[L]: Several weeks or so ago, a big rainstorm came through. There were so much wind gusts that our umbrellas broke. Or rather, it flipped inside out/upside down... and after that, well, it was just never the same again. We bought more umbrellas. And through big wind, it broke again. And of course, on top of that, I accidentally left one in the school cafeteria, and when I came back to look for it, it was gone.
So, Edwin went on a quest to find durable umbrella. He even looked for ones that have "vents" that can sustain high-speed winds, so that he can even ride his bike and use his umbrella at the same time. Edwin saw this kind of special vented umbrellas advertised in a catalog once when we were on an international flight -- you know, those "in-flight" shopping magazines that they place on the back of every airline seat. [Disclaimer: I am convinced that it's not safe to ride bikes while using the umbrellas especially in stormy weather. But I do confess that when push comes to shove (and I am late to class and other things), well... I use the umbrella and speed on my bike too. Sigh. So much for double standard.]
Anyhow, after much research, Edwin finally found a place to order these special vented umbrellas online from America. He got it shipped to our parents place, and through PB who came to visit this past month, we got it brought over. Yeah! =)
That same week that we got our new special-vented umbrella, we went for a walk with some friends to go find a place to eat. The sun was beating down, and so, we offered our umbrellas to be used as a sun-shade.
Unfortunately, our poor friends had no idea that one buttom can close/open the umbrella in an instant. Yes, it's very high-tech! They ended up manually wrestling with the umbrella to close/open it. After lunch, our poor friends sadly returned the umbrella with lots of apologies, confused at why the umbrella suddenly became twisted/bent out of shape. Our poor friends felt so bad... And, our umbrella was broken.
Since then, Edwin traced the origin of this special vented umbrella and found that it was actually made HERE! (Surprise?! haha, most everything is made here on this side of the world anyhow.) It is exported. Long-story short: our umbrella was made here, exported to America, sold there, we bought it, and it got brought back to us here. Being the good resourceful researcher he is, he contacted the place and asked them to repair it! (It had life-time warranty.)
Sadly, no. Though it's made here at the factory, it is to be sold to a distributor in America. And, we have to buy it from the distributor. And if it's broken, well, we need to go to the distributor for it to be fixed! Sigh...
It's like living next to the candy store, but not being able to buy any candy! =(
Such is our umbrella curse.
Luckily, we will go home eventually, and one day, get that thing fixed. After all, there's life-time warranty isn't it? =)
In the meantime, we'll just buy more "local" umbrellas...
