Life is like a selection box

A quick update here is in order I think ....

Life at the fun factory did get a bit busier , and there was just a little more Xmas spirit, in the week leading to Christmas , especially on Christmas Eve. It was all hands on deck on the tills and filling the shelves. As for me .... it was busy, but not as busy as I have seen in previous years ... and that wasn't entirely a bad thing as I was working on my own all day ( no help for me ... quelle surprise !! ). This made me a little grumpy, and the actions of my manager didn't help either.

I mentioned Stephen before when he arrived a few months ago ... and said I would reserve judgement on him at the time. Now .... well, he is OK, but he does seem to bring out my bad tempered, sarcastic side a lot. I cannot tell if he is serious or joking over a matter most of the time, so I assume he is serious ( he is the manager - it is safer to do so ) ... only to be ridiculed by him and others for doing so.... he also has an annoying habit of referring to me as "the baker" ALL THE TIME. I put up with it to start with because he was new and I thought he might not have got used to everyone and their names ... but he is still doing it. Every morning it is " Hello baker " to me and " Hello whoever-he-is- speaking to" to everyone else ... if he asks something it is " what do you think then baker ?" .... he probably doesn't realise, but it is driving me nuts - I am an individual human being, I have a name , so he could at least have the decency to use it once in a while !! ... I am more than just my job title ! ... . As for Christmas Eve ... he had a fixation with mince pies. We had sold out of pre- packed short-crust pastry mince pies by mid morning ... the only ones left in store were the puff pastry ones I bake and pack. They sell well, but people prefer the short crust ones - they are more what people think of when you speak of mince pies. I had baked and packed a load of my type the day before, to try and ensure that I didn't need to do any on Xmas Eve itself ... had too much to do just baking the bread and rolls ... so there was quite a few packs to be bought on the shop-floor already - or so I thought . Stephen didn't agree with my way of thinking - he wanted even more. Every time he popped his head around the door, it was " Have you done the mince pies yet ? " ..... "You'll have to do at least a case of them ?" ... ( there are about 140 pies in a case, sold in packs of 4, so 35 boxes from each case ) .... " Have you put any mince pies out yet " .... "Have you checked if there are any mince pies out on display? " .... I was not a happy bunny by the end of the morning - did he think I had nothing to do than bake and pack mince pies ! .... what about the rest of the stuff on my section ?... and I've only got ONE pair of hands... . I didn't think we would sell all those mince pies but I did as I was told . Needless to say , out of the 80 or so packs that were on the shop-floor to be sold that day, about 50 ended up being thrown away .... but what do I know, I've only been doing this the last 5 Christmases .... ;-)

Anyway, it was a long day - I started @ 5 am ( it is kind of a tradition to come in a hour early that day ... try and get something on the shelves before the door open to customers ) and hardly stopped until a quick bite to eat @ 1pm, then a bit more baking and clearing up which took me to 4 pm. I was VERY glad to go home ... and at least I didn't have to cycle home - because of the early start, bigbrother had taken me to work by car ( no ferries or public transport running @ that time in the morning ), and so he picked me up again in the evening for the return journey. No work for four days .... the first time that had happened @ Christmas for about 15 years ... I could not wait.

Christmas itself was a quiet family affair - just bigbrother, Mum and me sitting around the TV ( mostly watching DVD's ... programmes on TV itself were not that great ) stuffing our faces with chocolate and cola in between roast meals, then going for a walk or a drive afterward .... simple but nice. I'm a bit too old now for big Christmas presents ... received mostly smellies, clothes, Cd's ,books and gift vouchers .... I was happy with that , although I was a little disapointed ... I couldn't have been as good this year as Father Christmas wanted me to be ... no sign of David Tennant , Johnny Depp or Ewan Mc Greggor in my stocking ... ( only joking !!! )

So Christmas has come and gone again .... we are back in that twilight-like zone again, that strange period between Christmas and New Year where those who are lucky enough ( or those in offices or who work for the MOD or Government ) can just keep partying until next Monday .... and those who are not ... *ahem* ... are back to work again ... such is life.

( just a final thing ... a belated Happy 2nd Birthday to my little Blog !!! ( started this 26th December 2006 ) ... lets see if I can keep it going for another year ... )

The Doctor needs a doctor ....

And now, something about my other, newer petit obsession ... * hee hee *

According to reports on the fan web site, David Tennant has not been a well little bunny ... he has injured his back, and it is not just a common backache - he has need surgery to help elevate and correct the problem ( the diagnosis was a prolapsed disk )... not good !. It looks likely he will be unable to return to work before the New Year . It could not have happened at a worse time either for him - he was just starting a run of performances over the Christmas / New Year period as Hamlet in London. He had managed to complete a few, but had to pull out just before one of the important ones - the press preview. The understudy for the role had to step in, and was a great success by all accounts ... which is great but it sort of steals David's thunder at bit, doesn't it ?

I really feel for David .... all that hard work @ Stratford the last few months, performing to great acclaim , putting his heart and soul into the role, and then this happens .... . Perhaps that is the part of the problem - he has worked TOO hard and over-exerted himself ... all that leaping and bounding about he does as The Doctor, and on stage as Hamlet and other roles .... all that couldn't have helped ... he seems to be a very physical performer ( not that I am complaining .... ;-) ) ... he does work very hard. Apparently, this is one of the few times he has ever had to pull out of a performance due to ill health in his career .... I just think it is just a little bit sad for him.

Anyway, he is on the mend after the surgery ... and will soon be back bounding around our screens and stages as usual ( sooner than you think on TV at least - the Doctor Who Christmas Special is being shown Xmas Day ... ! ) ... good news !. All I can say is - GET WELL SOON DAVID ! ( and enjoy the rest while you can .... good luck, have a great Christmas and hope to see you good as new in the New Year .... )

Time Flies

Is it really 367 days since I found myself standing and waiting for a coach at 5 am in Portsmouth to take me to London ? ....

... since I rushed across the capital by tube to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar to my favourite place in the world ( other than home that is ) - Paris ? ...

... since I came up out of the metro station onto the Champs Elysses to find a magical sight greet me ... the whole boulevard illuminated by Christmas fairy lights in the trees - a sight to take your breath away ....

... since I stood shivering, frozen to the bone, ( and just a little bit scared ) by the fountains at the Place de la Concorde, waiting for people I only knew through talking on the net - and who didn't arrive ?

.... since I waited outside a cute little theatre , surrounded by hundreds of like-minded others, willing the doors to open and just listening to the voices around me although I understood very little of what they were saying ....

.... since I experienced something special ... one of the memorable nights of my life ... watching a frog appear in an egg shaped chair, with eyes the colour of rich , dark melted chocolate , a voice that sounded like sweet music ( although he didn't speak much, and most of what he did say I didn't understand ... I do love the French language ... ) and a smile that lit up the room then perform his own particular type of aural magic upon me and everyone around me .... taking each of us on an adventure all of our own, but connected each other still, to another place and time, just by the power of sound waves ....

Is it really a year ( Ok, .. a year and ONE day ... :-) )since I travelled to Paris on a freezing December day to see the Maestro perform the whole of my favourite album - Oxygene - completely live @ Marigny Theatre ? ... yes it is! . It doesn't seem that long ago though - doesn't time fly when you are having fun ( or so they say ) . I know that piece of the adventure was only the first part of something that has continued through this year ( at the RAH ) and is continuing still .... hope it never stops - for me at least.

Further Tales of the Fun Factory

It is now just a little under two weeks until Christmas Day, but except for piles of mince pies and chocolate selection boxes, you would not really know in the fun factory. There is a distinct lack of Christmas spirit here this year ... no Christmas tree, the decorations we do have around the store are pitiful, no Christmas music on the shop-floor ( due tothe rules changing and the store not having a broadcast licence ) ... everyone seems to be if not in a bad mood, at least a bit down in the dumps. It is not helped by the fact that we should be getting busy , customer-wise by now - and we are not. The shop is very, VERY quiet. That is not to say that the staff are not busy - we are, but that is more down to having not enough people to do what we have to do .... let me explain.

The credit crunch has finally hit the company, so financially things are not great. It is not in as much trouble as Woolworths ( it is at least solvent ), but there is a big hole in the finances - takings are down, and they are over budget on wages by a lot (they think about £250,000 ). The result of this is that there is an overtime ban, and a block on recruitment until further notice. That is a problem for us - the store virtually runs on overtime at this time of year, and we have had 2 or 3 members of regular staff leave ( or be made to leave.... ;-)) in the last month or so . Everyone is running around like headless chicken, trying to deal with the customers we do have. We are very short staffed ... being quiet is a kind of a blessing and a curse at the same time. . It is a bit of vicious circle at the moment - not enough people around to fill the shelves properly because those we do have are on checkout serving customers , so they look empty ... so the customers we do have complain we never have anything they want, or they are queuing for too long at checkout because we haven't enough people to man them all, so they go elsewhere .... so takings are down ... so there is less money for wages ..... and so it goes on. It is no surprise that the spirit of Christmas Cheer is lacking a little .... with no staff and dwindling but complaining customers, the fun factory is even less fun that usual.

Things might pick up .... there is still the rush for fresh stuff on Christmas Eve to come yet ( not sure if that is good or not considering things ... ) - but somehow I doubt it. Thinking about it, perhaps the title of this post should have been something else ....

*hee hee *

Every human is free and equal ...

Today is 10th December - Human Rights Day, as set out by the United Nations. Today we celebrate the creation of one of the most important documents created in the 20th Century ( it is to me and many others ) ; a document whose values form the basis for many laws around the world even though it itself is not legally binding; a document which is relevant to every single person on this planet although many do not even know it exists ; a document which helps defines what it is to be Human - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on this date, but this year is particularly special. This year , like something else close to my heart (*ahem* ... or should that read someone ;-) - a clue to that : see my last post !) it celebrates the 60th anniversary of its creation. The general theme of the day this year is the promotion of the Declaration to a wider audience .... to get more people to know about it and sign up to its values . This is just my little bit to help .... ( you can read the text of the UN UDHR here to find out more - please do ! )

On December 10th 1948 , the UDCR was signed by the nations of the world (well, those in the newly created UN that is) in Paris. It was created in reaction to the horrors of World War Two, to the inhuman policies of the Nazis - to try and ensure that something such as that would never happen again. It defined things that ALL humans on this planet were entitled to , regardless of race, sex, religion, political allegiance or any other distinction : things that could not be given or taken away by anyone, which you were entitled to just by being Human ... a citizen of this planet.

Unfortunately, despite the high hopes of the early post war years, 60 years on people are still not being treated humanly , not everyone has their rights, the UDCR is being ignored by many countries ... and not just in Africa or South America ... western governments such as our own are too (The "War on Terror" is not helping matters ). There is still need for organisations such as Amnesty and others like it. ... Human Rights and their defence are as relevant now as ever. People need to know what they have a right to, and need help to try and get it. The values of the UDHR need to be promoted and respected more widely, for by respecting and living by its values we are essentially living and respecting each other, and that can only be a good thing , can't it ?

Wembley, here I come ....

.... the Arena, that is, not the stadium. Yes, I have gone and done it .... I've booked tickets to go and see the Maestro in concert AGAIN next May (definitely something to look forward to ! ) . They are costing me money I cannot really afford to spend ( they are £45 each ... closer to £50 with the booking fees and postage ) but I'm thinking of it as a Christmas and VERY early birthday present to myself ... * hee hee* . As I said before, I'm taking every opportunity that comes along to see Jean Michel live while I can - it is just that there have been more opportunities than usual in the last 12 months ! ... I'm really not that obsessed ( who am I trying to fool .... ;-) )

I have booked 3 tickets - Why 3 tickets ? .... well, one for me ( of course ! ), one for bigbrother (he has come with me most of the times I have seen Jean Michel before ... and he has a car , so that will be the transport sorted out hopefully ! ), and one for Mum. They both think I am obsessed with him anyway, so this will only confirm that fact further !

I have to say that Mum isn't that interested in the Maestro, but after "suffering" (her words, not mine !) the DVD of the concerts with me when I watch them at home , she at least knows who he is and what he does. I just want her to experience a concert live for herself (something she hasn't had the chance to do for years) - it could have been a concert by anyone, it just happens to be one by the Maestro ( I am not trying to convert her by the way ... I wouldn't have the nerve to try ... but who knows what might happen). Bigbrother and I go waltzing off to concerts and she is normally sat at home alone .... I thought for a change she should come with us , so she is. I think it might be a little bit of a shock to her though ... what I haven't mentioned is that the seats are quite near the front, and it looks like a lot of the "die-hard" fans from the forums are going to be around that area too ... should be interesting ( and noisy ! ) .. I didn't think that through very well did I ?, but never mind ....

Anyway, I am quite a happy bunny at the moment thanks to this ... it gives me something to look forward to for next year ( and I need that , the way work is going at the moment , next year might not be that great ..... ;-( ) ... roll on 22nd May 2009 - Wembley, here I come !!!

Utter Stupidity

Sometimes, you can see something happen right in front of your face and yet still not quite believe it is happening .... not believe what your eyes are telling you. This might be because it is something surprising, amazing, unbelievable or shocking, disturbing, troubling .... or just plain stupid.

Travelling home from work a few days ago, I came across just such a sight. I was pushing my bike along the pavement , in a complete world of my own as usual. Then I noticed that there was a queue of traffic on the road beside me - a number of buses were at a standstill, but I could not see what was stopping them ... the traffic was flowing further down the road. Waking a little further down , I came across the reason why - someone was lying in the road. At first I thought they might have been hit by a car or even one of the buses ... then the body suddenly got up, ran along the road laughing and flicking V-signs, then laid down in the road again !! I could hardly believe what I was seeing ....

On the pavement in front of me were a group of about eight or nine boys - they could not have been older than 10 or 12 ... maybe younger. They were being loud, shouting at each other and pushing each other around ( don't kids just talk at a normal volume anymore ? ) .... being boys, larking around - nothing unusual there. ( I don't know why, but groups of kids make me feel uneasy ... you never seem to see a group of just a few ... there always seems to a a whole tribe of them ... never quite sure what they might do or act ) . One of the group had decided to break off, and accompanied by shouts of encouragement, and hoots of laughter from the rest of the group, was laying down and rolling around in the middle of the road - and in the direct path of one of the buses - then getting up , moving along and doing it again!!. I shouted at them, asking them what the hell they thought they were doing, and did they have a death wish .... all I got was a mouth full of expletives and one finger salutes in return before the "body" got up and they all ran off into the night.

I still cannot quite believe that they could be so stupid .... that almost getting themselves run over was some sort of fun ! It was only luck ( and the good judgement of the bus driver ) that ensured that that child wasn't . I know kids can get bored ... but that bored ? ... enough that getting run over is better?. Would he prefer his parent(s) to be paying for a funeral rather than buying him Christmas presents perhaps ? ... I don't think so !