locksmith on-call

my neighbour was caught out without keys to his front gate  at 11pm the other nite. he came over to ask if i have a saw which he planned to saw thru the padlock.

i don't have one & suggested he tried calling a locksmith who was willing to make house calls. the 3rd one that we contacted agreed to come & said upfront he was charging RM90.

he came over on his motorbike after 30mins & proceeded to tinker & pick the lock, eventually drilling & scraping at the key slot. i joke with my neighbour, an ENT specialist, that what the locksmith was doing is not too different from what he did at surgery - drilling & scraping.

the lock was picked after about 20mins, to my neighbour's relief. i don't think he relished the idea of spending the nite at my place.

& he whispered that he would have gladly paid even up to 2-3 times had the locksmith demanded that.

apology

what would it take to get an apology?

well, i myself don't offer one unless i feel i was at least partly to blame for the predicament. some people do so when the buck rests solely on their hands.

political leaders & industry captains have done likewise & stepped down from office for lesser shortcomings, eg. disagreement with policies, allegations of corruption & sex scandals, & the likes of Zaid & Soi Lek are to be commended. isn't it better to fail with honour than to win by cheating? or more poignantly, better to die standing than to live on the knees.

others may try to cling on & so subject themselves to the embarrassment of being shamefully dumped.

like you already are pelted with eggs on your face, don't get hit with the frying pan as well.

we are what we eat.

it's about a year ago when this news item was released.

i am writing this because a week before the fasting month started, i had to attend a meeting at the local health department. and sure enough, when the meeting concluded at 11am, we were invited to a jamuan teh, literally a tea treat, which you'd think would consist of some biscuits with a cup of tea - a quick bite just to tide over till lunch.

but then, not so in Malaysia & a jamuan would not be complete without the customary curry puffs, sweet kuih with even sweeter teh AND chicken curry with rice.

in fact, this is a worldwide curse & the EU will soon legislate obesity as a disability. which means, employers will have to provide fat people with health coverage & benefits (like someone who has fallen ill) & fat employees can seek legal redress if discriminated against.

"sorry, boss, i'm calling in sick today as i feel breathless just getting out of bed!"

sounds surreal, doesn't it?