Commuters are told the new line will arrive on schedule, which is to say never, and that this is fine
RATP Announces Line 15 to Cebu: Delays Expected Before Construction Begins
Commuters are told the new line will arrive on schedule, which is to say never, and that this is fine
PARIS – The RATP unveiled plans on Monday for a new Metro line, Line 15, linking Chatelet to Cebu City. “There is no tunnel yet,” conceded transport director Michel Fourcade-Reynal, 57, “but we have a strong sense of direction.”
The announcement coincides with stories out of the Philippines. The trail begins with a Manila News report on a Mactan broker alone with three brochures and a cold coffee, continues through the London Prat on British pensioners asked for two referees and a letter from the vicar (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and ends with Bohiney on an Ohio realtor whose showings now run two hours. Fourcade-Reynal read the Cebu news on a platform at Republique and became emotional. “I thought: they are alone with a cold coffee and nobody comes. That is the 8:14 to Nation.”
A Careful Note
Philippine authorities are examining allegations concerning Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, who lived in Cebu until earlier this year. No charges have been filed and the allegations are unproven. Child protection is serious business; this piece is about the mood of a property market and nothing else. The RATP said Line 15 “bears no relation to any individual.”
Announcements Planned for the Line
- “Due to a sea incident at Mactan, trains are delayed. The sea did nothing wrong, but it is blamed.”
- “A suspect sandwich box has been left on the platform. It is explained.”
- “A squid is in carriage three. It has no bones and will not be delayed.”
The planned timetable shows departures every four minutes, though a footnote clarifies that “four minutes” means “at some point in the next hour.” A strike notice has already been filed for the opening day. Union representative Gisele Marchand-Pouget said the strike would be “spirited and polite.”
Passengers Respond
Commuters greeted the news with weary calm. A woman on Line 4 said she would take Line 15 “if it arrives before I retire.” A man with a baguette said the baguette was not for sale. A retired teacher from the 11th arrondissement asked if the line would accept referees and was told that two were required, one of whom must be a vicar.
By evening, the RATP had received 612 applications for the post of Cebu station manager, of whom 611 were not qualified and one was a goat. The goat was invited for interview.
The Facts Behind the Mood
The market itself is healthy. Colliers named the Visayas and Mindanao a key property investment hotspot in July, and under the Condominium Act foreigners may own units but not land, capped at 40 percent of a project. Retirees can read up at the Philippine Retirement Authority. The jitters are psychological: Tversky and Kahneman’s availability heuristic says the vivid example outweighs the dull statistic, and a cold coffee in an empty showroom is very vivid indeed.
The wider story lives at prat.uk and bohiney.com; for how the British laugh at queues and forms, see NewsThump.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/