It's getting boring to whine about the rising cost of anything and everything but it seems that looking back at what I wrote during the remaining days of Erap's presidency that the situation was the same....
What's my money worth these days?
Judging from the way the price of gasoline is rising daily, may I say, nothing?
It just hit me, while dining at the food court of Rustan's Cubao, that I can't indulge in my favorite pica-picas and meriendas as much as I did before. Why? Well, because they cost double than before! I can't eat as much as I want 'coz it costs too much. That's aside from the fact that I really need to lose weight. Now, that's another problem....
To get back to the subject -- when I joined the work force, my officemates and I loved to go to SM and eat dimsum at Hen Lin. Siomai cost a mere P11 for four pieces. The siomais were big and eaten with toyo, calamansi and hot chili and we'd be able to demolish at least three orders each. After a couple of years, the siomai went up to P14, then 16. Now, it costs P22 for four smaller siomais! Needless to say that I now limit myself to one order at a time. (Hen Lin siomais are now near P40 per order)
The same thing goes for Kowloon siopao. I simply love those pork and chicken paos which my husband says only cost P7 when he was nagbibinata. That wasn't so far back -- it was in the late '70s. Well, it's now Year 2000 and the paos at Kowloon now go for P24. (Again, it's 2011 and siopao from Kowloon costs much more than that).
A conversation during lunch with my stuffed staff proved to be a trip down memory lane as we all compared the prices of candy and other foods when we were young and small. Three of us are of roughly the same age -- early and mid-30s -- and we remembered when Tarzan bubblegum was still big and went for 5 centavos a piece. Texas -- those cute pink square bubblegum wrapped in pink and blue paper -- was dalawa singko. Sarsi, Santa and RC Cola cost 15 centavos each while pan de sal was 10 centavos each -- big, soft and piping hot pa. Other bread favorites -- pan de coco, pan de monggo, pan de lemon and those oval shaped bread with sweet red stuff in the middle would go for 15 centavos each. Lugao with egg or isaw was 50 centavos a balot -- di pa uso ang hepa at gastritis noon.
Chichiria -- Clover Chips, Cheez Curls, Chippy and Pretzel ranged from 30 to 50 centavos. Sampaloc balls -- the big ones coated with sugar were singko isa while bubblegum balls were lima singko. No wonder I felt rich whenever my lola would give me 50 centavos. Now, my son complains if his lola limits his spending to P50. I mean, that can't even buy him a Kiddie Meal, right?
Now, with the way the prices are zooming up and the peso is shrinking, I figure I should eat as much as I can because I'm pretty sure that there will come a time when, like the singko, the P100 bill will only be able to buy a piece of candy...
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