General Admission
‘How are you to die, might?’
By Al S. Mendoza
SYDNEY—You leave house to learn and the hottest piece of conversation here today is the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight happening nearly two months from now at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since Floyd Mayweather Jr. made the announcement of the fight set for May 2 (May 3 in the Philippines) a while back, talk about it has not waned one bit.
“We’ve all been waiting for this fight to happen,” said Ramon Acebes, here for nearly 30 years now with his beauteous wife, Becky. “I wish it would go three fights?”
In virtually all the places that I go to here—bars, parks, shops, the Darling Harbour, the Sydney Opera House, you name it—the fight is “the bite, mate.”
They call you “mate” here all the time. Bus drivers. Cab drivers. Waiters. Salesmen. Cops.
“Mate” here is pronounced “might” or you wouldn’t be understood.
And to those not yet in the know, “today” here is pronounced “to die.”
So, the usual morning greeting you get is, “How are you to die, might?”
“Good might,” would be your answer, meaning you are in good shape.
And you should add: “And you, might?”
The reply you get: “I’m good might.”
Not only among Filipino immigrants has the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight become very palatable but also among the Aussies themselves.
Aussie, of course, is the colloquial term for Australian.
And when they become too lazy enough to say Aussie, they say “OZ” and in plural, “OZs.”
We all know that Australia is so big a country so that it is also referred to as an island-continent.
In land size, the Philippines is but a speck compared to Australia’s hugeness—and yet, the population here is only 24.5 million as against our country’s 100 million.
This bustling city has 2.4 million people, so few compared to the 12 million or so inhabitants in Metro Manila.
But George St., the city’s main artery, teems with people from morning till 9 p.m., from Monday to Friday, as in Avenida Rizal, Cubao’s Aurora Blvd.-Farmer’s area or Makati’s Greenbelt.
Shops line up both sides of George St., which has four churches—one a Roman Catholic named St. Peter Julian’s Parish, which is open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily; air-conditioned.
Bus stops are all over and your ride comes once in 10 minutes—on the dot, mind you.
There is a free bus for all, colored green and numbered 555, plying from Chinatown which is the tip of George St. and ending in Circular Cuay by the harbor at 30-minute intervals.
Since it is free (you need pre-paid tickets to use the other numerous buses; I’m not too keen on vending machines), the 555 has become my favorite ride. Efficient. First-class.
Indeed, when you are in First World, comfort is never compromised that is why Sol Juvida the writer and I travel mainly to relax now.
The learning part of it comes as natural as breathing.
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