walking in the rain

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been taking a cab from one workplace to another in the afternoons. I leave MediaCorp at around 3pm daily, before I rush down for my next job at Overseas Family School, with classes commencing at 3.30pm.

I used to take the bus, but the walkout to the bus stop, as well as the wait in the hot sun, or rain, for that matter, was a killer. I had to change bus too, and sometimes the wait for each bus to arrive was so long, it wasn't funny at all. I had waited for over 30 minutes for service 174 before, and ended up being late for my classes at OFS. Not to mention the frequent jams along Lornie Road too.

One day, I was running late, so I took a cab. 5 minutes was all it took from MediaCorp to Novena Square, costing me less than $5 per trip, in air-conditioned comfort, with time for me to take a short breather. An additional 5-minute MRT ride would bring me from Novena to Orchard, and that would cost no more than a dollar.

After a while, I just figured that it wasn't worth saving that kind of money, especially going through all that frustration hoping to be on time. So there, hopping on to a cab from MediaCorp to Novena Square became an everyday thing for me.

So one day sometime last week, I boarded this Trans-Cab. I was running fairly late that day, and it was drizzling after all, so I told the driver to send me all the way to OFS.

My goodness. He started yakking the minute he drove off. I was slightly tired and wanted to get some rest, but he threw me a million questions in my face: "oh are you a star?", "are you a DJ?", "oh really? which station?", "how much training do you need to go through?", "is training tough?", "what happens when you say the wrong thing?", "have you said something wrong on-air before?", "who's in charge of this, that, etc", "do you know so-and-so?", and the list goes on.

I mean, these questions are harmless, and I get them almost everyday, but he sounded like a complete stalker with this funny look on his face.

Then he started telling me that he has picked this radio presenter before, that TV presenter before, and that this news presenter (insert name) is really, really pretty and he hopes to pick her up one day, and all that. And he asked me a dozen times if she was indeed pretty. I agreed. After a while, he asked me the same question, again.

I got really annoyed so along the way I told him I had a change of plans and wanted to head to Novena Square instead. Heck, I thought, I'd rather get wet in the drizzle and take the MRT and be slightly late for class than endure an extra ten minutes of his stalker talk.

He then gave me this cheeky look and said, "ke yi shen jiu shen hor?" (which means if you can save money, you'll save right?), and I just told him that I needed to pick up something from Novena before heading to Orchard. Of course, that wasn't true, but I just had to get this bugger off my back. Which, thankfully, I did.

In any case, I thought nothing of this incident until the very NEXT day. I saw his cab. Again. Same place - MediaCorp taxi stand, same time - 3pm. I recognized his huge, red Trans-Cab, and its license plate. This time, he was standing outside his cab waiting for his next passenger. I was almost freaked out. I was late, and it was raining cats and dogs, so I needed to take a cab badly, but I waited at the staircase leading to the taxi stand. Thankfully, someone else came by a few minutes later and I took the cab behind it.

I thought bumping into that cab driver again could probably be a coincidence, so once again, I thought nothing much of it.

BUT NO. I saw him again TODAY. Same taxi, same driver, same place, same time. It completely freaked me out. And it was drizzling again. I then decided to walk in the rain to the bus stop. I then boarded the bus, which came a minute later. I then changed to a cab along the way, and was almost late for work.

Well, I don't know what to say man.

It definitely was not a coincidence meeting him thrice at the same place (within a week!), neither do I believe that he had just changed shift at that time.

So this guy's definitely a stalker. I hope he doesn't pick up the news presenter one day and drive her to a secluded spot or something.

I have this feeling I'm probably going to take his cab again someday soon, when I run of options.

And if he appears to be a stalker again, I'm going to do something about it.

Damn. These people really have nothing better to do.