Mechanical breakdown

We don't realise how much we rely on our appliances to make our life easier until it breaks down. Have you ever wondered which appliance you couldn't live without - even for 1 day? Well, over the past year or so, we've had a couple of mechanical breakdowns in our household appliances - TV, washing machine, air-conditioning, fridge. So which one can't we live without?

First off - the TV. The idiot box is very much a part of our rest and relaxation. But, we could live without it for a day. We can still entertain ourselves by reading or going to the movies.

Next, the washing machine. Another critical household appliance which prevents my hands from becoming a prune. I still remember my younger days when I used to have to help my parents wash the clothes by hand. It was no fun! But, when our machine was out of order for a few days, we still had other options. we sent my clothes to my mum's place for washing! On a worse case, there is always the good ol' kedai dobi or laundromat.

Air conditioning - In our hot Malaysian weather (especially in the last couple of days), this is another important appliance in most homes. With global warming, temparatures are soaring. How can we sleep without it? Well, when ours didn't work, we had to make do. Off with the quilt and on with the mosquito coil. Fortunately, when ours broke down, we had a spell of relatively cool weather. It also helps that we live near the hills, so temparature was at least 1 degree cooler.

And so, the winner is...the Fridge. Yes, this is the appliance we cannot live without. We had contemplated getting a bigger fridge to replace our 10 year-old fridge, but not so soon as we had just replaced our air-conditioning. Apparently, the fridge had other ideas. One night, the fridge compartment stopped working. When we discovered it in the morning, panic set in. What was I going to do with all my perishables? It didn't help that I had gone to the supermarket to stock up on groceries in view of the Chinese New Year holidays round the corner. Why oh why didn't we just get the fridge when we thought of it? We would have saved the hassle of finding temporary storage for my perishables and rushing madly to the electrical shops to get a fridge that could be delivered on that day itself. Then, there's the mad rush to unload the many bottles and jars of sauces and condiments and dried food from the old fridge when the delivery guy finally arrived with the fridge. But before we could breath a sigh of relief, let's not forget that the new fridge can't be turned on for 3 hours after delivery to allow the gas to settle.

Anyway, the moral of the story is this - If your fridge has passed the 10-year mark, get a new one whilst the old one still works to save yourself the hassle. Of course, if you're one of those people who doesn't cook a lot and doesn't have much food in your fridge apart from a couple of beers and some eggs, then it really doesn't matter. Otherwise, pencil this into your diary, which in our case is 2019!