Bbbbburrrrrr!!!

As I am writing this now, cold air envelopes the whole apartment like a bad habit that won't go away. The computer settles apathetically on our rectangular dining table and behind it the sealed window still lets in a spine-tingling draft.

Camping on the living room earlier on, my family and I were bundled up in woolen sweaters, thermal suits, and the occasional wool throw. We even left the stove on to heat up a large pot of water so as to enable some warmth to circulate the room.

Oh what a memorable way to celebrate the first few days of 2007!

Around 7pm on New Year's Eve, we noticed that the running hot water in the bathroom had become somehow lukewarm. The same consensus went for the kitchen sink's. Nada hot water!

We next checked the heater, which in our apartment at least, consists of low-lying radiator with a large knob that facilitates as a temperature control. It was dead. No heat whatsoever - no crackling of hot water inside - rose up from the vents.

My husband went down to the ground floor for some laundry duty and reported back that the whole building seemed to be out of heater from the looks of it.

That New Year's night, amid the cacophony of fireworks and techno-party music, we slept in our sweaters, immensely hoping by tomorrow the heater would be up and running again.

But as luck would have it, no such thing happened. My husband rang up the company in charge to check what was wrong and to rectify the problem immediately.

As evening almost approached, noone arrived to fix the problem. Hubby re-rang the company and the person on the other line reiterated that the problem was already logged and someone was already on the way.

Around 8pm, someone did buzz the frontdoor and we let him in. We were relieved but our giddiness was shortlived. No warmth was restored that night and my husband proceeded to write an email the same night to the University's Housing for a complaint on the pressing matter.

Yesterday morning (already midnight now), hubby called again the Uni's Housing, explaining our situation, particularly with respect to the baby, which requires a warm temperature in order to sustain and roughhouse indoors.

The representative informed that the caretaker was already make known of the predicament and should be there at any moment's notice. On his way back from buying breakfast, my husband finally bumped into him bringing in some people to the boiler room to assess the problem. Also, we could hear some clanking in there when we went out the frontdoors for some grocery shopping in the afternoon.

When a change in temperature (and freezing water on 'hot' water tap still runneth over) failed to take place by late afternoon, we became anxious and more upset. This is outrageous! In light of this, my husband called again the Uni's Housing and the reply was that some parts which needed to be order, would only arrive in late afternoon and they should repair the damage tonight.

Around 7 or so, someone buzzed the door asking us to open for him (them) to remedy the problem in the boilerroom. At last! we thought. But it was too good to be true. Probably they just came in to put the parts and left thereafter.

We are now angry at the lackaidaisical attitude of the Uni's Housing (and by association those involved in and hired for repair) in bringing back the heater into our apartment. My hubby even sent another email, expressing his utmost disappointment for this inconceivable delay as well as for the lack of empathy on the Housing's side. Is it attributed to New Year's hangover which in turn transmutes into a sluggish turnaround and lag in response time?

I pray that we would get our heater and hot water up soon. If not, the Housing MUST proffer an alternative solution the least of which should involve portable heaters (plural since the spacious bedroom loft is quite cold at night) and the most is evacuating us to a nearby hotel as a temporary measure.

The present condition also reminds me of some other hapless people without proper heating in their homes or even the homeless on the streets. How do they survive on a day-to-day basis?

With them in mind, I am sincerely grateful to God for having this roof over my head, albeit colder than usual. In the interim, lots of wool sweater and socks and goosefeathered comforters will accompany me tonight.

Update: this morning upon waking up, the heater and hot water are back. Thank God! (I didn't manage to post this, as planned, in the wee hours of the morning since Sadia 'summoned me' for nursing duty and I drifted off to sleep.....)