As with most other parts of the World, the lockdown due to COVID-19 caught us by surprise. The previous day it was business as usual with just a few random cases testing positive for COVID-19 and then today; Bang! “It’s a lockdown” screamed the headlines in the local daily.
The newspapers were not clear on whether business and schools would be closed. So, I called up my office and they were as puzzled as I was. My boss and owner of the company wasn’t sure whether to open the office as usual or not. My daughter Ann, all of 8 years old and listening in on the conversation, wanted to know if her school was going to be open?
As news filtered in all day, it became clear that everything except groceries, local superstores, pharmacies and medical facilities, everything else would be closed. Meanwhile my daughter was panicking as she would miss her swimming sessions at school. I told her not to worry as the local health club in our neighbourhood had an excellent swimming pool. “But what about the timing?” she asked. For a few seconds I had no idea what she was referring too. Then she explained that the coach had a stop watch and timed each student.
I spoke with the father of another student who was also in the school swimming team. He said he provided his daughter with a Casio Baby-G BGS-100SC-4A Step Tracker Women’s Watch and that it worked quite well. He had purchased it online and offered to send me the link which he did via WhatsApp.
I clicked on the link and it opened up a site called CitiWatches.ie I’m sure my eyes grew larger as I scrolled through the site. It had almost all brands and dozens of models under each brand. More importantly, each watch was being offered at discounts ranging from 10% to almost 45%.
The Casio Baby-G BGS-100SC-4A Step Tracker Women’s Watch had a street tag of €175 but was being offered at €112. I called up the help number and made sure the watch would be delivered despite the lockdown. I was informed that courier deliveries were exempt. Thank God!
Four days later, the watch arrived and it had a sticker on top that said “COVID-19 disinfected.” Not wanting to take any chances, I applied some hand sanitizer on the box and waited a couple of minutes before opening it.
The Casio Baby-G BGS-100SC-4A Step Tracker Women’s Watch is a cute little shock resistant wrist watch with 100-meter water resistant. It had capability to count the number of laps and time each lap; perfect for my daughter’s purpose.
Next day, she wore the watch and I took her the health club where she changed into her swim gear and dived into the pool like a dolphin. It was a pleasure to see her swim and enjoy it too. I was even more glad when she told me she loved the watch and that it was perfect. Thank God for Casio and their innovative watches.
