The Waiting Game
As Portia had promised earlier, her first team of contractors arrived at the scheduled time last Thursday to put up scaffolding outside some of our windows. The two or three young men operated with military speed and efficiency, finished their work in no time and left without fanfare, leaving no trace or debris indoor. The next morning, another batch of young men arrived with new air conditioners and equipment to remove the air conditioners that had served us for some 13 years, again with such skill, precision and professionalism. We had expected the contractors to take a lunchbreak so that Su had asked me to uncork and decant a bottle of Chateau Durfort-Vivens – Margaux – 2015 to share with Portia. I went for my lunch appointment after taking a small glass, expecting to finish the rest afterwards, only to learn that the two girls had finished everything and that the contractors had finished work early without going for lunch. They were to return the following week, which would be tomorrow, for more serious and complex work and when we might need to be decanted for two days.
Many of us office workers – including myself – have a stereotype on building and construction workers, often thinking that they are mostly middle-age or even older people, who are not very hard-working or industrious individuals and who tend to waste their clients’ time when unsupervised, but the staff we saw last week were all young, energetic, disciplined and well-mannered who took their work very seriously and professionally. More importantly, they won’t spend more time than necessary on their jobs because they realize that their time is precious and they are paid well. For example, in less than three hours, the team of two or three men took out and replaced three room coolers, took out the wrongly installed pipes and disposed of the old equipment, leaving no rubbish behind.
Portia had asked us to budget for two weeks’ work, but so far, the contractors have only worked for two mornings. We would see what happened next. To ensure that we had done our part and that we had left sufficient space for the contractors to maneuver in the flat, she came a day earlier for an inspection and was apparently satisfied with what she saw. Portia was also careful to have kept the Mei Foo Management abreast of work progress so that they could keep the car park immediately below vacant. But there are always some opportunists around, and indeed one such turned up and tried to claim damages. He even called the Police. To cut the long story short, we shoved him away, at least for now.
Meanwhile, Su’s mother had checked out of Haven of Hope, but she and her siblings were keeping their fingers crossed. I had taken her to Laguna City twice so far and on Sunday she brought back some photo albums which her father had carefully compiled all these years in his study with his photographic and IT skills of which he was so proud. A date has now been fixed for the final rites for their father, and the siblings were still thinking about whether to involve their mother, and if so, how.
I have lined up a dental appointment with Raymond for tomorrow to have a tooth extracted. This is Part 2 of the treatment which began on 2 January when I experienced discomfort on the left side of the denture which precipitated in an urgent visit to his clinic for some emergency treatment involving temporary fillings with a recommendation that I should return for the extraction as a permanent solution. Right now, Su is looking for some suitable hotels that we may take up for the next two evenings. Then I have lined up a session at HKU over the weekend with a few mentees to mark the HKU Alumni Day, and I hope they will all turn up. Then, there was the sad news of a brother and old friend having passed away last Friday, which I had yet to grapple with. Still, there are other events waiting for us to decide whether to sign up. All this waiting is another live lesson in mindfulness.
