Driving Mr Deakin

Riding in the back of the Ferrari Lusso GTC4, James Deakin expected the worst. Instead, he was bowled over by “an unadulterated Ferrari experience for four”

Wanna ride with me? I’m taking a Ferrari,” my friend Marc Soong asked as we were planning how to get to a mutual friend’s wedding in Batangas. “How is that even a question?” I snapped back before he could even let the last vowel roll off his tongue. He tried to explain, but I was already putting on my coat and sending him a Waze location. That was my first mistake.

I learnt a lot about context after that phone call. I learnt that without it, two identical sentences can have two profoundly different meanings. For example, hearing the words “Jesus loves you” can be very comforting and fulfilling when uttered in a church. But it can mean something entirely different when whispered in your ear in the showers of a Mexican prison. Get what I’m saying?

So, lesson number one: context. Because, had I just listened, I would have known he was going up with his wife Loralie and his father Wellington. Which meant I would be riding in the back seat. All. The. Way. To. Batangas. But no. I heard Ferrari, Batangas, Cavitex, smooth winding roads. Everyone wants to be James. Funny how we only really hear what we want to, huh? Blame it on social media.