a kind of street dancing.

what the fuck am i doing in the office on my rest day?
nothing. i suppose i've nothing better to do, so i dropped by work to fix a customer's website.

i miss my monkey.

***

one end of mckinley road brings you to fort bonifacio (what we used to be gate 2 of the military installation when the place was still a military installation). that intersection where mckinley ends and the rest of the roads leading to the fort begins is usually manned by the dancing traffic aide.

a few years back, the local metropolitan administration decided to implement the dancing traffic aide program to give a friendlier image to these people directing metro manila's traffic. traffic as it is in manila, dog knows there is a need to see something - anything - marginally entertaining to distract oneself while being stuck in an hour long traffic jam. the program received mixed reaction among metro manila's commuters when it came out and then faded out of existence after a few months.

or very nearly. there's still that dancing traffic aide in that intersection to mckinley.

frankly, i admire the man's stamina. having one's body in near-continuous motion for the whole day is probably very draining (literally). i see the man begin his work in the morning, if i'm running late, and then again in the afternoon, if i pass by the same route on my way home. and even late in the afternoon, he still has enough good humor to smile and wave at some passing motorists.

granted, he's not exactly a graceful dancer. and the novelty of what he's doing has already worn out from me. but still.

the man moves like an awkward, but oddly charming mechanical doll. an arm waving a signal for drivers to move extends to his shoulders. a leg raised followed by a half turn while he shifts his body to face another side of the intersection. the man doesn't have earphones on any source of music for him to dance to.

on second thought, the man doesn't seem like a doll.
what he reminds me more of is a mime.