Air conditioners are the 8th wonder of the world

Of all the poopy things that could happen, my air conditioner stopped working. It has not been completely reliable since I moved in here but by late last week it was just nada. And it gets very warm without it! So I emailed my slumlord ... errr, landlord. Yup, he'll send someone over but its at my expense. Fine. Is Saturday morning OK? Well, earlier is better but I'll take what I can get.

Since work is quite busy these days, I decided to go to the office during the hottest part of the day on Friday and only be home when it cooled down somewhat (everything's relative ... 35 degrees is cool these days).

Saturday I waited anxiously all morning, even cancelled my chiropractor appointment so I would not miss the repairman's call. By noon, I was losing hope. Out came the Yellow Pages. I called 6 or 7 repair shops. Some did not answer. Two did not speak English. One was a fax number (nothing like that screeching in yer ear!). The other two took my number and someone would call me back. One said he would come in the evening but it would cost 100 Dirhams just to show up. Fine. And still I waited ... and sweated ... and waited ... and sweated.

FINALLY at 8:35 pm Saturday evening, my mobile rang and it was the company my landlord had called. Woohoo! And he spoke very clear English which is always a relief.

The repair man and his assistant poked around a bit, lifed some ceiling tiles, ran some water in the tub (not sure why). After about 10 minutes, he informed me that the duct had completely frozen closed on the inside, solid with ice and that was the problem; no air flow. The solution? Turn off the a/c for an hour to melt the ice, turn it back on and see if that worked. So I sweated it out for another hour. Low and behold, a cold draft from the vent ... yay!

After they left I looked at the business card he left, seems he is actually a landscaper ... ? But he solved the problem and all's well that ends well and I didn't have to pay for it afterall. I have proven to myself that if I had to I could survive without air conditioning ... but why?!

As a footnote to my air conditioner saga, tonight (Sunday) my mobile rang and it was the 100 dirham repairman. I informed him that it is now fixed, thank you for calling and have a nice night. Why he was calling me at 11:55 p.m., I'm not too sure? Such is the way things go in Dubai.