The Remains of the Day
March 8, 2007
catesbool
the last of the staff have all gone home. i only have the lights of the office for company now. warm wind blows through the open windows of my office and i hear the musical noise of engines from all over the city. behind me, manila waits with its pollution, cluttered mess of residences and hotels. quietly, the tower of san agustin sits in boredom as the sun begins its slow descent.
i review my day in the stillness of my mind. upsetting and taxing phone calls trying to chase papers from the department of finance and department of budget and management. my day was filled with frustrations as i got no response from the finance department regarding the request for travel authority for three people from the office. it gets more frustrating knowing that all the signing authorities are out of town on a conference-meeting down south of the country. and there are no duly designated signing authorities in sight. i heave out a sigh as i tried to deal with a very discourteous contractual personnel. the only silver lining i had was a response from the budget department regarding one of my requests with them. ach! the travails of bureaucratic life. i will die young or will rapidly look old at such a young age if i continue at this rate.
thank heavens for stroopwaffles and tea for breakfast. thanks heavens for badmintons at lunch. thank heavens for blogs at the end of the day when everyone has gone their way. times like these, it would have been nice to share a chat with a friend. not a chat even. just half an hour of companiable silence would do. or maybe, a moment to simply sit down with a friend and gaze blankly on the wall or in front of a tv just watching a simply non-sensical show. ach! those were the days when i can be happy with the quiet emptiness of my mind, holding a cup of tea in my hand, sitting by the kitchen and simply looking up at the sky.
today i felt the wind on my face. it was warm, not cold like the wind in den haag. but still i try to look for a friendly face in sight. i look at the yellow sofa in my office and think of its use. it would have been nice if i could lounge around it for a while to rest my feet.
who am i kidding? i need to get home soon and help my daughter study. gone were the days when all i was worried about was me. it’s time to go home anyway. tomorrow is another day…
perhaps, tomorrow, i can find one friendly face at the end of the day….
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed
