Something I wanted to describe some time before but just didn't have time to do it. I was so absorbed into this one "crazy" project that I didn't even have time for own - frankly speaking, I lost about 2 kg of weight. This is the date just a day prior to my dad's scheduled surgery. We're just about to retire the night, July 19, and I was the only one awake finishing my work while the rest of the household has long gone to slumber.
It was about 12.30 midnite, when suddenly the lights went out, so did the aircond. Must be a blackout, but then I peeked through the window, the rest of the neighborhood was all lighted up. I woke Papa up, asking him to check the fuse. While doing that, I heard noises at our gate, sounded like my neighbor were banging on my gate. Papa was still dazed as he had a long day, but upon hearing the noise, he was immediately up on his feet, went straight downstairs. I followed him, with my kids all awoke, only to find out that our electric meter outside the house was in flames, with our neighbors shouting to wake us up.
I started to panic as Papa were shouting for the fire-extinguisher. In total darkness upstairs, I just couldn't find the torchlight and the fire-extinguisher. I ran downstairs looking for the other set in the kitchen, trying to light the stove for some lights. Adam & Aina were somehow excited with the activities, but Amir was screaming due to the darkness. Acik came down trying to figure out what's happening. With Papa screaming for the extinguisher and wet cloth, I just couldn't figure out what to do first. The fire started to spread to our shoe-cabinet, latched to the wall just below the meter.
Somehow Papa managed to find the extinguisher the same time I brought wet old clothes. My car was in the porch, just inches away from the fire. Papa managed to extinguish it in less than 5 minutes, but the shoe cabinet was half destroyed. As the extinguisher is dry-base, dust was all over the house.
And we went through all this with my mom and Atam fast asleep upstairs. Only later we woke them up, sending everybody to sleep over at Acik's apartment nearby as they sure couldn't sleep in the heat. 2 am, it was just me and Papa sorting out things with TNB and Bomba, fighting away the mosquitos while trying to catch some sleep.
The damage: 2 pairs of Adam's school shoes, 1 pair of Adam's taekwondo shoes, a pair of my Balenciaga, a pair of my Alain Delon, the TNB meter, the entire fuse cabling, the shoe-rack from IKEA, almost half of the porch ceiling and wall, dusty floor...and a lot of restless sleep. Remember, at this time, we're still maidless.
Lesson learned:
Always keep fire-extinguisher handy
Devise a fire-escape plan for your maid to understand and assist the children when you're away
New installed meter from TNB runs faster than the old one
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