I left late because I finished my laundry ... I had to if I want to have fresh clothes to wear tomorrow. If I had left 30 minutes earlier, I'd probably still be late. Today's a day for enduring painstaking traffic.
There's traffic in EDSA because a couple on a motorbike got hit by trucks whose drivers were racing each other. The couple had helmets on but the trucks smashed the helmets as well. In other words, they're dead. One of the truck drivers was arrested. The other escaped. That's the cause for the traffic north of Manila. At the south super highway, which is my route, a truck caught fire and therefore caused another traffic. It's one of the rare days where there are accidents caused by traffics at both entry points to Manila.
I could have spent time sleeping in the bus but i was preoccupied listening to the two students seated behind me. One of the girls mentioned that a professor gave her an assignment which was to make paper on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Piece of cake? Not for this girl.
Her only exposure to the legend of King Arthur is the movie "First Knight" starring Richard Gere and Sean Connery. Tsk. tsk. I've seen the movie and I could say that it's not a good start ... it dwells on the love affair of Lancelot and Guenevere and not much on the other aspects of the legend.
The other girl, trying to be helpful, told her about seeing another movie about King Arthur but this time a person from the present was transported back in time to the King's court ... I was shaking my head a bit by then. The kid was talking about "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" or a tale derived from that classic. Once again, not a good reference material if you really want to find out about King Arthur and his Round Table. If they're going to go with movies ... I'd suggest they try to rent Camelot which stars Richard Harris.
Then the helpful girl offered whatever info she knew ... that there is King Arthur, and there are some knights, and a princess or a queen whose name is Greniger. I had to stop myself from laughing and tried to muffle my chuckles.
While they were discussing First Knight, I had thought about telling them to try looking for Thomas Mallory's "Le Morte d' Arthur". When the Connecticut Yankee movie came up, I thought of recommending T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" which is a witty take on the legend. However, when I heard Princess Greniger, I wanted to tell them to head to the nearest Children's Library and grab one of the many books on King Arthur ... so that they'll have the names correct for starters! As funny incidents go, this is a classic! What's funnier, although it's also ironic, is that I think both are studying in St. Scho.
I texted this to Rachel, Sam, Jeng and Mimi. Rachel pitied me for having to endure them, Sam laughed and said the kids are out of this world, while Mimi told me to do the girls a favor and straighten them out ... and she meant tell the girls how to do their paper right. I told Mimi that 1. The girls have switched on a walkman and are now singing out of tune while sharing the earphones, and 2. I run the risk of being branded a nosy person to try telling them what to do. And I really mean out of tune.
Are kids really ignorant of King Arthur these days? These girls aren't really dumb ... when someone texted them that the heavy traffic is due to the fact that Wednesday is Baclaran day, they said that's crap and they even know the term psychologists use for people's tendency to make up excuses to explain otherwise unexplainable events. Maybe the professor gave the girl that paper because he was aware that kids today hardly know who King Arthur is.
Well, this is the Philippines, not England. It is not such a sad thing.
