It
is a requirement under all residential lease agreements here in Singapore to
get one’s Air Conditioning units serviced every three months. This maintenance
is compulsory and it is written into all residential lease agreements.
I
have no problem with this. None at all. Air Conditioning is a must in Singapore
as the heat and humidity is incessant. It often beats and belts me and smacks
me around and it occasionally wears me down. Air Conditioners need to run at
peak performance.
I
only have two small units in my little apartment. They are the evaporative type
and they are known as 'packaged units'.
I
don't know why.
Whenever
I am at home at least one of my Air Conditioning units is constantly humming.
Sometimes both. I sleep with my bedroom unit on at full blast with the
thermostat set at 24 degrees. I sleep beneath a sheet and a cotton blanket. My
sheets are Egyptian and they have a thread count of 1000. I am not exactly sure
what this means but they are soft and cool and crisp. I am normally attired in
just my underpants when I sleep. I wear no pajamas.
Sometimes
I am naked.
Pajamas is a
funny word. The word pyjamas is derived from the Persian and
Urdū languages. Pāë translates to foot or leg
and Jāmah means clothing. So
it is foot and leg clothing. Interesting huh?
I would have
thought that this was a sock or a stocking - but it is not.
I presume it
is plural as in pyjamas rather than then singular pajama because there are two
legs involved. But that’s just a best guess.
What do I
know?
My air
conditioning dudes are from a Company called Ezybreeze. I signed a one year
contract with them for my quarterly servicing. I paid up front. This is the
norm in Singapore.
Quarterly
servicing and paying up front.
There are
dozens of AC companies to chose from and there may well be hundreds. It is a
very competitive market.
I selected
Ezybreeze because I like the name. When my Air Conditioners are due for service
Ezybreeze email me and ring me and SMS me too. They do this on a daily basis
until I respond. They are incessant.
Like the
Singaporean heat and humidity.
I rang them up
on Monday and I spoke to Mr. Ezybreeze. He is a nice old chap.
I said, “Uncle
I am ready for my AC servicing. When are you able to come over?
He replied “Wednesday.
Can?”
I was busy on
Wednesday morning with work appointments so I responded, “Sorry uncle.
I am busy. Cannot. Howzabout Thursday?”
"Can"
he
replied.
Done deal.
My cleaning
Helper Mery will be at my apartment on Thursday so she can let the maintenance
men in. The condensers for my AC units are mounted on brackets outside my
apartment and to access them the maintenance guys must climb out my small
kitchen window and balance on a narrow ledge. I am on the sixth storey of my
complex and there are no safety rails outside. It is a silly design and makes
for a dangerous task. When the guys have to re-gas the units they are literally
hanging onto the window ledge with one hand and hooking up the gas with the
other. It alarms me to watch this. It freaks me out.
It really
does.
I always tell
Mr. Ezybreeze to make sure that his guys are careful. I say to him, “Please
uncle, make sure that your guys don’t fall to their death”.
Mr. Ezybreeze
always snorts with some derision when I mention this and he replies, “Don’t
worry Mr. Peter. My guys are always safety first.”
Despite Mr.
Ezybreeze’s confident nonchalance in this matter I prefer not to be there to
witness this hazardous activity.
I am glad that
Mery will be there instead.
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