This Valentine’s Day was spent a little differently. Or perhaps more ordinary. It’s just another normal day. Vincent finally agreed to meet up with Mae after we pestered him for the umpteenth time. Expecting Mae’s usual pattern, Vincent and I agreed to trick Mae into believing that the movie we planned to watch was at 11.45am and lunch would be after. And to make sure she’d get up on time, we told her the tickets have already been booked. The actual plan was to have lunch and then watch the movie at 2.15pm.

I was still rather doubtful. Hence, the pleasant surprise when the plan worked perfectly. At 9.45am, I got an SMS from her although I believe I shouldn’t be trying this too often. It may backfire after a while.

I was chauffeured to Lot 1 by Mae which was a first. And then to Bugis and then to Holland Village. Surprisingly, she was quite a steady hand in driving for someone who hardly drove. She was a highly cautious driver - driving a little too slow out of fear and anxiety and sticking to lanes waaaaay before junctions in preparation for the turnings.

When I mean way before, I meant, sticking to the left lane immediately after Sim Lim Square when the turning was to be made at Sixth Avenue. -.-” She was otherwise really good. I find making turns in tight places like multi-level carparks to be quite a feat and she did it quite smoothly. She also managed to do perfect reverse parking at Albert Complex. We took a photo of the the car being parked parallel to the white parking lot lines as a commemoration.

Driving skills aside, inexperience with Singapore roads got us on a really long and panicky Bugis scenic tour. I was her navigator since she’s driving and I had to read the Street Directory. It’s my first time seriously trying to figure out the Street Directory book so I was a little skeptical if I could do it well enough. The stereotyping of women’s disability to read maps was also not very encouraging. Turns out it wasn’t really that hard but we still went the wrong way. The first major mistake was when we were driving past Parco Bugis Junction’s front. She got instructions to enter the building from the back. I used the Street Directory, coupled with her boyfriend’s instructions to guide her. It should be foolproof. Until we spotted something that seemed to be a carpark entrance in front. I wasn’t really in the mood to experiment so I told her to stick to the instructions but I guess she was feeling adventurous. So we disregarded the instruction to enter by the back and tried the front one instead. We wound up in the Loading Bay carpark. Great. Furthermore, that place has heavy human traffic. It’s so embarrassing. We must have looked like bimbos to the pedestrians.

Eventually, we went to sidetrack a little (okay more than a little) and managed to get back to the same route again. And we happily drove past Bugis Junction’s front entrance again, this time following the instructions and the map rigidly. At about 100m away from the back carpark’s entrance, I felt so relieved! There was this rush of confidence that I can get out of the car really soon. I got hyper and started conversing, asking Mae if she was feeling a great sense of achievement while I shut the book, letting my guard slip. When I turn my attention on the road again, I realised we were getting further away from our destination. Again. Apparently, there was a miscommunication with my instructions. Opps. I said the carpark was just ahead in front so she can turn right (into the carpark). But she made a right turn after the traffic light instead.

Asides these two major screw ups, the rest of the time on the road was spent more on getting back on track after we screw up.

The petrol wasted must have cost a bomb with all the little detours we did. Can you imagine the movie ending at 4.15pm in Lot 1 and a drive from there to Parco Bugis Junction ended at almost 7pm? I don’t mind though. It was a panicky and fun. I think it’s more thrilling than theme park rides, lol!

With that, I conclude our 2.5 hour long Bugis road trip.