Saturday, October 8, 2011

(536) Transport managers

When I was living in Silver City, I used to spend a fair amount of time sitting in my friend's car. She came from UK and married a local man. Her day consists of ferrying her children to schools and other activities.

Her daughter attended the town's premier Chinese School. As far ahead as one and a half hours before dismissal time, I saw a long line of cars parked under the trees. The group of chauffeur mothers would gather and socialize. I used to wonder why they were so free. But looking at the types of cars they drove, surely none of them need do any house work. They used to be outrageously dressed for talking under the trees. Those clothes cost plenty and are more designed for afternoon tea parties.

Now that I live in the capital city, the reverse is true. Hit any well known schools in the suburbs and you will find a bunch of fathers sitting in their cars reading newspapers at least two hours before dismissal time. Interestingly the earlier Chinese school I referred to is an elementary school. But this National school I am looking at now is a high school. Nobody ought to be afraid of little children wandering off out from a high school.

Perhaps females are social animals. Males in the waiting cars on every school day are barely on nodding terms with each other. My son Michael has this theory that their wives are high power CEOs in the capital. Since the husbands could not out earn the wives, they applied for early retirements and spend their leisurely time being chauffeurs to their precious children. But what a boring life! they burn lots of petrol keeping their cars cool and probably read the local dailies from front to back.

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