Git Er Done

[FLASHBACK]

Friday, January 23rd

I learned something today.  I learned that in Singapore, it is completely unacceptable to strap a mattress to the top of your car and drive it home.  In the US, if you need something moved, well, unless it's an entire room full of furniture, you do it yourself.  You either find a friend with a truck or in my case, call dad to borrow the trailer.  And if something shouldn't fit, say, a box spring, you just strap that baby to the top of your car and you're set.  It would be silly to rent a U-Haul for something as minor as that.  In the US, I'd be completely embarrassed at my waste of good money.

I had bought a full size mattress, frame, and box spring from another American who is moving back to the US soon.  The mattress and frame squished into the back of the Honda easy, but the box spring would just not fit.  So I called David to tell him that when I pick him up after lunch, we were going to buy some bungee cords and tie it to the top of the car and drive it back.  He, to put it mildly, was horrified.  "Seriously?"  he asked.  "Yes, why not?"  He couldn't think of a reason, but after much discussion, simply refused to help.  It was just not done here, it was... white trash.  I might as well wear my hair in curlers on the way while wearing my makeshift bandana tube top.

What was a girl to do?  I called our real estate agent, Joy, who is so helpful in all things Singapore.  What you're supposed to do, we learned, was to call for a mover who for a small fee would pretty much move anything at anytime, anywhere.  Because it was the day before Chinese New Year, however, we probably wouldn't have much luck.  "Everyone Chinese will have gone home..." Joy told us, "But maybe you can find an Indian.  But wait, they have Chinese drivers, so that won't work either."  She looked in her paper for non-Chinese, non-Indian names and came up with a few.  We found a guy, Robert, and he picked up the mattress and had it on our doorstep within an hour.  Viola!  The guest room now has a bed.  How easy was that?  I won't have to lift a finger from now on.

 By the way, Robert was Indian.  I know you were curious.