MEDIUM RARE

Walking with me to the car park, the waiter proudly declared, without my asking him, “We had 800 guests at breakfast this morning.” This was two days ago, last Thursday, the precursor to a longish weekend. On a “regular” day such as Dec. 7, 600 guests would’ve been closer to the norm.

But if everybody’s complaining about traffic on EDSA and city streets, with more heavy jams to come as the serious holidays near, what’s 200 more diners between friends? When it was time to go home, I left Manila before the rush hour, at 2:50 p.m. via Quezon Ave. Driving with my fingers crossed and by the grace of St. Michael, Archangel, I reached Diliman, QC, 90 minutes later. 

I considered myself lucky. Specially after the 6 p.m. news showed bumper-to-bumper traffic on EDSA. Of course things will be getting worse. That’s when I remembered feng shui shaman Paul Lau’s advice: “Don’t despise traffic. Traffic is a sign of movement, it’s a current – you know, as money is currency. No traffic, no business.” Extrapolate that in reverse and imagine how bleak a Christmas it would be without so many trucks moving so many deliveries. 
Thursday’s traffic was probably normal at this time of year, or were the members of Benjie’s eating club just too happy to see one another after the last reunion that they forgot to complain about too many cars – and motorcycles -- clogging Manila’s narrow streets? From Alabang, Makati or QC, none of Benjie’s friends wasted time bewailing the traffic on their way to lunch. 

As a perennial optimist, I’ve felt that some headlines do sound good as forecast by money experts, that inflation has been or is being tamed, GDP is in a good position, unemployment (or underemployment) is down while the peso is gaining against the mighty dollar.

It was the same, uh, prosperity indicators at the mall the day before. At 6:10 p.m. there were only two tables-for-two left unoccupied in the largeish restaurant where we rested, though in a matter of minutes the place would be fully occupied. As I told my tablemate, “BBM should visit a mall one of these days and check out the prosperity show for himself, with his own eyes.” Buy, Buy More.