I couldn’t, maybe I could’ve, but didn’t in my condominium unit.

Last week, my condominium manager sent out a notice for an electricity calibration exercise for the whole building. The notice said there would be temporary power disruption affecting all owners and tenants. Temporary. Hmm.

I checked with the manager if temporary meant momentary, not all of the time but briefly or intermittently from 10am and 12.30pm. I asked because I could’ve remained in my unit if it was intermittent. Nope. For sure, there would be no power for the duration. There would be backup generators. But, they would be used to light up the common or external areas and for emergency only.

I was reminded not to use the lifts, an advice I took seriously, based on my unhappy experiences with lifts. There would be no power inside the individual units. No power equals no computer, no internet, no WIFI, no fan, no air-conditioning = NO GOOD.

Naturally, if my mum was around, I would have informed the manager about her 24×7 dependence on an electricity-powered oxygenator. A standby plan would have been in place. That, in addition, to her eight-hour oxygen cylinder, her back-up life-support source for a situation like this.

I remember one night some years ago when sister number 3 was home with my mum. My mum’s then rented oxygenator stopped working in the middle of the night. Luckily, we had a smaller oxygen cylinder that sister number 3, who was a healthcare practitioner, hooked my mum onto. In the interim, we frantically tried to get hold of the service provider to replace the rented oxygenator. After that scary episode my mum got her own oxygenator, and a larger capacity oxygen cylinder to serve as a reserve.  

On calibration day, I casually left my unit just before 10am. I couldn’t help but think of my mum. If she was still with me, I would fretted leading up to the day, and would have had no peace until the exercise was over. Hmm.

Anyways, I walked over to KLCC to have breakfast at Secret Recipe, a local cake and café chain. Yes, I had a plan, and it was to have cake for breakfast while I read my novel, a hardback, leisurely. Yay. But the plan was scuppered due to a delayed delivery. And, there was hardly any cakes in the display cabinet, and the ones that were there, I didn’t want. A first for me😊.

Plan B, which I hadn’t considered, because Secret Recipe always had cakes, was to walk around and find a cake I liked. The cafes that showed promise were already brimming with customers. A pivot was required.

I ended up at Nitori, a Japanese retailer. No, it doesn’t do cake. A long time ago, my husband and I visited the shop to buy flat sheets. They had loads of them but nothing that suited or was able to cover our king-sized bed. Sigh.

Strange but true. It’s not easy to find flat sheets in most stores in Malaysia. Why? Because generally a bedsheet set comprises a fitted sheet, a duvet cover, yes duvet cover, and pillow cases. Why again? Because most homes have air conditioning so I guess, people don’t mind a duvet. We mind. We use a fan during the night. And, we prefer a flat sheet.

That said, I didn’t mind a wander around.  After all, I had time on my hands. Full disclosure. It could be just me not being aware of similar products already available in other shops or online but I was genuinely quite excited by the things I saw on the shelves.

First was the porous ceramic spoon. Admittedly, I had a laugh as I couldn’t fathom why you’d want a porous spoon. Wouldn’t stuff sieve through the spoon? Apparently, no. There’s purpose in porosity. The microscopic holes in the porous spoon are there to absorb excess moisture. Hence, preventing salt and other seasonings from hardening or clumping. It is, however, not suitable for sugar as it absorbs too much moisture and causes sugar to harden. Porous spoons must be handled with care. No soap or detergent. I’m not sure how useful this information is to me. Still, it was good to know. 

I was also quite impressed by the freezer bags display. Pinned on a poster board were nine freezer bags of different sizes, with slide and double zippers, and suggestions on what they could be used for. It actually gave me some practical ideas.

Two other winners were the one-handed spice-mill, particularly as I have arthritis, and the multicoated bathroom brush, with an opening in the back of the packaging, that allows you to feel the texture of the brush, and decide if it’s too abrasive or just right.

All in all, I was quite pleased with my morning of discoveries and time spent.