Mundane facts about your day: Part Deux.

[tek-monkey]

The forum keeps predicting the future:

 

[staffordjas]

6 pints, before 7.30pm ???? Bloody hell @staffordjas it's 9.40pm & I've had 3 gins & I'm ready for bed

It's rather crazy around here. It's like a big party town with lots coming for the weekend and pubs are packed from late morning , all through afternoon and absolutely rammed later in evening. We tend to come late afternoon and leave early evening as I don't like it too packed.

But yesterday we had to come into town to get hubbys trousers for his christmas present , so as soon as I was back from the mornings zumba it was a quite shower & jump on a bus to town. Got them first shop we went into , so a bite of lunch & coffee it was just meant to be.....

Got a bit carried away with the great atmosphere in the pub that we popped into "for one ". The diet coke plans didn't last long with my favourite Inches cider luring me .... (couldn't get into the first 2 we tried, they were packed at 2.30pm! ) . Pub full of strangers partying away , dancing and singing in the afternoon together meant the Inches cider was going down well! Son joined us for a soft drink after his barbers in afternoon as he'd driven down. He wasn't expecting us to still be there in the evening to join us for a quick pint before meeting his mates for his night out in town.

Best nights sleep I've ever had , took the 7 pints steady for me over the 7 hours , and not even got a hangover this morning !

 

[littleme]

No sleep for 4 nights today was my only day off in 3 weeks....spent it visiting everyone & dropping presents..., 7 day straight for me now....keep your fingers crossed...and above all...be nice....

 

[Carole]

I'm really jealous of you BA air stewardess job though , must have been fab.

Me too, very jealous.

I joined in the glory days of the 80’s when BA was a good airline.

I wasn’t academic, none of my working class family were ever expected to go to University, we just left school and got a job.

So to join BA in my twenties, when at the time less than 1% of applicants were accepted was a dream come true to me.

I‘ve travelled all over the world, met fabulous people, I was well paid, I’ve got amazing memories.

Back then, the airline quite often only did one flight a week to certain destinations. We did our flight, we were taken to a 5* hotel, in an exotic location, all expenses and allowances paid and left there for a week until the next flight came in to take us home.
Got to know bar staff all over the world…..

I’m used to the jibes about being a waitress, it’s water off a ducks back to us cabin crew (What’s wrong with being a waitress anyway?). No jealous comment will take away what an amazing job I had.

Yes we served food and drink, there was always someone being obnoxious but you can get that anywhere. The majority of people were lovely because they were going on holiday and most business class people were very respectful.
I‘ve met Royalty, I’ve met musicians, famous actors and actresses, every day was different and a new adventure, I loved it.


When the chips were down and someone was having a miscarriage, or went into a diabetic coma, or had a cardiac arrest, or they could smell smoke, or when someone was kicking off and needed to be restrained, or when there was a bomb threat, or the time we lost an engine and had a full on emergency, you were over the sea and hours away from anywhere you could land, well, ….we weren’t waitresses then, my goodness, they really respected us and looked to us for help.

For the record we had to have annual, 3 days of practical, medical, safety and security exams.
Anything less than 90% pass rate and you were grounded, couldn’t fly until you were up to standards. Waitress? Yes of course, but so much more.

I’m so glad that I joined at the right time, from what I can gather now, the job isn’t the same or the pay either.
I can’t speak for anyone else that joined a different airline or anyone who had a different experience to me.

My personal experience was amazing and I will be forever grateful for my 22 years of fabulous memories.

 

[SketchyMagpie]

Nan turns 100 today. 100! I can't begin to fathom living that much life.
Sadly she isn't always with us anymore on account of having advanced dementia. She's also a cancer patient on top of that and has had Covid twice. Two years ago she was on "end of life" care but confounded expectations by not dying... a part of me thinks that, in the event of a nuclear war breaking out tomorrow, she'd be the last one standing!

 

[Mudgie]

Carole,
That's a very interesting account of your vacation-enabling vocation.
I hadn't realised that staff, and presumably the aircraft, would be left somewhere for a week but that must have been more efficient than having extra flights with few passengers.

 

[staffordjas]

I joined in the glory days of the 80’s when BA was a good airline.

I wasn’t academic, none of my working class family were ever expected to go to University, we just left school and got a job.

So to join BA in my twenties, when at the time less than 1% of applicants were accepted was a dream come true to me.

I‘ve travelled all over the world, met fabulous people, I was well paid, I’ve got amazing memories.

Back then, the airline quite often only did one flight a week to certain destinations. We did our flight, we were taken to a 5* hotel, in an exotic location, all expenses and allowances paid and left there for a week until the next flight came in to take us home.
Got to know bar staff all over the world…..

I’m used to the jibes about being a waitress, it’s water off a ducks back to us cabin crew (What’s wrong with being a waitress anyway?). No jealous comment will take away what an amazing job I had.

Yes we served food and drink, there was always someone being obnoxious but you can get that anywhere. The majority of people were lovely because they were going on holiday and most business class people were very respectful.
I‘ve met Royalty, I’ve met musicians, famous actors and actresses, every day was different and a new adventure, I loved it.


When the chips were down and someone was having a miscarriage, or went into a diabetic coma, or had a cardiac arrest, or they could smell smoke, or when someone was kicking off and needed to be restrained, or when there was a bomb threat, or the time we lost an engine and had a full on emergency, you were over the sea and hours away from anywhere you could land, well, ….we weren’t waitresses then, my goodness, they really respected us and looked to us for help.

For the record we had to have annual, 3 days of practical, medical, safety and security exams.
Anything less than 90% pass rate and you were grounded, couldn’t fly until you were up to standards. Waitress? Yes of course, but so much more.

I’m so glad that I joined at the right time, from what I can gather now, the job isn’t the same or the pay either.
I can’t speak for anyone else that joined a different airline or anyone who had a different experience to me.

My personal experience was amazing and I will be forever grateful for my 22 years of fabulous memories.

I watched a TV program once about BA & training in the 80's , as well as todays training. Very interesting but don't think I could do all that , all the safety stuff in water etc. I suffer really badly with my ears each flight and weeks after as well. (worse when it's a gradual landing , rather than a steep faster one . Do flight attendants get immune to that , if affected, over time?

Although wasn't bothered about my ears when we had to prepare for an emergency landing of our own , after running out of fuel whilst being diverted to Manchester. The flight in front of us ,as we were about to land in Brum , had an emergency landing en-route from Scotland to Spain , hopped in front of us to land, and closed the Brum runways for the rest of the day. We did get to see the Man City plane close up as we landed away from the normal runways for safety . Told us to leave all our belongings and get off quick if needed whilst in the brace position. I just grabbed my passport and car/house keys. Luckily all was fine and must say Jet2 were marvelous getting us all seperate taxis back to where-ever we wanted. We had to go past our house in Stafford to get the car from BHX carpark.Scariest day of my life , especially being at the front of the plane sitting facing the stewardesses and seeing the fear on their faces whilst trying to hide it!

 

[Carole]

Carole,
That's a very interesting account of your vacation-enabling vocation.
I hadn't realised that staff, and presumably the aircraft, would be left somewhere for a week but that must have been more efficient than having extra flights with few passengers.

No, the aircraft didn’t stay there, it flew back to the UK.

For example, there was one flight a week to Mauritius.

So we flew there, got taken to a hotel. The crew that has been there for a week took the aircraft home.

Its because our pre flight briefing, pre flight safety checks plus the flight time itself meant we would go out of hours if we flew there and back again in one day, hence a lovely layover of a week.

That was the norm in the 80’s.

Of course, once they started flying to places more frequently it meant our layovers down route became less.

 

[tek-monkey]

Carole,
That's a very interesting account of your vacation-enabling vocation.
I hadn't realised that staff, and presumably the aircraft, would be left somewhere for a week but that must have been more efficient than having extra flights with few passengers.

When I worked on a ship it was the norm for staff to fly to wherever the ship was, as that was much more cost effective than the ship returning to the UK every time. We were allowed to schedule annual leave so that we were flown to wherever the ship was on our choice of day, then spent some AL there before setting sail. As you accrued flexi time for days on board this meant many people having great holidays for free, unless your ship was in somewhere you didn't fancy! One mate spent 2 weeks in Australia for free, sleeping on the ship that was in dry dock having repairs for most of it. On the flip side some got the north sea in winter.

Kinda wish I'd stayed there TBH.

 

[PeterD]

When I worked on a ship it was the norm for staff to fly to wherever the ship was, as that was much more cost effective than the ship returning to the UK every time. We were allowed to schedule annual leave so that we were flown to wherever the ship was on our choice of day, then spent some AL there before setting sail. As you accrued flexi time for days on board this meant many people having great holidays for free, unless your ship was in somewhere you didn't fancy! One mate spent 2 weeks in Australia for free, sleeping on the ship that was in dry dock having repairs for most of it. On the flip side some got the north sea in winter.

Kinda wish I'd stayed there TBH.

Can I ask which company you worked for? I only say as I have a few friends and old friends that worked cruises in the 90s and beyond.

 

[tek-monkey]

Can I ask which company you worked for? I only say as I have a few friends and old friends that worked cruises in the 90s and beyond.

Mine was ocean research, I was based at the oceanography centre in Southampton.

 

[PeterD]

Mine was ocean research, I was based at the oceanography centre in Southampton.

Ah, of course you did.

 

[Mudgie]

No, the aircraft didn’t stay there, it flew back to the UK.

For example, there was one flight a week to Mauritius.

So we flew there, got taken to a hotel. The crew that has been there for a week took the aircraft home.

Its because our pre flight briefing, pre flight safety checks plus the flight time itself meant we would go out of hours if we flew there and back again in one day, hence a lovely layover of a week.

That was the norm in the 80’s.

Of course, once they started flying to places more frequently it meant our layovers down route became less.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Mudgie]

I watched a TV program once about BA & training in the 80's , as well as todays training. Very interesting but don't think I could do all that , all the safety stuff in water etc. I suffer really badly with my ears each flight and weeks after as well. (worse when it's a gradual landing , rather than a steep faster one . Do flight attendants get immune to that , if affected, over time?

Although wasn't bothered about my ears when we had to prepare for an emergency landing of our own , after running out of fuel whilst being diverted to Manchester. The flight in front of us ,as we were about to land in Brum , had an emergency landing en-route from Scotland to Spain , hopped in front of us to land, and closed the Brum runways for the rest of the day. We did get to see the Man City plane close up as we landed away from the normal runways for safety . Told us to leave all our belongings and get off quick if needed whilst in the brace position. I just grabbed my passport and car/house keys. Luckily all was fine and must say Jet2 were marvelous getting us all seperate taxis back to where-ever we wanted. We had to go past our house in Stafford to get the car from BHX carpark.Scariest day of my life , especially being at the front of the plane sitting facing the stewardesses and seeing the fear on their faces whilst trying to hide it!

"Told us to leave all our belongings and get off quick if needed whilst in the brace position."
Surely if in the brace position you wouldn't see where you are going which would exacerbate the danger.
And isn't the brace position only for when there's a crash, with all passengers expected to die, so that there's a better chance of the face and teeth not being too badly damaged to help identification ?

 

[Lucy]

Have been to volunteer at Mission Christmas: Cash4Kids today. A very humbling experience.

 

[proactive]

And isn't the brace position only for when there's a crash, with all passengers expected to die, so that there's a better chance of the face and teeth not being too badly damaged to help identification ?

Conspiracy theory nonsense.

FACT CHECK: Does 'Brace Position' Kill Passengers Quickly in an Air Crash?

Does brace position kill passengers quickly in the event of an air crash?

www.snopes.com

 

[Gramaisc]

"Told us to leave all our belongings and get off quick if needed whilst in the brace position."
Surely if in the brace position you wouldn't see where you are going which would exacerbate the danger.
And isn't the brace position only for when there's a crash, with all passengers expected to die, so that there's a better chance of the face and teeth not being too badly damaged to help identification ?

The brace position will give you some advantages in terms of reducing the immediate injuries that would make your escape from the aircraft more difficult.

All my flights in my youth were in RAF planes, where the passenger* seats faced backwards, to give far better support during a crash, although you can be hit by stuff coming forwards past (or through) you. This, plus making a proper effort to restrain your arms, for use in the escape, would probably greatly improve your survival chances.

On a Ryanair flight back from Prague, the chap doing the safety instructions made very sure that everybody was listening to the whole thing, whether they wanted to or not. It was the only time I've ever seen it done as much more than a cursory box-ticking exercise. Not being one to join in the 'get off the plane immediately and race to the carousel, to stand there for half an hour' brigade, I was nearly last off and mentioned this to him - "I'm supposed to be last off, if this thing crashes, and I want these bastards out quickly!"


*Even the three in the back of a Vulcan faced backwards, etc.

 

[Thehooperman]

I joined in the glory days of the 80’s when BA was a good airline.

I wasn’t academic, none of my working class family were ever expected to go to University, we just left school and got a job.

So to join BA in my twenties, when at the time less than 1% of applicants were accepted was a dream come true to me.

I‘ve travelled all over the world, met fabulous people, I was well paid, I’ve got amazing memories.

Back then, the airline quite often only did one flight a week to certain destinations. We did our flight, we were taken to a 5* hotel, in an exotic location, all expenses and allowances paid and left there for a week until the next flight came in to take us home.
Got to know bar staff all over the world…..

I’m used to the jibes about being a waitress, it’s water off a ducks back to us cabin crew (What’s wrong with being a waitress anyway?). No jealous comment will take away what an amazing job I had.

Yes we served food and drink, there was always someone being obnoxious but you can get that anywhere. The majority of people were lovely because they were going on holiday and most business class people were very respectful.
I‘ve met Royalty, I’ve met musicians, famous actors and actresses, every day was different and a new adventure, I loved it.


When the chips were down and someone was having a miscarriage, or went into a diabetic coma, or had a cardiac arrest, or they could smell smoke, or when someone was kicking off and needed to be restrained, or when there was a bomb threat, or the time we lost an engine and had a full on emergency, you were over the sea and hours away from anywhere you could land, well, ….we weren’t waitresses then, my goodness, they really respected us and looked to us for help.

For the record we had to have annual, 3 days of practical, medical, safety and security exams.
Anything less than 90% pass rate and you were grounded, couldn’t fly until you were up to standards. Waitress? Yes of course, but so much more.

I’m so glad that I joined at the right time, from what I can gather now, the job isn’t the same or the pay either.
I can’t speak for anyone else that joined a different airline or anyone who had a different experience to me.

My personal experience was amazing and I will be forever grateful for my 22 years of fabulous memories.

What a great reply to those that just think it's all about being trolley doilies, well said @Carole

 

[Mudgie]

The brace position will give you some advantages in terms of reducing the immediate injuries that would make your escape from the aircraft more difficult.

All my flights in my youth were in RAF planes, where the passenger* seats faced backwards, to give far better support during a crash, although you can be hit by stuff coming forwards past (or through) you. This, plus making a proper effort to restrain your arms, for use in the escape, would probably greatly improve your survival chances.

On a Ryanair flight back from Prague, the chap doing the safety instructions made very sure that everybody was listening to the whole thing, whether they wanted to or not. It was the only time I've ever seen it done as much more than a cursory box-ticking exercise. Not being one to join in the 'get off the plane immediately and race to the carousel, to stand there for half an hour' brigade, I was nearly last off and mentioned this to him - "I'm supposed to be last off, if this thing crashes, and I want these bastards out quickly!"


*Even the three in the back of a Vulcan faced backwards, etc.

"where the passenger* seats faced backwards, to give far better support during a crash"
Maybe that should happen in cars too.

 

[Gramaisc]

"where the passenger* seats faced backwards, to give far better support during a crash"
Maybe that should happen in cars too.

Some cars do have rear-facing 'dicky seats' in the boot area.