Sunday, July 24, 2011

Mechanical Malfunctions

Most of the time, my home appliances and vehicles work without any problems. Unfortunately, they lately seemed to have entered a pact to multifariously malfunction at the same time.

Last month, the TV blew. I bought a 2nd hand set before realising that the old one might be fixable. But the new TV was cheap and a welcome upgrade anyway. Fixed the old one and sold it off for RM200 - just enough to cover the cost of repairing and value of the set. OK la. So pleased with my 'new' TV :D

2 weeks back, the motorcycle back tyre went flat. I parked it and haven't had the chance to deal with it yet. Plus, spent too much money earlier, so now not much left for repairing non-urgent stuff. Thank God the car is fine. Except that the bumper is hanging off quite disgustingly, no thanks to my carelessness while parking. Will have to deal with that soon.

The other day, the bathroom lock decided it wasn't going to budge. The knobs turned, but the spring lock thingy didn't, effectively trapping me inside. Luckily it was at night, so K Ayu was at home. She handed me a wire hanger, and with skills learnt a long time ago, I managed to ease the lock open. It still stuck though. Yesterday I took out the offending part and found that the thing was rusted inside. No wonder la jam. Sigh. Why la use inferior locks? Rumah aku dulu bertahun-tahun tak pernah jam.

The bathroom sink also another issue. Last year it was kind of loose, now it seemed to get worse. Soon the whole thing would come tumbling down! Asked the landlord to fix it and he asked me to get someone to do it and deduct the cost from my rent. Okay... Been trying to contact an odd jobber without much luck. Next week la I try another contact. Penat oredy.

Last week, the dryer was making funny noises (like thunk thunk thunk...) while I was drying my clothes. When it was K Ayu's turn, it stopped making noise and stopped rotating altogether.. Oh great!  Now, this might not be a big problem to other people, but since the last 15 years, we have relied on this wonderful invention to dry our clothes in 1 hour flat; saving us the worry of rainy days and lack of space. And space is a major issue in the tiny apartment where we live. Thankfully, neighbour gracefully allowed us to borrow her washing lines today. In addition, there are clothes hanging in the laundry area, blocking the way into the loo, and some clothes have been moved from my clothes rack to make way for my undies. There's another batch that needs to be done, but it'd have to wait until some space frees up.

Knowing how expensive Lux repairs can be, I borrowed a set of spanners from Abang and actually opened up the dryer yesterday. With almost zero knowledge of mechanics, I had the impression there was some kind of weight that helps the drum move had fallen off. It turned out that the belt had broken. Well, after 15 years, I guess it had a right to die. So... can't fix it myself, won't have time to go buy the parts, so called the repair man and arranged for him to come fix this one sometime next week.

Also yesterday, saw the light hanging low and gatal went and pulled on it, imagining some kind of spring mechanism would pull it back up. The one in the old house had that system. But the one HERE didn't. So with a loud pop and some sparks, the whole fixture came off in my hand! Oopsie... Didn't succeed in fixing it yesterday, but thanks to divine inspiration today, and help from sister who held the heavy bits while the system was tested and the screws went in, the lights are on again. Unfortunately I broke the fluorescent circle, so we'll just have to make do with the small tungsten bulb for the time being. At least I won't have to pay for an electrician and a whole new fixture!

Stupid bed creaks and the frame of my favourite spectacles is broken... am waiting for inspiration so that I can get them fixed. I'm sure SOMETHING can be done, but for the time being, KIV aje lah...

Oh, Abah's phone died too. Seriously! Sometimes I think he purposely destroys his phones, or evil stepmother did... Considering getting him a  new one with camera, since I can't afford to buy him another cam. Feel a bit sorry giving him hand me downs, the camera I gave him is seriously stupid and should only be used by little children. Can't give him my Cybershot until I upgrade, and even then feel a bit sayang to give it away; it's lovely and a useful cam to carry around for general snaps. Bloody hate the phone camera - terrible picture quality. Don't understand why he can't buy himself another phone, though. And Nokias are usually quite resilient. Dry it for a couple of days and they'll be good as new. Sigh. Maybe I'll give him a nice lecture when I hand him the new one. Wait, who's the parent here? Bleh.

Anyway, I'm thankful that today's a balmy Sunday, the house is clean, and there is food in the fridge. Most of the chores are done, and half the repairs are dealt with. Will deal with the rest next week. Now I just want to take a shower and do some work so that tomorrow I can go home at a reasonable time. Bye!!

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