends, with them in front talking about stuff at home, like fixing the water heater and such. You’d almost forget that you have to pay for the trip.

Well it took 50 mins to get from Pasir Ris to NUS so I wasn’t that early in the end. Taxis aren’t always the fastest public transport during peak hours. Makes you wonder what are you paying the extra $1 surcharge for.