more Communication Miscommunication

Today I ventured out to find a garden hose and sprayer. Not an easy task, and I am home now without either. I had one for a while. Paid a grand sum of RM10 and now I know why. It kept exploding off the faucet and drenched me regularly. So, it went into the trash on Monday, and today, on my way home from work, I tried to replace it. No one has what I want. I have found various pieces of hose, but nothing on either end to connect or regulate. So, I mimed what I needed, and the answer was frequently my thumb and finger pinching the one end to regulate the flow of water. And a small pot or bucket full of water being poured into the other end. Why on earth have a hose if I am going to decant water from a bucket?  From my cottage days I recall a wire clamp that you tighen around the end of the hose which joins a 'female' end that will screw onto the tap. None here in Kota Tinggi. Guess this is a much more sophisocated item than I realized.
here is my list of accomplishments and non-accomplishments:

  Too much work this week to spend on finding a hose, but the weekend will be set aside for that.

  Today I did get a call from a farmasi, telling me that they did get me some Twinrix (hep A & B vaccine). I then went to the doc that I had asked earlier and he was amazed that I found some and that it would be delivered properly (cold regulated package). So probably Friday I will get the final dose of that stuff.

My kitchen sink is plugged. I have poured boiling water down it - six kettles of the stuff, and it still does not run. It will empty in about an hour. And the sink is like a little bar sink - not huge. Many helpful friends have advised that I go to a hardware store for the product I need. I am thinking DRAINO but there is none to be had here. I even went to Econsave, and of course you know the line I get. It finish.   You  would enjoy the miming I do in order to get across what I want. I am so good at miming that anyone back home that wants to play charades with me will definitely want to be my partner.

This one gets a check and an X.  I was passing a Samsung store - oops Shop, and saw a pile of phones displayed. My Nokia is functional, but I am going to get an arthritic thumb with all the txt messaging I have to do with the teachers and other mentors. So, trying to find a blackberry or some look alike. Samsung has something I might consider. I would have bought the bloody thing right then, but seems they were out of stock, and then when I said I would wait for a new stock, I was told that the model is discontinued. Arghhhhhhhhhhh.  So will possibly go back on the weekend to see what stock is available and what it costs. The one I was considering was RM 299, reduced to RM279 (which is useless because there are none). And for some reason, the replacement model is RM199.  I gotta see it - why would a new model be cheaper ?

Coming home from this unproductive hose venture was sort of amusing. There is only one road into downtown from where I live. It crosses the bridge over the river with one lane in each direction. The traffic flowing into downtown is gridlock at that time of day. Not sure why - I guess everyone likes to be seen downtown after 5 pm.  Anyway, as I managed to scoot along the bridge fairly easily, I watched the two to three (all nonexistant lanes) lanes of traffic attempting to merge into one I could see a huge vehicle with blue and red flashing lights in the midst of all this, and sirens blaring. Completely stalled in the middle non existant lane, was the fire truck, obviously on its way to a fire or some disaster. Drivers, being who they are, kept their eyes forward, pretending not to see the truck and not letting it in to cross the bridge. Glad I was not waiting for a rescue from that bunch.

good nite. Time to count my blessings and prepare for tomorrow.