That was the week that was

Well....we’re now into the second week in our new apartment.

Things are starting to settle down after the madness of last week.

Being a new apartment, there are “teething” problems to be expected. Well...my week was spent looking after workmen sent to fix said “teething” problems. Some were minor, others weren’t but here’s a highlights package of what went on...

The electrician

We had the electrician in to remove “spare” switches that do nothing (in the end, they were left as spares, for future use) & to fix some power points that weren’t working.

Our electrician friend had an OMG way of checking if the power point was working: he’d simply plug two live wires into the point & if they lit up the light bulb he had somehow connected to said wires (best not to think about it folks), he was happy. Personally...I thought my way of checking things (plug in a power board with a surge switch – if power was getting to the board, it was okay) made much more sense.

But...then again...this is India!!


The washing machine

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post.....we have a washing machine that does its best kangaroo impersonation on the back balcony. It took a week of getting the plumber back every time, showing him videos of the machine doing its best kangaroo impersonation, running wash cycles with & without clothes before they finally figured out what the problem was: they’d forgotten to remove the stabilisers !!

The washing machine is quiet as now & doesn’t move anywhere near as much as it used to.


The bed

This has to be the best story & an example of the “normality” that is India.

We are allocated a bed for the main bedroom (along with others for the other rooms). We were told that we’d been given a “queen” size bed.

Now...let me digress a bit......the Indians have different sizes for beds...yet when you’re shopping for sheets...everything is “double” size. Even the king size is called a “double”...you have to look at the size listed in small print. Tania spent a frustrating time on Sunday trying to get an answer to the question: why is everything listed as double??

Okay.....now that I’ve ranted & digressed......the “queen” sized bed we got is really more like a double (& a smaller double than what I had in the house in Red Hill) which is quite “cosy” for the two of us (not that there’s anything wrong with that...but we also like our space).

Tania requested a bigger bed & so we were due to receive a “king” sized bed. The guys turned up on Wednesday & delivered the mattress with no dramas but then they disappeared.

Thinking that they’d done a runner (like the plumbers earlier that day) I went out onto the balcony & noticed their truck was still there. I could then hear them in the stairwell corridor. I figured they were having some problems with getting the rigid base up the stairs & that’s exactly what the problem was.

So.....the solution was going to be that seven guys would turn up on the Thursday with ropes & would lift the base from the driveway, up onto the side guest room balcony (it’s quite small) & into the apartment that way.

queue images of the base lying in a crumpled & smashed heap at the bottom of the driveway

In the end....they decided that wasn’t such a good idea (& here I was, all set to video the whole thing so I could share the adventure with you all!!). The next solution they came up with is that they get a base that could be broken apart.

queue images of some poor Indian, with a hack saw, cutting up the bed base in the driveway

But no...I’m being far too cynical here!! They will actually make a new bed (I’m assuming just the base but then again, this is India so who knows what’s going to happen) where the base can be split (& I assume, put back together).

So....now I’m sitting at home waiting on our new bed!!

Oh...before I forget....when the king mattress was delivered, the guys tried to then take away our existing double bed. They didn’t seem to understand the concept that we weren’t giving up the double bed until our new king bed was completely ready.

But...then again...this is India!!