Who Were You With In The Moonlight?

It's been just as busy at work today as it was yesterday with the added distraction of Johnny on the roof. He's been using the pressure washer to remove all the moss & muck from the tiles of the reception. It needed doing but it was sooo noisy! It was making the floor of our little tin shed (office) vibrate which in turn made our feet & teeth vibrate strangely??! Thank goodness it's Friday that's all I can say :O)

On the 'I'm A Celebrity' front: We've all been trying to remember the songs Dollar used to sing, so I've been having a look on YouTube. OMG I embrressed to say I have found a song I know & love! David Van Day doesn't look anything like that now does he?

What do you think? I really didn't like him when he first went into the jungle but now I love to hate him. He's like a baddy in a pantomime lol. I couldn't stand to watch it if there was only Danni, Carly, Brian & Martina Navratilova left in there, I'd die of boredom lol.

I'm An Office Manager Get Me Out Of Here!

I am shattered today. Not physically, just mentally. We haven't done anything at all at work this week until today & then everyone wanted something from me and everything had a deadline. It's like waiting for a bus, you don't see any for ages & then 3 come along at once. I had fun though trying to juggle it all so I'm not complaining. I have got the brochure to the printers (with the help of Phil) and tried on numerous occasions to pay them over the phone with the bosses credit card, but everyone was too busy to talk to me so I'll have to try again tomorrow. The Sun newspaper wanted a photo of the holiday park and a 25 word summary to put in there glossy booklet. I mean, how can you sell a holiday park in 25 words? Paul is writing a bookings programme which is now scheduled to go live on Monday so fingers crossed it will be OK. He's worrying me slightly as the enquiries programme is not working at all. He assures me it will be OK when he's finished so I'm not going to lose sleep over it just yet. The touring boards are finished and I've sorted out the prices for next year & designed a new flyer to go in the brochure. We didn't know we were doing touring until last week when the boss came into the office and told us. We've had to come up with how it's all going to work, how to advertise it etc. We've got to sort the ferries out next and OMG I could go on & on there's so much to do. Then I'm losing Kerri for a week. She's off to Blackpool in the morning for a big dancing competition. She usually does really well & comes home with armfulls of trophies so I wish her all the luck in the world. Go get um Kerri :O)

Mum & Dad came round about 10 mins after I'd got in from work and bought Elena an advent calendar. They left about 10 mins before Andrew got home. We had tea, did the housework and watched I'm a Celebrity and that's about it. Well apart from talking to Lisa on the phone which was fab. I love chatting to her. She sounded sooo tired poor thing. She's got a couple of plays to read tonight so she's got her work cut out. But apart from that we chatted about Christmas & sleeping arangements, secret santas & food and all was good :O)

Hiroshima, Japan

I've learnt something new today. Kerry was playing Facebook's Geo Challenge at work this afternoon and cursing because she was struggling with the cities. The game gives you a world map & a list of cities and you have to click where you think they all are. Now most of them are OK, we're both fine in Europe & America but when it comes to the middle & far East we really struggle. We know Seoul is in Korea but to find Korea on the map is quite hard. Then Hiroshima came up which sparked a conversation about the atom bomb. Tim (at work) asked us if we knew the name of the plane that dropped the bomb? Both Kerri & I looked blank. It's the Enola Gay said Tim, OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark) sang about it in the 80's. Did you know that?

Got home tonight and my dearest friend had sent two BOGOF McDonald cinema vouchers. Isn't that thoughtful, and in her delicate state too. Thanks Teresa xXx

These will come in very useful for taking Elena's friends to the Cinema for her birthday. She's still undecided what she wants to do. I hope she makes a decision soon, there's only fourteen days left! She's very busy at the moment with drama so I have even suggested that she has two birthdays like the Queen. A family one on the 10th December & one for her friends on 10th January. Watch this space.

Now I've been very naughty & pinched this off Teresa's blog (I hope she's not cross) just look, isn't it gorgeous :O) This is my little peanut, I say MY peanut because I have the best job in the world. I am it's mummys best friend (grin) what do you think, is it a girl or a boy? Half of me wants it to be a boy so Tree can pass all Max's clothes down to him but the other half of me want's it to be a little girl. Do you know what, I don't really care as long as both Teresa & the baby stay healthy. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving on the other side of the pond. So I just want to wish Chris and all her friends a happy thanksgiving :O)

A Brush With Mr Potato Head

Andrew was supposed to go on the mainland again today so he got up at the crack of dawn. At 7:30 we had a phone call saying someone called Geoff ??? was poorly so the trip was cancelled & could he go into work as usual. Although I felt sorry for him that he had to get up so early I am pleased he will be home at the usual time ~ every cloud :O)

This new work rota is driving me mad at the moment. Now you would think that working Monday to Friday and having the weekend off would be the best rota ever. Don't get me wrong, it is. I get to spend the whole weekend with Andrew & the girls but I don't get time off in the week. It's things like shopping. I had got into such a routine that Monday morning I went to Tesco to stock up on food for the week but I was at work on Monday so the cupboards are bare! The washing gets done in the evening and I forget to pull it out of the washing machine & when I do remember it's dark outside so I can't hang it out. I think I know what the kids go through now at the start of the 6 weeks holidays. They are lost, out of their routine, don't know whether they're coming or going. Well that's what I am comparing it to at the moment as the alternative scares the c*** out of me ... getting old & turning into my Mum {shock-horror}!! Mind you it's been so hectic at work, I can't tell you how busy we've been ;O) Do you think the crisps, Tea & magazines give it away?photograph ~Nicky & Kerri in the office
Lisa & Liam are coming home today for the weekend. Can't wait to give them some cuddles :O)

Gemma has moved into her flat. One of the jobs this weekend is to take all her stuff up there for her. I have felt sorry for her as she hasn't been able to find anything properly since we decorated her room poor thing.

Here's today's HSMSHS word ~ brush :O) I was multi tasking this morning lol.

The best thing that's happened today was phoning Teresa after work. The postman had delivered a present to her ROFL. While we were staying at her house we went to see the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solice. We had a friendly argument about who was the best James Bond and of course I stuck up for the love of my life, Pierce Brosnan. Teresa didn't agree, because she LOVES Daniel Craig. Andrew was on my side and called Daniel Craig Mr Potato Head lol.

To be continued ....

Stop the press, news just in, just had a phone call from Liam asking me to pick them up ~ back soon :O)

Ok I'm back :O) Where was I, oh yes, Mr Potato Head lol. So we were having a laugh arguing over Pierce Brosnan & Daniel Craig. Then we got talking about the Bond theme tunes and Teresa said she would like a CD with them all on. We talked about Bond so much I dreamt about Pierce Brosnan that night but that's another story ;O) On the way home we hatched a plan. Andrew knew he had 2 James Bond CD's the same & wanted to send it to Teresa. So we sent this ... With this as the back cover lol ... Unfortunately I've deleted the photo of the wrapping by mistake but you can see it on Teresa's blog :O)

Elena took some photos while we drove to Ryde to pick up Lisa & Liam. We have to drive to the top of the pier because that's where the catamaran docks.

Noah & The Computer Programme.

What a great day today, my friend Kerri is back from her holiday and it sounds as if she's had a fantastic time. I'm so pleased for her & can't wait to catch up with all the news :O) I've also had a lovely e-mail from Chris too. It sounds as if she's been having a bit of a rough time lately so I hope she can get some R&R over the next few weeks :O)

Not a very eventful day today, been to work, been to Tesco as I'm making a couple of surprises for Teresa & Claire as a thank you for having us over the half term holiday. Can't say anything yet but when they are finished I hope they like them. Called at Woolworths on the way home to see Gem as she phoned me at lunchtime to tell me today was the last 'double discount' day. Managed to pick up 3 tins of Cadbury's Roses Chocolates as I need them for Christmas presents. Got 30% off each tin so a bargain as they were in the sale anyway :O)

Andrew's been on the mainland again today visiting Poole. They need a new computer programme for work so he is visiting different places to see the programmes 'in action'. Personally I just think it's an excuse to get out the office for the day lol. I'm quite envious of him as he can choose what programme he wants etc. but me, I am stuck with something Noah invented when his first computer was installed on the ark. My CP (computer programme) at work is a DOS based one and is more than useless. The man who created it sadly died 2 years ago & his son took over the business. I don't really think his son knows how to handle his clients but I'll give him his due, he is very good at sending out the bill at the end of the year. So last back end, Paul (the owners son, a computer expert) said he would take over the job and help me sort the computer programme out.

Now I must tell you at this point, when I started at the holiday park 13 years ago, I couldn't even use a keyboard let alone a computer. So it's a bit like the blind leading the blind, literally, he's in North Wales & I'm on the Isle of Wight.

Last week I told Paul I needed a 2009 bookings programme because we have some holidays for next year that need processing. He duly copied one for me but when I came to use it, it wouldn't let me input any 2009 dates. After 3 days of trying to find out how to change them we can now put the 2009 dates on it. The next set of problems ... I can only take bookings up to 23 Sept 2009. The dates run from Wednesday to Wednesday so the prices for the holidays are wrong & I have all last years bookings in amongst the new bookings so the banking figures are all wrong too. Joy to the world.

Had a phone call from Lisa tonight too. Both her Liam are doing OK. They may be coming home this weekend but if not definitely next weekend. Liam is going to Lisa's after his last lecture tomorrow & then their both going up to London to watch an American play. I can't remember what it's called but it's part of Lisa's coursework.

There was a tiny bit of sunshine tonight so me & Elena were messing about with 2 pairs of 3D glasses & the camera. Don't worry, Andrew's rung the lunatic asylum & the men in white coats are calling round for us later ROFL. Anyway, here are the photos :O)

Moaning, sorry.

Ooo I just need to have a moan, sorry. It's all to do with work & I'm so cross about it, I'm finding it hard to find the right words. As a manager I have to put up with quite a lot especially from our customers. I don't mind 99% of the time because that's what I get paid to do.

I have to say at this point that the majority of customers are lovely & I love my job but, what I object to more than anything are people, who aren't even customers, giving me grief. We have a certain woman at the moment, who on her last visit was obnoxious to say the least. She made everyone's life a misery, threatening to sue the company on more than one occasion to the extent where 4 members of staff have refused to deal with her again. I actually can't believe she wants to come back again. So on Thursday, after clearing it with the owner of the site I phoned her and left a message to say I was refusing to take her booking. She phoned the girls in the office demanding that I phone her straight away which I said no, she would have to wait until I started my shift at 5pm. She phoned at 5pm and in the end I told her I was ending the conversation at put the phone down. She phoned back and she ended up putting the phone down on me. Then at ten to 8 last night her husband phoned and started having a go and they aren't even customers. All I am doing is protecting the staff from obnoxious, rude, abusive people with the full backing of the owner & site manager and I am at the end of my tether. I don't want to swear at them although they make me feel like it so today if they phone again I am going to refuse to talk to them and any contact they want to make must be made in writing. Heavens above they make my blood boil!!!!

Right, now I've got that off my chest, Elena went to Twycross Zoo yesterday with Teresa & the gang. She had a wonderful time and saw loads of animals including Elephants, Giraffes & Lions. I asked her how she knew they were Lions ~ were they just lion around lol ~ but I think I've used that joke too much now so all she did was cringe bless her. We got a post card from her too with a photo of Mablethorpe on the front.

Things You're Supposed To Know ...

When you work at a Holiday Park :O)

It always amazes me what questions we get asked in reception at work lol.

How much will a taxi cost to Sandown?
What will the weather be like at the weekend?
What time does the petrol station open in the morning?
Where's the best place to eat?
What can we do today?
What time do the trains run from London?
What postcode do we put into our SatNav if we want to get to Ryde?
Will our car be safe if we park it in the car park?

Good training for a job at the Tourist Information office!!

Lauren, my colleague at work came in to the office from reception the other day looking really annoyed and announced ~ "Anybody would think we worked at a flippin Holiday Park!!" ROFL. Of course we were all in stitches laughing at her.

Last night we went to the cinema again, this time to watch the Mummy. It was OK as far as films go, Andrew loved it and so did all the lads, Liam, Sam, skateboard Steve, Jake etc. but Elena and I still thought Mamma Mia was much better :O) The film would have been better if Rachel Weiss had continued playing Mrs O'Connoll & if Michelle Yeoh had shown us some of her amazing Kung Fu.

Next week sees the start of a new series of "Who Do You Think You Are" which I will be glued to and if anyone knows when Series 5 of House starts please let me know :O) House is my favourite series since 'Friends' & I can't wait to watch the new series.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot :O)

I think Jake's settled in well, he seems happy enough anyway. He & Elena spent the day at the beach yesterday and according to Elena had a great time. Andrew packed them up some lunch and told them to be back for tea. My Mum has a beach hut and always keeps an eye on the children so they were safe enough. They phoned at something past 5 and said they weren't ready to come home yet which was no problem to us. They strolled in at 6pm laughing & giggling - what more could you ask for :O)

Lisa had to be at work again yesterday for 6am so as soon as she got home her & Liam went off to the beach as well. I love it when the sun comes out & it's hot :O) They went to Skateboard Steve's BBQ last night and had a great time.

Gemma came to see us last night which was great. We talked for ages about work, friends, life in general then I beat at ten pin bowling (Wii style) and tennis. She got her own back when we played golf :O)

Me - well work is busy but I suppose it's that time of year. I spent a lot of time this weekend working with my friend Kerri. We were drinking cups of tea every half hour as it was so hot, I think we melted 3 times. That's the problem with the UK. It's hot very occasionally so no one is geared up for it. The rest of Europe has air con but not us, we just have to get on with it and make do with a little fan. I don't care though I love being warm. We had a laugh too. A couple of weeks ago I was given some little sachets of sweeteners. We all put sugar in our drinks so had no use for them so I gave them to Kerri. Yesterday she told me she'd made a cup of tea at home and thought she would use one of the sachet's I had given her. She went in the front room to watch TV and when her tea was cool enough she started to drink it. Well, she said it was horrible, that bad in fact she couldn't keep it in her mouth. She wondered what the hell I had given her so she investigated the torn packet. She fell about laughing because the little sachet said "enough for 20 servings" and she had put the lot in one cup of tea. OMG how funny is that.

Andrew spent the weekend doing his favourite thing - gardening. He has done a wonderful job prunning, tidying, cutting the grass etc. The gazebo is up and so are the coloured lights. How lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband :O)

Andrew's Right Hand Man

I felt really sorry for Andrew today. For the last few months he has been struggling at work doing two peoples jobs (hence the need for a holiday). The first man they took on was a complete asshole. He lasted a couple of months until the big boss told him enough was enough. They advertised the job for a second time and a new man was taken on. He just couldn't keep up with the work and his attitude towards the job was just one of sheer laziness. Luckily they had only taken him on for a trial period (wouldn't you think you'd try your best?) So a third lot of interviews were set up and he came home all excited. At last they had found the man for the job. He has had experience, he would fit in with the lovely team they have ~ great :O) Well today, said man phoned Andrew, very apologetic and said he couldn't take the job after all, he had to move to the mainland!!! Andrew was gutted, the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a man with a torch coming the other way ~ aaaaarrrggggghhhh!!! So it's back to the proverbial drawing board for him. Poor thing. Just in case you read this Andrew, we're off to your favourite place in May, keep your chin up sweetie :O)

2p Or Not 2p, That Is The Question :O)

Got home from work last night and the sky was such an amazing colour :O)Guess what I did at work this morning :O) I took £420 worth of 2ps to the bank!! They were heavy I can tell you. We have an arcade at work and one of the machines is one of the old fashioned 2p pushers where the little shelves move backwards and forwards pushing 2ps off the end. We spend hours counting the damn things and bagging them up into £1 bags ~ joy to the world :O)

Apart from that, all we've done today is chill out. We were going to go over to Puckpool to play tennis but the muscles in our legs wouldn't let us after the hike yesterday ~ lol!

I did check my bank statement this afternoon to see if SKY had paid the money back into my account which they took out & promised to pay back on 25 August. Surprise, surprise they hadn't! Couldn't face another argument with them so phoned CAB instead. They suggested I wrote to the Managing Director to complain and ask for compensation!

Took Lisa for a 15 minute singing lesson tonight as practice for her grade 5 exam next Saturday.

Elena's been doing a bit more to her weather station too tonight. She's got to the messy glue bit ~ great fun!

Frivolities

I've had one of the funniest conversations on the phone with a customer tonight ~ ever! I sold him a caravan holiday at Easter and he wants to come back again in August. He asked especially for me and as soon as I started to talking to him I knew who it was. He told me that he had really enjoyed his holiday but I should have warned him about the caravan. He had stayed in one of our old budget vans so I immediately thought there had been something wrong with it. When I asked what was up with it, he said the walls were too thin. Too thin I said?? looking very puzzled and not quite understanding what he meant. Oh yes, he said, the wife & I spent an hour one night and an hour the next morning doing, you know what! Well at this point I was crying with laughter and he said, when we got out of the bedroom everyone was staring at us! He told me he was so embarrassed, he thought he'd been really quiet ~ ROFLMAO!
Gemma & Matt have been house hunting today and may have found somewhere to live :O) Andrew's going with them tomorrow to have a look at what they've found. Watch this space :O)
This is my 3191 photo today. Liam came home from work yesterday saying he had bought a bag of bouncy balls to play with at work because it had been so boring :O) Bargain for £1.00 ~ lol!

A First For Elena :O)

Elena asked me if she could go to the beach today with some of her school friends. I put a smile on my face and said 'of course you can'. It's the first time she's asked to go anywhere on her own. Well I know she wasn't on her own exactly, but you know what I mean, without an adult. Well I have to say my heart was in my mouth and I had butterflies all afternoon. She came home after a couple of hours quite nonchalant. She'd had a great time with Emma her friend. I hate letting go of my babies but you just have to don't you. My theory is, if they ask to do something (within reason), they must be ready. Andrew & I both agreed that we were off playing with our friends when we were about the same age and when I was a child the two nutters, Brady & Hindly, lived about 20 miles away ~ yikes!

Well, I went to work this morning whilst my big ones babysat :O) Did lots of boring stuff like shopping, ironing & washing this afternoon ~ yawn! In between I picked Gemma up from work because she felt poorly poor thing, took Lisa to Sandown to drop her off at the beach to meet Liam who was on his break from work (hard life hey) and went back to work to try and sort out the credit card machine that has decided not to work. The damn thing's been up the shoot since Monday and I've been going round in circles trying to get it sorted. Busy holiday park, busiest weeks of the season and no credit card facility ~ not good! Anyway, apart from not having any hair left 'cos I've pulled it all out ~ lol, the credit card company are finally sending someone out tomorrow to hopefully get it fixed, fingers crossed.

Not taken very many photos at all today {roll eyes}. I managed to get one photo of a butterfly. We seem to get lots of this type flitting about the garden but they never seem to keep still :O) The other photo I took was this one. I went upstairs to put some ironing away and the light was flooding into our bedroom through the blinds. The wardrobe doors are usually just plain old white melamine and I thought they looked stunning with the light on them :O)

Two Years of Blogging :O)

Two years ago today, I started my blog :O) I was a very bad blogger in the beginning, only blogging when I thought about it. Now I'm in the habit of doing it everyday in the hope that when I'm old and crinkly, I can look back on all the wonderful times we shared as a family :O)

Well it's been stinking hot today and, even though I've been stuck in the office with no air conditioning, I'm not complaining :O) I had company this morning. My wonderful colleague Kerri was working with me until lunch time so we had a good old chin wag about Harry Potter, the new film Hairspray and how we both need to go on a diet! Not a 'lets not eat fat' diet, a money diet! We did our work and it was great. I don't get to work with her enough. Came home to find Andrew & Elena cooling off in the pool :O) Andrew had picked an abundance of plums from the tree in the back garden, so whilst he cooked dinner, I peeled them. We stewed them (the rest are in the freezer) and had plum crumble for pudding :O) We eat a gorgeous chicken roast dinner to start with, alfresco! I love the sunshine :O) After tea we walked into Shanklin and back along the seafront.

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

It was lovely and sunny this morning, so after dropping Elena off at drama and visiting Morrisons to buy a chicken that I forgot yesterday, Andrew & I went for a stroll into Sandown. There was a mad rush of holiday makers to the usually deserted beach. All the deckchairs were lined up ready and the sea was lapping up onto the sand like a puppy wanting to play. It was so warm walking along the sea front we opted to walk back along the High street in the cool breeze that was blowing towards us. By the time we got home we were sweating :O) We had a very fruitful conversation about what we were going to do with the rest of this year when we came to a mutual decision. We aren't going to do anything. We're not going on our annual trip back to Derbyshire in October. We're not going to have a day trip to the mainland as we have done in the past visiting Legoland, Thorpe Park, Chessington or Marwell Zoo. We're not even going to spend a few days in London sightseeing as we'd discussed last Spring. Instead we are going to save every penny we can, so we can go on holiday next year :O) More about that later!! Talking of holidays, it's been a busy changeover day at work today with everyone vacating their caravans this morning and lots of new customers checking in this afternoon. They haven't been whinging & whining like the previous lot but I swear they've all been sucking lemons! I'm really excited when I go away and although we're usually shattered after a long journey I can usually muster up a smile or a joke. The customers this afternoon were unbelievable, you'd think we were telling them some really bad news rather than where their caravan was situated and how they could enjoy themselves if they visited the clubhouse etc. Maybe, after a few beers & a good nights sleep, they'll all feel in the holiday mood tomorrow?

Blood Pressure

Ooooo had a really good night's sleep last night and feel much MUCH better this morning :O) Got to be at work at 1pm today (till 8). Stephanie my new girl seems very 'with it'. She says all the right things and asks loads of questions which is great. Lauren one of my other girls has gone away today for the weekend so that leaves me, Kerri and my new girl Stephanie to do 3 hectic change overs and cover 11 hours each day ~ such FUN!! Just going to pop to Morrison's (our nearest supermarket) for some food as the cupboards are bare.
Andrew went to the Doctors again yesterday. He has had high blood pressure for years and Dr Rivers has him on some new tablets which are finally doing the trick. His blood pressure was much lower than it has been lately. He's got to go for another blood test next month and then back to the doctors to see what's what. He told Dr Rivers that he has this awful cough and that it drives him (& me) mad. Apparently it's a side effect of the tablets! I don't care, he can drive me mad coughing as long as his blood pressure's OK :O)

Hard work never killed anybody !!

Ok it may not have actually killed anybody but it sure as hell feels like it :O) I've worked this morning 9-1pm been to Bookers cash & carry for soap powder and bags and been back to work with it so Collette can bag it up for me to sell to our customers. Come home had lunch. Been to the post office (for work) done the housework. I've got an hour now before I go back to work and there I shall stay until 8pm tonight. My lovely colleague, Kerri should have worked this morning but ages ago she booked the day off as she wanted to spend a day with her family who are down from the mainland. She would have given up her days holiday but I couldn't let her do it. It's not her fault we are short staffed and she would help me out at a drop of a hat if I asked her. Family in my book has to come first everytime. It's always manic in June & July at the holiday park, not only are we taking bookings all the time for the summer holidays but we have to deal with the customers who are on the holiday park now. One person per shift is NOT good. Sometimes the telephone just isn't being answered because we are so busy. But what can I do, I have a new girl starting on Thursday so that should help, the only problem is I have to train her and while I'm doing that I'm not doing my own work. BUT, do you know what the weirdest part of it all is? Come the middle of August we will have nothing to do. It's as if overnight someone has said "OK girls, you've done your bit" and the work just stops ~ weird hey! So a bit more positive thinking is needed.
1) I have a job that pays money.
2) There's only another 7 weeks hard slog left
3) OK, can't just think of number 3 but I'm working on it :O)
Edited to say, my gorgeous friend Tammy has come up with no. 3 ~ I have something to blog about :O) Thanks Tammy xXx

A Poo Weekend

No not Winnie the Pooh :O) poo as in cr*p, rubbish, horrible. No proper walk, hardly any sunshine, beyond hectic at work with nasty aggresive customers and to top it all I let the girls sort out father's day and poor Andrew didn't get a present. He got 3 lovely cards which he loved but instead of me being all lovey dovey toward him I was tired & grumpy. I didn't even make the extra effort to take a card and bottle of wine to my Dad. I'll put that right today because I'll call round on the way to work. Trying to cover 11 hours a day, 7 days a week with me & 2 x part time girls is too much and to top it off there's only me tomorrow as Kerri booked a days holiday weeks ago. I hate June & July at work!!!

OK, all is forgiven, been to work today from 2 - 8pm. Hectic changeover day but all the customers were great, even managed to make some of them laugh :O) My faith in human nature has been restored again until the next time :O) Called at Mum & Dad's on the way to work with a Father's day card and a bottle of red wine. Dad didn't seem bothered that it was a day late :O) These are Andrew's cards ... Some random photos I took this morning :O)

Love/hate Relationship

This is a long one so grab a coffee {lol}
Yep, it's official, I have a love/hate relationship with technology. When it's working and making my life easier it's the best thing in the world, when it doesn't ~ I HATE IT !!!
What a morning this morning at work. When I left this afternoon I actually thought I'd been pulled through a hedge backwards!! I'm on my own on a Thursday from 9-1pm (Lauren comes in at 1pm to start her shift) and it is usually hectic with people booking holidays over the phone or just ringing to ask questions. People coming into reception to check in or out of their caravans, getting change for the arcade or reporting faults. People asking about places to visit in the rain with their 3 children and 90 year old disabled mother! The list is endless. Well I got to work this morning and Jodie (one of my girls) had left a note saying that 'Viking' had delivered the stationary order and the new drum & toner had been installed in the printer. It was now working brilliantly and all the big black lines down the pages we had printed had disappeared. We were all ship shape & raring to go :O) Great stuff, I thought, so I put the kettle on (well, not literally, as it wouldn't fit - lol). First job, photocopy some more price lists for the brochure. 2nd job, sort out the photocopier as it developed a paper jam and wouldn't believe me when I told it I had 'unjammed' the paper! The phone went and my phone is awful. I have to cup my hand over the outside of the receiver and put a finger in my other ear just to hear the person on the other end of the line. Never mind, I thought, I'll get on with franking the post. Half way through the job it needed re-crediting. Normally this wouldn't cause a problem but Royal Mail have set up a new system called 'Clean Mail' or something like that and we have had to have a new franking machine. This came last week and as soon as all the credit was used on the old machine, the new one had to be installed. So with great joy I set up the new franking machine all went well until I tested it and two lines of text were missing from the frank mark. Phoned the helpline who suggested I wipe the bottom of the ink cartridge with a damp cloth and then shake it vigorously which I did. Nope, still didn't work. Then she suggested I set the machine to 'clean cartridge' which I did. Nope, still didn't work. Then we uninstalled the ink cartridge and installed the spare one we keep in the cupboard. Yep, success!! 2nd problem, the machine doesn't print our address next to the postmark like the old one did. The helpline lady informed me that we had a credit card sized piece of plastic with a chip on it that would need to be installed on the new machine. So 3/4's of an hour later I found said credit card. Loaded it onto the machine, tested it out and still no work address. Then I realised the credit card I had used was actually an old one that updated the 'rates of postage' on our machine ~ Duh!! We now have 2005 rates installed!!! I phoned them again saying I was unable to find the address card and was told it would be £80 for a new one, OMG £80!! So I then told them a little white lie {smack my wrists} I said that the new rates weren't on the machine. Well, they weren't but I wasn't telling her why!! She is going to send out a new rates card free of charge with a replacement ink cartridge. You would think that was it, but no, my wonderful fax machine stopped working too. After investigating that, I found one of the cogs inside had un-slotted itself so I pushed it back in with a plastic ruler and thank goodness it worked. I must have looked pretty cheesed off as Lynne (the owner & my boss) said I could get a quote for a new fax machine AND a new phone system ~ hallelujah !!! Wish me luck :O)

Anyone for Cricket & the French Meeting

Well, before I go on about the meeting I've just got to share this. I was working this morning and as it was Thursday I was on my own. It was extremely busy with people booking at the last minute for the bank holiday weekend, trying to sort out caravan keys for tomorrow, the owner phoning me wanting the definition of Investment from the Oxford dictionary (thank goodness for the Internet), a woman crying because I couldn't give her a barrier card, cleaners wanting their wages, 2 people reserving travel cots and requesting beds be removed from the caravans and Red Funnel (ferry company) not allowing me to book ferries when I needed them (phew) ... the list goes on. Anyway, in the middle of all that I had a very bizarre conversation with a woman on the phone ...
Woman - We've got a holiday booked with you in June
Me - Oh yes, how can I help
Woman - I'm having trouble working out how to get there
Me - Oh right, how can I help
Woman - We're coming from Hastings
Me - OK
Woman - Well how do we get there
Me - Not sure what you mean exactly, I can send directions from the ferry port to the holiday park, if that helps
Woman - No, how do we get from Hastings to the ferry?
Me - (not sure what to say now) Oh right, have you got a map?
Woman - silence
Me - Hello
Woman - No, I mean do we catch a train or is there a bus?
What are these people like??? Well, I suggested she phone her local tourist information centre! {lol}
So as the title of the post says, we've been to the French Trip meeting at school tonight. We walked, of course (goodness me my Halo is gleaming tonight) and sat through about an hour of information from what Elena will need to take with her in the way of clothes & spending money to the trips they are going on. It's an action packed 5 days although 2 of those days will be mostly travelling. The first thing on the itinerary, meet at Sandham Middle School at 6:10am !!! OMG I thought there was only one 6:10 in a day and that's at tea time {lol} They are going to the snail factory, the chocolate factory and 10 pin bowling on the Tuesday. A market, a theme park and the beach on the Wednesday. On Thursday they are visiting the historical town of Montreuil, the water park & going to a disco!!! Crumbs they are going to sleep for a week when they get back :O) I bet she will love it and I'm sure the memory will stay with her for a long time. I wish I was going with her, not because I'm worried about her or anything like that, I love France, the food, trying to converse with French people, seeing new places. She will love it, I'm sure.
On the way back home we walked through Los Altos park and we started fooling around as usual. We had a pine cone fight but missed each other every time. Elena said she had never climbed a tree before so Andrew & I gave her a leg up so she could sit in a tree. You should have seen us trying to get her down again ~ it was so funny! But the funniest thing was Elena weaving in and out of the weeping willow branches pretending to row a boat and singing 'Kiss the Girl' from the Disney's Little Mermaid. You know the one ...Sha la la la la la
Don't be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now
Don't try to hide it how
You want to kiss the girl God I adore that kid. She has the most wonderful sense of humour and is such fun to be with. I adore Gemma & Lisa too but they are all grown up and prefer spending time with their boyfriends. Anyhow, we were walking up the road to our house and Elena said, out of the blue like she does, do you want to play cricket? Cricket says I, so she says, well rub your legs together!! At first I didn't get what she meant and then the penny dropped and we cracked up laughing again. (She meant the insect, not the game, told you she had a weird sense of humour).