Write just one more Christmas card this year

Well, it is that time of year again. The shops are getting busy ( or they would be if anyone had any money to spend ) , people are starting to buy enough food and drink to feed a not so small army , every book, CD, game or DVD you have wanted in the last 6 months is released - all within a couple of weeks of each other, ... all you hear on the radio is continuous Slade, Wizzard and Cliff Richard ... yes, Christmas is approaching, and approaching FAST !

Sometimes the "true" spirit of Christmas - that of peace and goodwill to all, of thinking of others as well as yourself, of sharing time as well as money with your nearest and dearest ( in other words, your family ) - it can be lost amongst all the rush to buy and wrap presents and endless partying and drinking. There is something you can do though that will help to restore the balance, and regain some of the lost spirit - and all it involves is writing a few more Christmas cards .... .

Amnesty International runs a campaign each year at this time called the Greeting Card Campaign. It simply consists of a list of cases from around the world, of individuals and groups, that Amnesty are highlighting. They might be for someone who is missing, or has been arrested and imprisoned without trial, or has been tortured or harassed or persecuted ... the same reasons why these kind of cases are highlighted all year around. The difference with this campaign compared to the usual ones is that you are not asked to write letters of appeal to the authorities on behalf of these people ( although you can if you wish to ) .... you are asked to write and send Greetings Cards to the people themselves, or to their families or communities. The cards are to have simple messages inside - just to show that others are thinking of them, that they are not alone at this special time of year. I have taken part in the campaign for the past few years, and it does make a difference in peoples lives .... you do, sometimes, get feedback from the people you have sent the cards to - mostly through the Amnesty web-site, but other times it is directly to you personally ( I have received cards of thanks from Indonesia and Sudan by post in the past ).

So you can recapture just a little of the old sharing, caring spirit of Christmas if you want to. All you have to do is be willing to write and send just one more Christmas card when you complete those for your friends and family this year. It may just be another card for you .... but it just could be a link to the outside world , a sign that they are not forgotten, for someone else. As they say , we are all one family in the end .... we are all Human.

( details of the campaign and cases featured this year can be found here :
www.amnesty.org.uk/gcc )

Apocalypse Now

Back to more mundane things ... . Life continues at the "fun factory" , but not quite as normal. The cast of players which make up the staff there are as they normally are - still alternating between being best friends and stabbing each other in the back. One positive thing - ' Her Majesty ' has started to talk to me again ... well, I now get a fairly civil answer to my questions and when I say Good Morning to her rather than just a dirty look or silence. I am not sure why now and not before, but I am not complaining ... I will be grateful for small mercies. Customers are as happy as ever ( i.e.: not very ) over the usual subjects - not having what they want in stock, not being served quick enough, us not being Tesco or Asda ... it goes on. But for once, we have a valid reason for the shortages ..... and it all stems from an event last week.

Last Wednesday, I arrived at work to find the lights on, but the doors locked. That is not that unusual .... but it normally means there is a problem with the tills, or with the computer back-up system that controls them ( cannot open if the till do not work )... a case of gremlins in the works. Michelle's little helper came along and opened the door to let me in after a while, and I asked what the problem was. It transpired the problem was bigger than just gremlins, and didn't just affect the tills.

He had been called into the store @ 3am by the alarm company ( they monitor the store alarms - security and those connected to the fridges/freezers to indicate breakdowns ) for a freezer alarm. He arrived to find not just one freezer had alarmed out, but all of them ... closely followed by the fridges, one by one. When it came to open up, we had no tills or computer ... we had nothing except the lights. We had a major problem . Despite the lights, the store ( and it transpired, most of the surrounding area ) had suffered a power failure - a power cable had burnt out. It was now about 6.30am - the electricity company said they were fixing the problem and we should have power by about 9-10am. That was too late. We had a back up generator, hence the lighting, but it did not generate enough power to provide that and keep the refrigeration systems running too. If the power isn't restored within a few hours, then the temperatures in the fridges and freezers mean the stock in them would be unfit for sale ... we would lose the lot ... and unfortunately we did. It had to be removed from the cabinets, recorded, then thrown away and disposed of. We couldn't even move the stock to the back-up areas to try and save it because, with no power, they were not working either ( my ovens, of course, were out of action too, so no baking ). To cut a long story short, the power was restored eventually that day, but not by 10am - we got it back about 6pm. As a result of the problems, we were unable to trade for the bulk of that day, unable to place orders to start replenishing the lost stock ... and had to throw away £12, 000 worth of ruined dairy, chilled and frozen food ( the store should reclaim some of the money back through making an insurance claim ). It was like a war zone, the cabinets completely empty, ... not one of the better days I have had at work. It was all hands on deck to help with the clean up and disposal of all that food ... well, we couldn't do anything else ! .

We opened as normal the next day - well , except for another short power cut which left us with our hearts in our mouths and our heads thinking " not AGAIN ! " ... at least we didn't have anything to lose this time. We were open, but didn't have much to sell except cans ( and my bread - the ovens were working now ). We had no milk until that day's delivery arrived - and that didn't please the customers one little bit. My little section of the store is right next to the Milk fridge, so all I had all morning was moaning. ....

The store is not back to normal even now, almost a week later. Because of the way we create the orders, we are always ordering not for the next day, but a day or even two later than that. We could not accept the deliveries last Wednesday because we had nowhere to put them .... the orders for delivery Thursday and Friday had already been sent and could not be amended ... and they would not be enough to fill the cabinets as they were . The first order which took into account the breakdown was delivered Saturday... but that would sell as fast as it came in , as we would have had little stock left before it arrived - so it was a fun end to the week ... NOT!. We are slowing building the stock levels back up ... but it is taking a while. It is a
complete and utter nightmare - work is even less of a good place to be than usual.... and the customers are not helping ... but that is the way it is - just have to get on with it .

The maestro returns ...

... but not quite yet.

Something to make me smile, something to put a huge grin on my face ... something to look forward to for next year. What is it ? ... the main object of my petit obsession of course ! He is returning to the UK on tour AGAIN !.

It has been announced that The Maestro is to play a number of indoor arena-based gigs here in the UK next May - at the moment it is Glasgow, London (Wembley Arena), Manchester and Birmingham . That is in addition to the possible outdoor concert in the Canaries he was planning for some point next year .... does he never stop working ? * hee hee *. Looks like they will be similar to the concerts he is performing in the Baltic states at present , which are similar to what I saw in London and Paris ... but that doesn't bother me. With the " old ladies " he uses ( the old synths he plays at the moment ) , no two concerts are ever completely the same, and it is rumoured it will be a bit of a " Greatest Hits " tour this time ( and not just centred on Oxygene ).

I have said (many times )before that I will take every chance I can to see Jean Michel live in concert. If these go ahead ( there is always a slight risk they will not ... although less of a risk for these than with the possible Canaries concert ) I will try my utmost to get to one of them ( probably Wembley Arena on 22/05 ). That will mean I will have seen him live 6 times in total, and 3 times in the last 2 - 2 1/2 years !. OK, not so prolific as some on the forums , and they have all been as part of the tours and not the HUGE one-off concerts - I would love to experience one of those for myself, just once - but I cannot complain ... that is better than nothing, than not seeing any. As of yet, only tickets for Glasgow are available, so I cannot say I am definitely going ... but I will make every effort to get tickets for at least Wembley when they do. I expect bigbrother will come with me (he normally does) ...and perhaps I can take Mum too this time - will be an experience for her ! .... it all depends on IF I can get tickets, and how much they are. But enough speculating and daydreaming from me .... just waiting for the tickets to be released now, then roll on next May !!

ps: thank you Kanta @ Blah Blah Cafe (fan forum) for finding the photos !!

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark....

.... or correctly, at work. There is a strange atmosphere there this week ... something is going on. I am not entirely sure what it is , but I have a good idea though ..... more about that in a moment.

As you can tell, I am back at " the fun factory " this week. My break away from it last week passed all too quickly. Not that I actually managed to do anything spectacular in that time, but it was just nice not having to get up at 4am !!!. So now I am back .... and still getting the silent treatment from " Her Majesty ", despite my efforts to talk to her ( no change there then .. not that I thought it would be ). There has been some change though - Billy has now gone, and the new manager has FINALLY arrived. His name is Stephen, and he seems OK - not that I have had much to do with him so far . Apparently, he used to work for Tesco ( another UK retailer ), and now he has moved to us to progress his career - that seems the wrong way around to me somehow (Most people working here would rather work for Tesco, I think ! ). Anyway, he hasn't said that much to me ... the subject of the waste has not been brought up as of yet ... I will wait and see a little while before I pass judgement on him ( see how long he last ... LOL ).

Back to the strange atmosphere - not caused by the arrival of the new manager, I should say. Something is definitely going on .. nothing to do with me though, I have to say. There has been a lot of whispering in corners going on, and visits from people in Head Office (particularly from those connected to HR and Loss Prevention ... ). The office has been out of bounds to most of us for long periods of time so "interviews" could be held with certain individuals ( which were not job interviews ), and meetings held with management .... very strange. By listening to what others in the store have said , it seems to be connected to something that happened last week - and as I have mentioned, I wasn't at work last week .... . One of the other team leaders, in fact one of the two who I said before was acting like they "knew everything" , hasn't been at work all week. I had not thought much about it, as she is prone to back problems so I assumed she was off sick again. Then Wendy mentioned that she had been called into the office last Friday for one of these "interviews" with a person from HR .... and left in tears. She hadn't been in work since. I assumed she might have been told off because of her sickness record - that seemed a bit unfair to me. Then someone else mentioned that Loss Prevention were around because money had appeared to have gone missing from the store,they thought from the safe. It appeared to have happened the previous weekend . , . Processing the information in my head , and putting two and two together ( and making five probably ) this was serious - the missing team leader was working then , and she normally does the cashing up. It doesn't sound good .... . I really hope that isn't the reason why she is not in .... I really hope she has not been that stupid, but who knows - people can get tempted. If that is the reason for her absence ... I don't think we will be seeing her again. Just have to wait and see though .... the interviews are still on going, and I have to remember my values - that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. It might be something else entirely - a mistake in the paper work perhaps ?

All this rumour and suspicion is not helping the atmosphere ... feels like there is something rotten at the heart of the store .... hence the mis-quote from Shakespeare as a post title .... hope things are sorted out soon either way.

Random Thoughts

Not a lot to write about at the moment - work is still work ( at least, I think it is ... I'm on a weeks break from it .. ) - it was just as frustrating as ever last week. As usual, my problems stem from my treatment in that soap opera of a place - or more correctly, from some of the actors playing there.

I am generally ignored anyway, but I am getting the silent treatment from one person in particular , who I shall call ' Her Majesty ' ( her name and manner has a regal air to it, hence the nick-name ... but I will not name her directly to protect the guilty ! ). All I get from her is a glance that tells me all I need to know - that I am deemed not worthy of speaking to, of wasting her breath and immense intelligence on. I have to admit, this is not the first time this has happened ... not the first time ' Her Majesty ' has been like that to me ... but I have the distinct feeling it might be like this for a long, long time . I don't like there being bad feelings between us, but if that is the way it is .... so be it.

Away from work, and back onto a slightly happier topic - ' The Doctor ' (* hee hee *). The news that David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who ( or at least, is not going to be playing the role when the full series returns in 2010 ) was not that much of a surprise really. Ever since it was announced that he was taking time off away from it to play @ Stratford with the RSC this year, there was a feeling that he would not be back. It is a bit sad - he was so good at it ... after all, he got me to sit down and watch it week after week ... :-) ... but things, and people move on. As he said in the many interviews this week, after the news broke, much as he loved playing The Doctor, it was leave now or never leave. And he is so much more than just that role. I just hope he continues to get the chances and exposure he deserves now he is leaving such a high profile job ... the media here is very television centred ( and US centred at that .... ), and no matter how talented you are, if you are not on TV much, you run the risk of being forgotten ( not that I think that will happen in his case ... ! ). His decision is going to make it harder for me to get my ' fix ' of him though ( ... and just as I was really getting into him too ... ) - it is a good job I found the fan website to keep me informed then ! .... and he is not leaving quite yet - there are the Christmas specials ( for 08 and 09 ) and three other specials next year to see before that happens. As for Doctor Who itself - it will survive his departure, it always has done in the past when the Doctor changes ( I will be VERY interested to see how they do the regeneration this time around .... ). It will not be quite the same though, for me at least. Will I continue to watch ? ... probably - depends on if I continue to like the stories .... and the New Doctor, whoever he or she is ....