Our air-con unit.
I made it sparkly because it is such a boring picture.
The air conditioner in our master bedroom has been broken for about seven months now. I’m not happy. Thankfully we don’t spend a lot of time upstairs in the day, but when it comes to trying to apply makeup and not having it slide off your face, it is very difficult if you don’t have air con. Sleeping can become rather uncomfortable too when you have sweat dripping off your body.
I have lost count of the number of contractors who have come, stood and stared then said they had to come back. We did have some people work on it a few months back and it worked for one week.
I can tell you that if this was the air conditioner in our living space down stairs, I would not be so calm. The weather here is hot and very humid. I cannot stand it. I am not someone who enjoys very hot weather, and humidity is not my friend. My maid thinks our place is freezing and turns the air con off when we are out.
When we arrived and first experienced trying to get work done, I found it very difficult to cope with. The lack of reliability. People don’t show when you expect them, they do when you don’t expect them, they come and don’t know how to fix something and then just leave and you do not hear back. You spend hours chasing things up and just keep getting the run around. It is incredibly frustrating. Now I know what to expect so I don’t lose my temper as often. Despite also not enjoying having strangers in my house, I tend to just go with the flow. You really need to pick your battles here, otherwise you will lose your mind.
However this has been going on a little too long now, so I am starting to get twitchy. Today the work men are back to ‘fix’ the unit. If they don’t, I will be formally complaining to the landlord. You see, the man who turned up on Tuesday said there was a mechanical problem with it (which is what I had been saying all along!), and it is under warranty still so someone else needed to fix it. Then he left (this is after not turning up the week before on Tuesday, turning up on Thursday, staring at some walls then leaving again). Then someone else spoke to our leasing agent and told him it just needed freon put in it – the stuff that makes the air cold. I told him what I had been told and now we are here again. Another day, waiting for more people to come into my house and invade my space.
My maid is working today and part of her role is to manage workmen who come in. She instructs them of the ‘rules’, and supervises them. Today is also Thursday which means it is my day to drive. During this peak traffic season, I drive to school and stay for the three hours. It is just a waste of time for me to drive home, then leave again shortly after for pick up. So I sit in Starbucks and catch up on life, message friends and write. After school today we have some shopping to do, so hopefully I won’t be home for much of the time the workmen are there. I fear I may go red-head crazy today, if they stare at my wall much longer.