I notice this will never occurs to anyone when they step up the bus: This could very well be your last ride!
Well, I am not trapped on the Philippines bus, but it was a close call anyway. This was what happened:
I was on a typical bus ride on 5xx which passes through many freeway to reach my destination. It was suppose to be a fast ride since its the bus usually travels quickly on the freeway. However, I failed to realized this because I was reading. The bus was, in fact, travelling quite slowly and was doing zig-zag movement like a snake. I suddenly realized this and I took a look at the driver through the back-view mirror. It was a sight of horror! The lady driver's eyes was a thin slit of white. I could even see her purple! It was as if she was a zombie who just step out of some horror movie!
Now, we all know what actually happens. Hot afternoon. Cool air conditioning. Riding fast on the freeway. Its a good time to doze off. And that's precisely what I thought I saw. My mind raced quickly. OK, I grab my phone and SMS J. I was just worried that this will be my last SMS, so I better make it count. After the SMS, and realized I am still alive. I move myself to the "safest" seat I could get to, just in case of a crash. I do not want to be near the side windows or being throw out of the bus.
Now its time to act. I could wake up the driver and give her a good scolding, but knowing how people in this city acts, I pretty much am sure that she will deny everything. Of course, I also did not want to wait until the buss crash and maybe flip a few turns to prove her wrong. I look around to see if there was anyone else who might help me. No luck. Opposite me was a mother and his son sleeping on her lap. And behind us, almost everyone else was asleep. So, I guess its me. If I did not have to risk walking to the bus driver, which if an accident does occurs before I reach her, I am sure my fatality rates shoots up be a few hundred percent.
The buzzer. That could work. Even when I look stupid to press the bell on the highway (And I did not want to alight anyway). Actually this was quite a good idea. But instead, I thought of a better one. I just flip my phone out and blasted it with some MP3. That should be enough to wake her up. Of course, I do realized that I cannot do it so suddenly that it give her a shock and swing the bus 180 degree around.
In any case, I was lucky. She regain control and exited the bus from the freeway. Because it will be all slow and traffic lights, she had to kinda wake up. I sweat I almost felt as if I survived a plane crash or something. The rest of it is nothing special. But I just wonder how many people actually realized how close they were to the final gate in that journey. But I remind myself that I should watch the driver before I decide to sleep on these journey.
