Why TO?

Normally, I don't watch much TV, not in Canada nor in P.I. But earlier tonight, I found myself glued to television watching for updates on the latest typhoon, "Pepeng." I have vested interest in the typhoon after all the flooding that took place in my sis' house last Saturday.

I was also supposed to meet a couple for dinner this evening but I cancelled last minute due to my sis' prodding - there was a malicious text spreading about the new super typhoon turning into a hurricane. True or false, I decided to postpone till weather turns a bit sunny, because you'd never how much the streets would be flooded even with just the tiniest of rainfall.

Last Thursday, I drove from Sucat and took the Roxas Blvd - Espana - Quezon Avenue route and a fifteen-minute heavy downpour caused Espana and beyond to flood en pronto. It took me three and half hours to reach Q.C. and I made so many detours to avoid the flooded streets and terrible traffic. Aside from the flooded streets, a portion of Quezon Avenue was being paved so traffic got clogged from as far back as U.S.T. up to the Delta Circle.

The detours I took exposed me to the narrow and squatter-filled neighbourhoods wherein "tambays" collected coins/money from passing motorists as "road tax" for using their no-flood streets. And never in my life have I seen so many mini-billboards from politicians extending their warm wishes for a "Happy Fiesta" in such and such barangay/s. Some of the politicians with brand names resembled female models for whitening soaps and dermatological clinics.

I got so hungry on the road I forgot about "proper driving" and drove like hellboy.

Now, why TO, or Toronto? The more I linger in Manila in this flood-mode times, the more I think of my Toronto as a safe haven and city. Even while there, I already entertained the notion that TO is a better place than Vancouver (where I thought of retiring perhaps) or any other city in Canada.

In the years that I've lived in TO, I've never experienced flooding nor trees falling down into my car due to high winds, although surrounding areas have had them from time to time. Water from tap is safe to drink. And of course, traffic and driving are so manageable you'd never, never think of "peeing" while stopped on a busy traffic (saw a man last Wednesday who just stood against his side of the van and let Nature rolled freely into the flood water).

The weather hazard in Toronto is mainly the snow; that's the equivalent of the Manila flood.

Manila, as always, is a good place to come home to, from time to time. But I still prefer the Holiday Month of December to visit.

The next time I visit, I'd make sure my head is clear and my heart tuned to reality.