A COLD EXISTENCE

Who says we do not have seasons in Singapore? I am at present huddling in my thickest jacket in what feels like an approximation of winter, thanks to modern ventilation techniques.

We have a central ducted air conditioning system in the office, which is all about trying to please everybody and end up pleasing no one. Since we moved to this location close to four years ago, the system must have been balanced and re-balanced, fiddled and diddled with any number of times. At present, we are at this tolerable truce where half the office wallows in a comfortable temperature, while the other half freezes. Well, tolerable to some people, but in a tropical country, the hot people always win. The argument is that you can always put on more clothes, but you can't go around naked.

Unfortunately, I am sitting in the freezing section.

Some of my colleagues come to work armed with winter jackets, which just underlines how ridiculously cold this part of the office is. I consider myself to be extremely heat-phobic and reasonably resistant to the cold, but it is too much even for me. I refuse to succumb to a winter jacket because it is just too ridiculous to contemplate, and also for vanity's sake. So I continue to freeze, and pray for sunny skies, because it is the equivalent of Siberia in here when it rains.

The contrast between the freezing temperatures inside and the tropical heat outside makes for a grand challenge in dressing, because there are only so many layers one can put on before one resembles a penguin, and not in cuteness at that. It is a toss up whether I choose to bake in the heat or freeze in the air conditioning everyday.

So anyway, I have to stop typing now, because I need to sit on my hands while they thaw. Mittens cross my mind, but with already fat fingers, that will only mean a lot of use of the backspace button.

Thanks, but no thanks.