Sapat na marahil ang 18.1 kilometrong tinakbo namin ni "Bunso" sa Brgy. Laging Handa sa pagitan ng 11th Jamboree Street at Panay Avenue para lusawin ang beer at inihaw na pusit na binira namin ni Kuya Ading n'ung Huwebes ng gabi.
Pero napatungan ito ng Johnny Walker at pinispisang kambing sa birthday ni Kuya Edong n'ung Biyernes ng gabi, at ng Johnny Walker pa at tokwa't baboy pagkatapos ng stated meeting n'ung Sabado ng hapon, na sigurado kong hindi na kinaya ng 23.1 kilometrong tinakbo namin ni Balong sa pagitan ng Bacal 2 at CLSU n'ung Linggo ng umaga.
At sigurado kong lahat ng nilusaw n'ung Huwebes at Linggo ay madaling binura ng bumabahang beer at pulutan sa ikalawang araw ng Bowling Games n'ung Linggo ng hapon.
Ang nasabi na lang ni Jowa: "Sana hindi mo na lang ipinatangal ang apdo mo! Hmp!"
Nakalabas din si "Bunso" sa wakas, at tinuntun ang mga alaala ng dilaw na adobo ng Victorino's sa may Scout Rallos, ang usok mula sa mga iniihaw na lamang loob malapit sa Scout Fuentebella, ang tilapia puffs sa isang de-kalidad na restoran sa Tomas Morato, bago siya natusok ng kung ano at nangailangang madala sa Pediatric Clinic ng Basikleta.
Suguro ay 'yun ang pamamaraan ni "Bunso" na maipakita ang kanyang kalungkutan sa pag-alis ni Bulan matapos ang dalawang buwan na bakasyon, na dinamdam ko din, kaya niresbekan ko ang machang ng Ongpin Manosa Restaurant [walang kuwenta] at fried siopao ng Binondo [may kuwenta] dahil parehong sarado pa ang Delicious Restaurant at Kim Hiong Food Garden [di pa alam kung ano ang kuwenta].
Pero nandiyan pa si Balong, ang tunay na Bunso, na siyang saksi sa muli kong pagsingkaw kay "Kuya" AGT, kasama si "Dikong" LDQ, pagkatapos ng dalawang buwan, at ang sumunod na araw na nilaanan ng walang lasang pansit bihon na gawa ng anak ni Dacoco sa CLSU, na sinundot ng taunang Bowling Games sa Cabanatuan kung saan mas madaming bote ng San Mig Lights ang natumba kesa bowling pins.
At nung Lunes, maagang gumayak ang tunay na Bunso, isinuot ang bagong tahing uniporme at pinunasan ang bagong biling sapatos.
Nawa'y maiganti niya ang kanyang Kuya at magtagal siya, at makatapos, sa Science High.
At nawa'y magtagal ang lumalangitngit na si "Bunso" sa paggagalugad sa lansangan ng mga Boy Scout.
Two things I learned going to Leiden:
- 8 AM on a Saturday summer morning is early for the Dutch so I have the streets all for myself, subsisting on cigarettes since the shops are all shuttered until 10 AM, and
- there are no luggage lockers in Leiden, the Visitors Information Center is not as friendly as Delft, so I walked around baggage in tow while trying to be a tourist.
I've got no maps so I felt my way around, the instinct of many travels taking over, until I reached a marker and followed the arrows, which brought me to the heart of Leiden, the historic Blauwpoorts Harbour with its ancient ships and a windmill.
I followed more arrows along beautiful Rapenburg where I stumbled upon the house of noted Dutch physicist Willem's Gravesande (1688-1742) and the green and black Dutch bikes parked near its door.
More arrows took me to Leiden University and its famous garden, Hortus Botanicus where the first tulips in the Netherlands were planted.
Then the arrows disappeared as I paused to rest the poor small wheels of my luggage that's not really ideal for cobbled streets, and discovered a marker that said I was standing in front of the canal entrance to the old village of Lammen where the Dutch drove out the last Spanish garrison to finally lift the Siege of Leiden.
From there is where I saw the spire of the Pieterskerk, Leiden's oldest church, where narrow cobbled streets converge.
And through those streets I trudged, travelling bag in tow, to the Stadhuis van Leiden and a stirring Saturday market of clothes and nuts and cheese and everything else.
Another church spire pulled me through an extremely cobbled street, the massive Hooglandse Kerk, where curiosity took me to a stone arch through an open cafe and up the Burcht van Leiden that once guarded the intersection of two tributaries of the Rhine, luggage in tow, pee storage capacity at bursting point.
Famished and thirsty, I went back down the market for a lunch of freshly cooked crunchy but tasteless kibbeling after which I decided I've had enough but not after shooting a frame of the catholic Hartebrug Church and a final last shot of some other church.
And that was luggage locker-less and map-less Leiden in 4 hours.
I could have went back if the now open visitor center allowed luggage safekeeping like Delft's but they did not, so I went to Schipol and killed time with the free airport wifi.
