Our Ceiling Runneth Over

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The furry haze of tiredness is scrambling my thoughts this morning.  The 'quiet room' on the 12 floor of Fort Canning Lodge that we inhabit has turned out to be anything but.

The first day was sublimely peaceful but on the second day our room was filled with the sound of mechanical woodpeckers.  This was emanating from the space above our ceiling.

We had been told that there were only offices on the 13th floor, but it transpires that above our room is the cooling room for the air conditioning and this system is in serious need of an overhaul.

So for the last six days we have have manfully put up with the sound of engineering maintenance and repeatedly dropped crescent spanners.

Last night at six the cleaning maid arrived with a note and three chocolates.  Staff were giving these to all guests as the air conditioning needed to be switched off from midnight to 5 am to complete the works.

We did not fully appreciate at the time what this meant for us in room 12 20.  At 11:55 pm we became painfully aware of the implications as our sleep was broken by the sound of hammer drills, pipe benders, more dropped tools and the tapping of pipes being maneuvered into position.

Despite inserting ear plugs I estimate we got only a couple of hours sleep and most of that was interrupted. The racket continued all night. To make matters worse the contractors failed to empty the cooling tanks correctly resulting is water seeping in puddles into various parts of our room below.

In typical Singaporean fashion the contractors had failed to keep to their allotted schedule and had only alerted the hotel management at the last minute of their need to work through the night.

If this is to carry on again this evening we will be changing rooms but the management at time of writing "do not yet have the confirmed schedule" which sounds rather ominous.

We have another weeks stay in front of us and will make a decision later in the day as to whether we need to change rooms or not.

Meanwhile the hammering and banging above us continues and the engineer with dropsy goes about his business.

Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing!

Footnote:  We are now the happy occupants of room 1105

Aircon Blues

With uncanny timing, the air conditioning at work has failed and the welcome respite after a 20 minute wait at the bus stop each morning is sadly missing

This would not be hugely problematic in more temperate latitudes but in the middle of hot spell in Singapore it is most unpleasant.

At least at home we have fans to move the breeze about; a mechanised version of the punka wallah.  Here in the office we are without even this creature comfort.  I am beginning to realise why most offices in Singapore provide a shower cubicle.

Not that opening the windows brings any respite as the air is very still and the humidity around 100%.  An open window simply bring a cacophony of traffic noise from Orchard Road.

Not everyone is enamoured about air conditioning and there are some fairly extreme theories attached to it.

One guru states that "one of the things that can affect your cholesterol levels as well as your blood pressure levels is having to go in and out of an environment that has air conditioning."  Based on his prognosis my blood pressure this morning should be climbing rapidly.  It is, but not for the reason he states - I simply hate being hot and sticky.

At least the bus this morning was in full working order so I managed to cool down en route.  I shall miss my short trip to and from work when I leave Singapore.  It has been an opportunity to observe my fellow passengers as they slumber.

In true Sherlock Holmes fashion I play a little game of trying to ascertain what lifestyle they lead.  Not that I have been very successful in the art of deduction.

Just today I discovered that one of my fellow passengers whom I thought to be simply reserved was in fact profoundly deaf.  I observed her delight as she recognised a friend with a similar affliction and they spent their journey signing to each other.

The temporary loss of air conditioning somehow pales into insignificance when compared to a major disability such as deafness.

As I writ, a bevy of technicians are walking around the building scratching their heads and looking skywards.  I remain confident that will be a temperature drop in the near future.