Friday, April 30th

I was offered the opportunity to go see a hearing this morning, however it required I get up at 530am to get to the office so we could go pick up the client (30 minutes away) and head over to the courthouse an hour away.  I arrived a few minutes late, knowing things are never on time here, only to wait an additional hour or 2.  The social worker I was riding with notified me that the driver who was originally supposed to meet us, texted her at 530 saying he had another appointment and would be sending someone else.  So our replacement driver did not end up picking us up until around 8.  Throughout the entire ride, traffic was just terrible.  I thought it was normal, but one of my coworkers commented that it was more terrible than usual.  I thought maybe it was holiday traffic since on Wednesday, Monday was declared a non-working holiday for labor day.  Yes....this happened Wednesday.  We ended up skipping the trip to get the client and went straight to the courthouse since we were so late.  We did not arrive there until 11, to have the hearing canceled and rescheduled for the following week.  The judge was understanding since he had heard there was a major accident earlier that morning with a chemical spill (thankfully I have yet to hear that anyone was hurt)....oh well.  These things happen.  More so in Manila....but these things happen.  We ended up driving home and didn't get back until closer to 3.  Thankfully I had bridal magazines that Leah's mom brought me from Canada (she's visiting) to keep me entertained during our 6 hour drive in a circle around Manila.  Fortunately leaving Ortigas is still fascinating to me.