The Funny Side to Life (Part 3)
Welcome back everyone :) Today, I shall be posting one short story as part of this mini series. The topic for today is... Public Transport! So sit back, relax and enjoy these stories.
Back in 2015, I was playing for Koldven FC in the Singapore Futsal League. Koldven FC was made up of former TJC and VJC ex-soccer players.There will be one or two matches every week and these matches takes place late at night. Since the venue was at Whitley Road, a good distance from where I lived in Pasir Ris, it meant rushing to take the last bus back. Once, I had a tiring day at work (I was still serving the army then) and had two tournament matches that night. After the last match ended, I was dead tired. I have already forgotten which bus lines I took back home but I remembered having to transfer once to a bus that goes straight to Pasir Ris Interchange. That bus journey was about an hour's ride and thus, naturally, I fell asleep in the upper deck of the double decker air-conditioned bus. God knows how long I slept. I stirred awake from my slumber only because it felt a little stuffy. Opening my eyes slowly, it took me some time to understand what the hell was happening. Yeap, you're right, the bus had reached its final stop and it was pitch black. There were so little light outside too that I could barely see where the stairs were! Oh and there was no one in the bus. (well, duh) I totally panicked, grabbed my soccer boots and leapt down the stairs onto the lower deck. I was getting out of there.
The first thing I did was to go for the doors. It was closed. I tried finding for that door cock which opens the door automatically when pressed during emergencies but I just couldn't find any. All the time I was shouting "Help! Help!" but my voice seemed confined only within the bus. The thing is, on a typical day, I would be terrified of the dark and the supernatural but when you're panicking about having to spend the night in this stuffy bus, all those things just evaporate away. Oh and I forgot to mention the most important thing. My phone battery was dead. And that was the second thing I did. I tried switching on the phone over and over again because you never know when the phone wants to surprise you with a little life left. Ridiculous, that never happens. Just a feeble light, the no battery sign and dead again. Third, I went to the driver's seat. I know this sounds crazy, but just a few days ago, I read an article about some boy who drove an SBS Bus and landed in some deep sh*t. I had that exact same crazy thought as the boy wanting to drive that bus away. Which is stupid, now that I think about it because if you can drive the bus, why can't you open the bloody door. What I did from the side of the driver seat (I couldn't open the driver's door hatch) was fiddle with the many buttons and dials hoping that one of them opens the door. None of them did. I was tempted to press the horn but I was afraid of waking people up from the nearby block of flats and decided against it. Sigh, it was the wrong time to be considerate.
Outside, I could see Pasir Ris Interchange's ceiling lights in a distance. With its lights I could see that the bus bay was near empty except about four or five empty buses left. That was when I saw a bus headlight turned on and the bus slowly moved out of bay and out of the interchange. I tried calling for help but my voice barely escaped the bus. (Back then, I had no idea that buses actually do not park their buses overnight at the interchange and instead have a designated bus parking area.) Defeated, I left the drivers seat and just stoned for a very long time. It really felt like a dream. About half an hour passed I think and that was when I heard a beeping sound and jolted awake. The sound came from the bus itself. Next thing I knew, the front door opened. That was it, I literally ran out of the bus into the cool, still night. The driver had the shock of his life. I saw him jump and then he just started to apologise over and over again and I had no idea why he was apologising also. I was just so relieved and briskly walked towards the light from the interchange. That most certainly was a night to remember hahaha. Oh and yes, since there were no more bus at the interchange, I took another 20 minutes walking back home. And if you're wondering how we did for that season, we ended at the bottom the league table hahaha. Koldven FC was disbanded and my captain and I transferred and played instead for a rival team, ADOC UNITED.
Back in 2015, I was playing for Koldven FC in the Singapore Futsal League. Koldven FC was made up of former TJC and VJC ex-soccer players.There will be one or two matches every week and these matches takes place late at night. Since the venue was at Whitley Road, a good distance from where I lived in Pasir Ris, it meant rushing to take the last bus back. Once, I had a tiring day at work (I was still serving the army then) and had two tournament matches that night. After the last match ended, I was dead tired. I have already forgotten which bus lines I took back home but I remembered having to transfer once to a bus that goes straight to Pasir Ris Interchange. That bus journey was about an hour's ride and thus, naturally, I fell asleep in the upper deck of the double decker air-conditioned bus. God knows how long I slept. I stirred awake from my slumber only because it felt a little stuffy. Opening my eyes slowly, it took me some time to understand what the hell was happening. Yeap, you're right, the bus had reached its final stop and it was pitch black. There were so little light outside too that I could barely see where the stairs were! Oh and there was no one in the bus. (well, duh) I totally panicked, grabbed my soccer boots and leapt down the stairs onto the lower deck. I was getting out of there.
The first thing I did was to go for the doors. It was closed. I tried finding for that door cock which opens the door automatically when pressed during emergencies but I just couldn't find any. All the time I was shouting "Help! Help!" but my voice seemed confined only within the bus. The thing is, on a typical day, I would be terrified of the dark and the supernatural but when you're panicking about having to spend the night in this stuffy bus, all those things just evaporate away. Oh and I forgot to mention the most important thing. My phone battery was dead. And that was the second thing I did. I tried switching on the phone over and over again because you never know when the phone wants to surprise you with a little life left. Ridiculous, that never happens. Just a feeble light, the no battery sign and dead again. Third, I went to the driver's seat. I know this sounds crazy, but just a few days ago, I read an article about some boy who drove an SBS Bus and landed in some deep sh*t. I had that exact same crazy thought as the boy wanting to drive that bus away. Which is stupid, now that I think about it because if you can drive the bus, why can't you open the bloody door. What I did from the side of the driver seat (I couldn't open the driver's door hatch) was fiddle with the many buttons and dials hoping that one of them opens the door. None of them did. I was tempted to press the horn but I was afraid of waking people up from the nearby block of flats and decided against it. Sigh, it was the wrong time to be considerate.
Outside, I could see Pasir Ris Interchange's ceiling lights in a distance. With its lights I could see that the bus bay was near empty except about four or five empty buses left. That was when I saw a bus headlight turned on and the bus slowly moved out of bay and out of the interchange. I tried calling for help but my voice barely escaped the bus. (Back then, I had no idea that buses actually do not park their buses overnight at the interchange and instead have a designated bus parking area.) Defeated, I left the drivers seat and just stoned for a very long time. It really felt like a dream. About half an hour passed I think and that was when I heard a beeping sound and jolted awake. The sound came from the bus itself. Next thing I knew, the front door opened. That was it, I literally ran out of the bus into the cool, still night. The driver had the shock of his life. I saw him jump and then he just started to apologise over and over again and I had no idea why he was apologising also. I was just so relieved and briskly walked towards the light from the interchange. That most certainly was a night to remember hahaha. Oh and yes, since there were no more bus at the interchange, I took another 20 minutes walking back home. And if you're wondering how we did for that season, we ended at the bottom the league table hahaha. Koldven FC was disbanded and my captain and I transferred and played instead for a rival team, ADOC UNITED.
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