Greetings from a greeter

Posts archive for: May, 2008

Hey ho...just another day

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-31 – 11:44:37

T'old man decided he'd go to confession this morning as is his wont at least once a year and seeing as the weather is quite nice he said he wouldn't rush home as he may frequent an odd hostelry or two (sounds about right) en-route......which means I have been left to my own devices this morning hence the purchase of a £3.80 bus day ticket which has led me to town and into the library (the busy one with the league of nations for customers)...when I return I will prepare some finger foods for t'old man to devour as he doesn't hold with formality when he's had a session at the pub and then I will get changed and head for Leeds as I have tickets for a theatrical dance show at the Carriageworks.
I heard about the show through friends and I have seen some of the performers at various events in the past..
It's a belly dancing show called "STRICTLY BELLYDANCE" and is performed by the Tarab dance troupe.
http://www.tarabdance.com/#

I'm looking forward to it as the dancers are really very good!!...eat your heart out Sophie Mei(of B.G.Talent fame (actually Sophie was taught by a contemporary of these dancers and the Urban Gypsies are also well known on the northern belly dancing circuit)).

I'm working in the bakery tomorrow so I won't be on-line..hope to get my computer fixed soon.
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It's not been long..but...

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-30 – 12:16:06

It's been less than three days but it seems an absolute age!
My computer is out of action...a corrupted file or something that's not allowing me access to the internet.
I know nothing about these things so the problem is in the hands of my son-in-law who will take a look at it as soon as his shift work permits (not too long I hope)...so here I am at the village library.
If any of you remember, the last time my computer was out of action I made regular visits to the library in the town which was very busy with tons of computers available but all in use constantly with people of all nationalities but mainly it seemed Somalis or East Europeans, so this little outpost is a pleasant change with only three other users apart from me, these being two 8 year old Yorkshire schoolgirls, a yobbish looking teenage lad and a rather studious chinese studenty type.
This may not be of much interest to most of you but when I was growing up I never imagined I would be in my local library integrating with such diverse communities (blimey..I am getting old )

Anyway...in other news.. I have booked flights to Malaga to visit my friend Jane's house again...she went out there last week to see how the builders had fared over the last few months and came back with glowing reports which is quite reassuring as the stress arranging it all had been beginning to take its toll previously
I go on the 23rd of June but I am only going for a week as i'm actually feeling a little guilty about leaving t'old man too often..it's not that he can't look after himself it's just that I wish he had some interests to occupy himself while he is at home (there's only so much gardening he can do, especially in this climate) and in July I will be stewarding at a couple of folk festivals and he has no inclinitation to join me there either.

I hope my comp is not out of action for too long but now I have discovered this village library I could pop down here again soon..and to get here it is a nice walk past a large pond with lots of ducks and their young..i'll post some pics of them when i'm back on line

See Ya
isadora xx
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late delivery

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-27 – 16:40:08

I've sent you all a postcard from my cosy living room window, it's cosy 'cos we've put the central heating on again

having a nice a time, things are the same as usual here, made curried parsnip and apple soup for tea
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It was his fault

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-26 – 14:08:52

..that I have just ruined my diet by eating half a large xmas pudding that was still lingering in the cupboard.
It is his fault 'cos I said I would never buy them again as they never get eaten until the summer but last Xmas t'old man insisted that he would have it eaten by new year's day this time!

No more
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Just another Sunday

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-25 – 22:37:22

I've got two sets of uniform now, one which involves wearing an apron and a hairnet and the other which has a waistcoat and cravat

Today was the day for wearing the cravat as it was the Greeter's week of my rolling two week rota.

I'd been in the carpark having an exchange with the porters,
I went to go back instore through the far side door hoping no-one had noticed I had been missing from my "post" when I walked headlong into a swarthy looking man right at the door entrance..
He stepped back then I saw he had a full trolley of groceries and none of it was packed into bags or boxes......it's all very well this environmental concern about the use of carrier bags but how's a poor Greeter to know wether goods have been paid for or not!

Now this chap didn't look like he would be too concerned about such issues (I know, I shouldn't judge a book by its cover) and in the trolley was groceries of every description and in the centre of the pile I spied pack upon pack of best steak and joints of meat.

I froze at the door's entrance..I had vowed never to approach potential thieves as it is far too risky and I don't get paid enough, but this chap had walked right into me...I tried to look quizzical and the chap took two steps back into the store...I stood there for a while longer while all the time customers were going in and out around me...the chap took another couple of steps backwards so I put my radio phone to my ear but no-one answered my call. By this time the chap had retreated as far as the customer restaurant and stood as if waiting for someone and kept peering into the cafe.
Eventually a manager answered my call which meant the Cavalry should arrive soon.

The chap must have got wind of this as he approached me and in broken english (east european origin) he tried to explain that he couldn't find his friend with the money so he would leave his shopping with me and go look for him...."five minutes" he said, then he would be back.
The managers arrived as he was leaving and decided to let him go (he hadn't actually left the store with the shopping so he couldn't be detained)..needless to say he never returned for the shopping, indeed we knew he wouldn't as we have heard this ruse many times before.
The price of the shopping totalled £342 and do you know what?...I actually got thanked by the store manager for a good result!
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Smelly or what!

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-23 – 10:35:56

A little snippet found on 'typicallyspanish.com'

Carriage owners not convinced by nappies for horses in Seville

The carriage owners say the nappies may keep the streets clean, but they smell and attract flies.
Sevilla City Hall says it has come up with a prototype design for horse nappies to ensure that city streets in the Andalucian capital remain clean, despite the many horse and carriages used by tourists in the old city centre.

The horse nappies are easily washed and contain a disposable plastic bag for easy use. Local residents are said to welcome the initiative, but the carriage owners are not so sure, arguing that the nappy itself smells and attracts flies which their clients now have to suffer along the entire route.

They have also found a practical problem with the design. The ‘yeguas’ or mares urinate backwards, making the nappy useless.

The nappy is officially just being tested but its use is expected to become obligatory from the summer.

Hmmmm...yes, it does get extremely hot in Seville in summer...now if they were to adapt it for use for dogs in Britain ...just a thought
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another Sunday ...gotta go

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-18 – 09:36:58

Good morning all
It's a crisp sunny day here today in the wild west of Yorkshire which is more than I can say for yesterday!!
I went to a village near Holmfirth called Shepley..it is a small village where a new folk festival(in it's second year) is being held in the cricket club grounds.
Myself and a few other hundred brave souls sat huddled in a large marquee shivering and donning wooly hats and scarves, the musicians were perished and their musical instruments were even being affected by the dip in temperature...Yes it was really that cold!
It's no wonder one of the favourite topics of conversation of the british people is the weather

I'm just on my out to work shortly where I will be braving the confines of the instore bakery once more...ah well, at least I won't be cold in there

ps.
If you want to see some picture of a really dirty cow who hails from Shepley then look at my isasfotos blog
http://castlesandgumtrees.blog.co.uk/
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bottoms anyhow!

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-16 – 17:04:13

I didn't manage to take any of my usual pics of scantily clad 'bottoms' on this trip, so this pic will have to do instead!

Memo for next trip..I must try harder
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Ole and hey up

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-12 – 19:11:35

I won't be writing much about my recent trip to Nimes only to say that it would have been another resounding success barring the fact that the hotel I booked was as dire as I imagined ( we would have changed hotels but all the town's hotels were fully booked as it was the week of their Feria ) ...but being the entrepid explorers that we are we didn't dwell upon it (the sheets were clean) and we gainly walked the three kilometres in to the city and back each day. We could have used taxis but the weather was lovely and the exercise was good , unfortunately my feet suffered somewhat as there seems to be a lot of cobbled paving around in Nimes and I developed blisters on the soles of my feet.

This was the first time that I had been in France at fiesta time and I have to admit that Nimes held its own against the wonderful spanish fiestas .. I was well impressed even though we returned home just as it was reaching its peak The whole town was taken over with Casetas (bars) and open air restaurants, ad lib musical performances and the groups of youngsters who came into the town to simply party.

I came across this young man early in the afternoon on the Friday when it was still relatively quiet in the streets.....he was wandering around using his T shirt like a Matador's cape and enticing passers by to charge through, people laughed at him but not many took up his invitation to pass through ...so needless to say I did him the honours ....he was chuffed when I asked him to pose for a photo ...poor love... I don't think he will have kept the pace and lasted the fiesta out until its close on Monday afternoon.

Here's a little am-vid I made of some drummers who we came upon outside the magnificient Roman Arena of Nimes.
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Public transport is alive and well

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-10 – 23:34:50

Well it was today at least

When t'old man and myself go on a trip we always try to use public transport for every leg of the journey.
Here's how it went today.

Woke up at 7.am, it was a lovely morning so we quite enjoyed the half hour walk to the bus stop outside Nimes train station

We caught the airport bus in Nimes at 8' o clock with literally only two minutes to spare as I thought it left at 8.15... it left on time, *phew*

We caught the 10.10 am Ryanair flight to East Midlands airport and it departed five minutes before time .

After a smooth, cat-napping flight we arrived at East Midlands airport at 10.40am, about half an hour early
(taking into account putting the clock back an hour on arriving in the UK).

We had prebooked a National Express coach for 12.40 to take us up north but we were there in time for a connection at 11.10 and the driver let us board that one saving us a one and a half hour wait (nice bus driver)

Only slight traffic jam on the motorway due to road works but managed to make up time by not having to pick up at Chesterfield.

By two o'clock t'old man had settled himself in the local pub and I was happily sun bathing in the back garden after having eaten my obligatory coming home meal of beans on toast

T'old man was that impressed with the smooth running of the transport system today he hinted that we might do it again sometime soon...i'm not holding my breath though!

----------------

Oh and P.S.

T'old man's flaming new pensioner bus pass still hasn't arrived after applying for it as required last October and making three customer service calls over the last couple of weeks. The last info they gave me was that it had been re-ordered on the 29th April but today the fella on the other end of the phone insisted it would be sent out with the final batch on Monday...He was condescending and kept calling me 'love' ...now I use that term too sometimes, to my elderly customers at the supermarket, 'cos it's regional and they like it...but I just felt like saying.."never mind the 'loving', just get his pass in the post .....to be continued.....
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Compose a caption

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-10 – 17:04:26

Patisserie in Nimes

Deux croissants and a bag of crumbs, merci

or...Come into my parlour ... 'pigeon pie sold here'
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The art of conversation... the in-store bakery way

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-04 – 21:20:23

I'd forgotten what physical work was, it has been four years since I worked in the bakery but nevertheless it didn't take me long to get into the production line mode..the packing machines, the slicing machines, they are still the same..only the machine for the birthday photo cakes is different, apparently you can print an image from your memory card or phone on to the icing nowadays.
There were still two colleagues out of the eight who were working today who I knew from before but the others didn't know me and after a couple of the girls had finished dissecting their recent night out on the town and then arranging the next one, they turned their attention to me.

As Girlie packed the baps and I stuck some labels on, the conversation went as follows

Girlie... "When is your next shift"?
Me....... "Oh not 'til next Sunday".
Girlie...."Oooh you lucky thing"!
Me....... "Not really, I planned it this way as i'll be 60 in October and don't expect to be working for much longer after that"
Girlie...."60...you don't look it! What are you going to do on your birthday"?
Me........"I'm not too sure, I thought about going abroad to celebrate but I will have had my quota of holidays for this year by then.

I then told her about the little trips i'd already had this year and about the family in Spain who I have stayed with and she looked at me suspiciously.

Girlie .. "What! you stayed with strangers...that's a bit scary isn't it and at your age!!
Me......." Just because one gets older it doesn't mean you can't have a few adventures along the way...
Girlie..."about your birthday then...do you think you will have a party?
Me......."No, it's not my thing, I don't mind an impromptu dinner at a restaurant but...
Girl....."I would, i'd have a massive party !!i'd get hammered and get everyone to buy me a drink.
Me......."Hmmm...well, I might have a professional photo shoot taken in my belly dancing costume to mark the occasion, I can always put a veil across my face to hide the lines"
Girlie...."What !..you do belly dancing"?
Me........"Only for fun, i'm not much good at it but it's good exercise"
Girlie..."What would you do with the photo then"?
Me......."I don't know...maybe frame it and put it above the bed on t'old man's side or maybe if it's not too embarrassing I might post it in my blog!"

Girlie..."WHAT, YOU'VE GOT A BLOG!!"

Me......."Nah, i'm only kidding

Girlie..."Thought so..you can't fool me"

At that point I moved away from the packing machine and started bagging up some french baguettes....that reminds me..."did I tell you I was going to the South of France tomorrow?..i'll be back home on Saturday in time for my next shift on Sunday though "
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About turn

by isadora101 @ 2008-05-04 – 09:03:19

It will be strange going into the bakery to work today..they do say that one should never take a step back though ... still it's only one day a fortnight and next week i'll be in my greeter role again . I've heard tales that the Sunday staff in the bakery are mainly young folk who are more interested in flirting and nursing their Saturday hangovers than baking and packing bread...they are reported to be always bickering and tittle tattling too (I mean, really, you'd expect that from us old 'uns..but...ah well it seems as though auntie Isadora will have to go in there and dust them down and shape them up .. I can't see me liking it much though 'cos when I popped by for my bread last week I took a peek into the working area and the first thing I spotted was toxic fumes rising up from the heat sealing machine, that will definitely have to be sorted

Anyhow, i'll let you know how I get on...got to go now as Victoria Wood awaits
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