We Filipinos have a phrase to describe the vagaries of life, especially apt when it comes to the current rainy season. “Weather, weather lang yan.”

It can have several meanings, such as 1) there is a time and a season for everything, and 2) life being a series of ups and downs. So when down times come, the best thing to do is just to live with your current situation. It will pass.

Such is the situation these past few days after a tropical storm coupled with the seasonal habagat caused the return of floods, which naturally resulted in millions of Filipinos being affected in a variety of ways.

Floods are a fact of life in the Philippines. They have been for decades. The only difference is that there are good years for floods, and really, really bad years for floods. 

This year looks to be more of the latter. Weather, weather lang yan, folks.

One of the worst of the shared experiences of facing floods is being stuck in traffic for hours, inside a car or bus or jeep that has nowhere to go.

Since the rainy season means cold and damp weather, there will be a need to pee every few hours. When that need becomes overpowering, what does one do?

Over the years, I’ve had this conversation with a number of friends and relatives. They all have solutions that range from the practical to the gross.

One lady just said that when she could no longer hold it in, she just let it rip. That’s right, folks. She just quietly peed while seated in the car without telling her fellow passengers.

An office mate, meanwhile, said that on several occasions when he was trapped in the expressway with miles to go before making it home, he would just unzip his fly and pee on the floor of his car while he was driving.

He would just clean up the mess in the morning.

I recall a time when I was stuck in the South Luzon expressway with the traffic barely moving. I remembered what that office mate had related and wondered if I would do the same, given the same situation.

I couldn’t.

Since I was driving and it was clear that I would be stuck for a while, I took the more embarrassing option of opening my door and peeing on the road. This meant I had to step out of my car, pull my pants down, and take a leak by the door in full view of fellow motorists surrounding me.

Another time, it appeared that the situation would repeat itself. But this other time, I was stuck in traffic very near one of those blue portalets, which was reserved for employees of the expressway.

I saw a nearby highway cop and signalled if I could use their portable toilet. 

He must have noted the desperation in my face, so he said “Sige na, sige na.” (Go ahead, go ahead.)

One other time, a busmate did what needed to be done with the help of a Coke bottle. Another did it on a small plastic bag, the kind used by sari-sari stores to sell soft drinks without giving away the bottle.

I am writing about this because the news is flooded (ha ha) with tales and videos of motorists and pedestrians facing the prospect of being stuck for long hours on the road because flash floods arrived with little warning.

The need to pee will always be present, and it can be said that men have the advantage over women.

In many cases, men with the need just head for the nearest wall to do their thing. Women do not have this luxury.

Incidentally, a few years back, there were pink colored public urinals found all over EDSA. It was a good idea, but for some reason all of them have since been removed.

They were little more than barely enclosed cubicles where menfolk could pee on a wide-mouthed pipe that led directly to the drainage system. No flushing.

I guess one reason they were removed was because they did have a most unpleasant smell. If memory serves, they were built during the time of the late Bayani Fernando, then head of the Metro Manila Development Authority.

At least most if not all the gas stations found all over EDSA allow the public to use their rest rooms AKA comfort rooms or CRs. Some are actually quite hygienic. However, some gas stations reserve the CRs for clients only. Keys to the kingdom have to be borrowed from the cashier.

This is especially true for CRs for ladies. 

For the gents, there are either real CRs, or there are areas usually outside the gas stations’ garages where open air urinals are for everybody’s use. Just don’t look for a place to wash your hands.

If being stuck inside a vehicle during flood season is bad, imagine what it’s like to depend on public transport to head home after a hard day’s work.

Floods practically guarantee that millions of commuters will suffer very long waits, or face the prospect of having to walk home or head back to their places of employment and spend the night there.

This has happened to yours truly on several occasions when strong rains and flash floods made it impossible to head home. The best option was to get a room at an inexpensive motel and spend the night there.

At the end of an exhausting day, it didn’t matter if the place was borderline dangerous, smelly, and had barely functioning air conditioners. Not when the need to rest was overpowering.

As this is being written, knee deep floods can be seen outside my 6th floor window. Traffic is barely moving, and there is a steady stream of men and women plodding their way home.

They serve as a reminder that the Philippines remains mired in Third World status. There may be countless modern high-rise buildings all over Metro Manila, and brand new cars and SUVs plying the streets and highways, but the months of July and August especially are when everyone must face dirty and potentially dangerous flood waters as a normal part of daily rainy season existence.

Yes, siree. Weather, weather lang yan.