Once upon a time, say 1974,
RER Drive Subdivision was one integral and indivisible development on the
western side of the meandering Cagayan River.
Though once a contiguous
piece of land in its over 38 hectares
size, it was however splintered on the northern side by the then newly-minted
Cagayan-Iligan highway that was bannered by the also spanking-new bridge to the
east, the second to span the river after many, many years.
Fast forward to the current
century and a myriad of changes has visited not only this area but in the
entire city proper and beyond.
RER Drive Subdivision is now
composed of two phases. The bigger
southern portion being Phase 1, and the smaller one being Phase 2.
And unlike the biblical
narrative of prodigality, the ending to this story is quite different. Overall, Phase 2 appears to be doing quite
well. A very appealing guardhouse greets
visitors and residents alike, very easy on the eyes but looking sufficiently secured. Streets are clean and not too many parked
vehicles on the curbs. Street signs are
well maintained and visibly located. The
park bordered on one side of the main/gateway street does not look too
shabby. And finally, houses are well
painted and maintained, with attractive fences.
My Sunday jog routine this
morning took me out of RER Drive Phase 1 to the gate of Phase 2, and it was so
devised for one self-serving reason.
That gateway-main street has
obvious personal importance to me, simply because it was named after my late
father, the several street signs in intersections confirm that so. And I therefore wanted to learn of the
condition of those street signs, since during my last visit several years back,
I had witnessed them in a bad state of disrepair.
A little side story about
this, a little anecdote that personally involved me. In 1975, the subdivision was then one, and
there were still no street signs but only block numbers to identify each
location. A few years later, one late afternoon home after
a hectic day in my job with the bank, I was tooling around our place which
still had a lot of work to be done, when I heard a rather unique engine sound
nearing our location and stopping in front of us. Unique, BTW, because we were not used to
listening to big engine sounds coming from big American muscle cars since only
a very few number of families had them.
It was the subdivision
owner. Driving his big and shiny
American car. Smartly dressed and
walking with stiff dignity and confidence. And he was my uncle. He had stopped in the middle of the street
directly in front of our driveway, holding what looked like a roll of the subdivision
plan. He had spread the whole piece on
top of his hood and beckoned to me whom he had seen moving toward him.
By then his first cousins, my
father and his younger brother, Graciano, both still young at 57 and 52, had
passed on. In a strange way then, their
early passing assured their enduring memory in posterity, granted it is just in
street names. But that was how it
was. And just as quickly, my uncle had gone
to attend to his myriad of concerns
So back to my morning
visit. Armed with my GoPro Hero camera,
took shots of the gate and main street all the way to the end. And the images are attached herewith.
Street signs, all artfully
lettered and well-scrubbed, and standing tall in corners, ever ready to lead
motorists and pedestrians to their exact destinations.
All’s well that ends well.
This being a regular blog, comments are invited, and there is no moderation. Thanks.
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