Drippy Days Always Get Me Down

“Rainy days and Mondays always get me down,” goes the song of the Carpenters. I suppose that is true for most people, but maybe not “always.” I like rainy days days when I don’t need to be anywhere but at home. It’s so wonderful to sleep in when it’s raining outside. Otherwise, I am not so crazy about them droplets falling from the sky.

I used to dislike rainy days back in Makati because it meant a potential flood at our place (Pasong Tamo is famous for its floods) and difficulty in commuting home. If I didn’t have an umbrella, I would have to hail a cab, and empty cabs are very hard to find when it’s raining, plus the astronomical prices they charge if I do manage to get into one is a separate issue. If it got too flooded, they couldn’t even bring me all the way home because the water would kill their engine. If I had an umbrella, I could take my usual jeepney, but then I would have to walk the rest of the way home from its last drop off, and there’s just no way to do that in the rain without getting my feet and parts of my clothes wet. Lucky if I could walk home – if it got too flooded, the waters would be too deep to wade in and I would have to ride a pedicab which would also charge me an insane amount.

My commute is little affected if it rains here in Singapore, even if I did not bring an umbrella. My apartment building is linked to the MRT station by a mall, so I can stay dry. When I get off at the other end, I can also walk through a chain of malls to my office, which would lengthen my usual walking time by only about 10 minutes. The price doesn’t change and it isn’t more difficult to get a ride. No more issues with floods and wet clothes and higher transportation fees.

My only issue with rain now is that it changes my lunch plans. On most days, you can catch me devouring a sandwich and a book (I devour the latter mentally, mind you, I’m not like a certain High School classmate) while sitting on a bench in a park outside our office. The park has no roof, so if it rains, I can’t hang out there anymore, and I get pretty much bummed out because I always look forward to my hour of fresh air and sunshine.

It’s been raining this whole week, though I was able to catch a dry park at noon today. I hope I get as lucky again tomorrow. I also hope my own nose would stop dripping. Drippy skies and noses are no fun at all.