littleme
250,000th poster!
I probably meant smallest child....I was still slightly confused after acquiring 2 extra children yesterday to ferry around with the smallest one....
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The Christmas Police.
- Thread starter Bob
- Start date
Carole
Well-Known Forumite
Back in the day when I was a trolley dolly for BA on long haul our longest trip at the time was 21 days away from home.
So we could be rostered a trip leaving Heathrow on the 14 Dec and you wouldn't get home until 3rd January.
They did however have a volunteer system whereby you could request a trip with your friends to a destination of your choosing. You didn't always get your chosen destination but they did try to keep friends together.
I always volunteered to work and had some amazing times, the best times.
Once I had a family though I wanted to be at home and they were very good at accommodating that
unless it was your turn to do Christmas Standby
This basically means sitting in a hotel room for 48 hours waiting for the beeper to go off. You then have 45 minutes to be glammed up, uniform on, downstairs in the lobby and taken to the plane. (This is to cover for cabin crew that haven't turned up for the flight).
So, if you were working over Christmas they let your family come along for the ride.
It's 23rd Dec, I'm on standby at Heathrow. I've got the other half with me and seven year old son.
We have packed little presents.
We don't know if I will be called out for a flight or not called out for a flight.
We have packed cases for every eventuality.
If someone goes sick at the last minute, you are called to take their place....but that might be 7 nights in South Africa, a night stop in New York, 3 nights in the Middle East, .......it could be hot it could be cold.
There were so many permutations of nights away/destinations/ temperatures/ so it was hard to pack.
We had to pack a case covering every eventuality. Bikinis and big coats.
I was used to it, but doing it with OH and son in tow was a logistical challenge.
Spent nearly all of the 48 hours there in the hotel room. Can't go anywhere in case the bleeper goes....and on Christmas morning I got called out to go to LA.
Family came with me, all was good.
The next year my son said "can we go down to London and do Christmas standby again Mum, it was the best time ever"
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PeterD
ST16 Represent.
Did a fair few years of working Christmas day, fortunately before I had a child, I wasn't even a huge drinker back then so didnt mind an early start on Christmas morning. Then when I had a retail job I hated the boxing day sale, invariably hung over, it was terrible. Now thankfully I at least get the bank holidays off and get to enjoy it with my grandchild. This doesn't stop me feeling for and appreciating those that don't get the day off, but in the same respect it doesn't stop me enjoying my own Christmas.
Withnail
Well-Known Forumite
I bought a Spa day gift earlier - got a voucher as a gift to give.
Started to rain, so fearing for the deterioration of the voucher i rolled it up and put it into the empty Buxton mineral water bottle i had retained from my McDonald's Meal Deal earlier on. As i walked over the bridge @ Bridge Street i took it out of my bag, sort of just to make sure it was still there, and it blew out of my hands and into the river. I saw it bobbing downstream, in its plastic casing, toward the new Riverside development before it turned a bend and i lost sight of it.
I've kind of come to terms with the fact that its gone, but i hope some good can come of it.
I hope that someone gets my massage in a bottle.
Started to rain, so fearing for the deterioration of the voucher i rolled it up and put it into the empty Buxton mineral water bottle i had retained from my McDonald's Meal Deal earlier on. As i walked over the bridge @ Bridge Street i took it out of my bag, sort of just to make sure it was still there, and it blew out of my hands and into the river. I saw it bobbing downstream, in its plastic casing, toward the new Riverside development before it turned a bend and i lost sight of it.
I've kind of come to terms with the fact that its gone, but i hope some good can come of it.
I hope that someone gets my massage in a bottle.
Bob
Well-Known Forumite
The voucher should have a reference number on it, if you contact the company and say it's gone missing they may be able to issue you with another, especialy if you left your details/the recipients details and have a receipt.
proactive
Enjoying a drop of red.
Spoilsport
Carole
Well-Known Forumite
We’ve noticed that lots of places worldwide now do this.
In the lounge we have a posh tree with elegant decorations on, but in the kitchen we have a fun tree with decorations from all over the world.
We make a point of nipping in to a Christmas shop wherever we are in the world.
We’ve got Rasta Father Christmas from Barbados, Nordic decorations from Norway, Santa in a gondola from Venice things from Croatia, South Africa, Montenegro, Antigua, Cotswolds, and the list goes on.
It’s such a happy trip down memory lane when we put the tree up, unwrapping the decorations from tissue paper and exclaiming “ Oh, remember when we went here and bought this?”
Our only regret is that we wish we’d started the tradition many years earlier.
jacs
Well-Known Forumite
We do the same. It’s something we started on our honeymoon and so far there’s only been one place where we couldn’t find one - Hong Kong. We did get a Lucky Cat though, so maybe we’ll hang that on the tree. We also buy a magnet and have a fridge door covered in them