Maggie Jones dies age 75, 2nd December 2009

She was one of the reasons i tuned in to watch Coronation Street, her wit and catchy punch lines made me smile and sometimes laugh out loud!
She had been treated for an illness since October and died today at a hospital in Salford Manchester age 75.

God Bless Maggie!

Flying Log 1988-2008

I thought as i was in the land of nothing to do, Japan, i would try and go through my flying log book and see how many flights i had actually done in the 20 years from December 1988-November 2008 ( not included 2009 until end of year) also i missed my first 6 months of flying as did not make a note of the flights from March 88-December 88, shame!!! But here are the results

Arrecife 14
Abuja 7
Malaga 24
Alamaty 2
Alicante 13
Akrotiri 4
Antigua 7
Athens 26
Abu Dhabi 8
Bahrain 20
Barcelona 3
Belfast 1
Barbados 9
Bangor 20
Birmingham 2
Bangalore 1
Bangkok 25
Brisbane 1
Bologna 2
Bombay 13
Boston 28
Cairo 16
Calcutta 1
Paris CDG 4
Corfu 12
Jakarta 1
Chania 7
Ciampino 2
Columbo 2
Cape Town 11
Cardiff 1
Dhaka 5
Delhi 11
Denver 5
Dallas 1
Dharan 2
Dalaman 13
Doha 5
Detroit 8
Durban 2
Dubai 17
Edinburgh 3
Buenos Aires3
Faro 22
Rome 4
Fueteven 1
Grand Cayman1
Gibraltar 4
Rio De J 1
Glasgow 5
Goa 9
Grenada 8
Gerona 7
Sao Paulo 4
Geneva 21
Hanover 1
Heraklion 16
Hong Kong 26
Harare 1
Hydrebad 1
Washington 27
Houston 5
Ibiza 16
Islamabad 5
Jeddah 2
New York 72
Jo'Burg 23
Kos 5
Osaka 1
Kuala L 3
Kuwait 6
LA 30
Larnaca 5
Lilongwe 1
Lagos 7
Las Palmas 10
Luton 2
Lusaka 1
Luxor 1
Lyon 2
Maadras 3
Madrid 6
Mahon 12
Manchester 20
Mombassa 9
Montego Bay 1
Orlando 20
Melbourne 5
Mexico 4
MFO 2
Miami 25
Milan 1
Male 1
MJV 1
Malta 7
Manila 2
Monastir 4
Mauritius 3
Munich 3
Milan MXP 2
Nairobi 5
Nice 2
Newcastle 2
Nagoya 1
Tokyo Narita12
Chicago 21
Paris Orly 1
Puerto Plata2
Peking 10
Perth 4
Philadelphia18
Phoenix 4
Prestwick 1
Pittsburg 1
Palma 23
Pisa 2
PVK 4
Reus 1
Rhodes 15
Riyadh 1
SCQ 1
Seattle 22
Seychelles 1
San Fran 25
Singapore 19
San Juan 2
Skiathos 2
Santa Maria 2
Shannon 1
Sofia 1
Sydney 20
Saltzburg 11
Tabago 1
Tenerife 30
Tehran 2
Toulouse 3
Tel Aviv 10
Tobago 2
Taipei 5
Venice 3
Ovda 1
Verona 1
VIC 1
Vienna 1
Halifax YMX 2
Winnipeg YWG3
Montreal YUL11
Calgary YVC 3
Vancouver 19
Toronto 24
Zakythos 1
Zurich 1

Royal Albert Hall 2009

When one of your parents is singing in the Royal Albert Hall it truely turns into a family event of proudness and support.
There were over a thousand male and female voices performing alongside the Brighouse and Rastrick band ( they backed Terry Wogan in the floral dance) and the Grimethorpe brass band ( featured in the movie Brassed Off), the accoustics were amazing and i had tears in my eyes on many an occasion. The group photo after the show is really lovely featuring my brother, his wife, my nephew and my mam and dad as well as myself.

Stephen Gately 1976-2009

Another sad day, the loss of Stephen Gately, age 33, he was on holiday with his partner Andrew when he died in his sleep.
What a huge shame, the former Boyzone singer had a huge success in the 90's with Boyzone, he also appeared in West End theatres mostly famous for Joseph and his Technicoloured Dreamcoat and also recently re-united with his former Boyzone band mates.
I will be very curious to know what the cause of death was as so so young.
I would like to rule out drugs but as i sit here trying to rack my brains i am wondering if that was the cause.

Singapore Grand Prix 25th-27th September 2009

Singapore is usually a quiet, relaxing little island but not for the next three days, i cannot believe i have been sent here for the entire length of the F1 Grand Prix, the noise is horrific and starts early afternoon and can last until midnight, the body says sleep but the noise does not allow that to happen. The circuit of the race laps the hotel so there is no getting away from it, Beyonce and Black Eyes Peas performing tomorrow and we are expecting a host of stars in the First Class cabin on the way home. Lets the hope the crew have managed to get enough sleep while here to be fit to fly tomorrow night.
I even like the British Airways Space age coach that takes us to and from the airport....

The Cotswolds

The Cottage itself was nice, two bedrooms as i did not want a pokey little place, nice shaker kitchen, enormous master bedroom with lovely views, the indoor pool was nice, always warm and never anyone in it so we had that to ourselves.
Great place to stay and lovely places to visit close by.

Stow on the Wold

This is a beautiful Olde Worlde town, lots of Cotwolds stone cottages, little doors, side alleys, curiosity shops and lots of tourists. Hope you like the pics

Bourton on The Water

This is chocolate box, picture postcard heaven, if i had the money i would have bought one of the properties advertised in the local estate agents and live here quite happily. It is incredibly relaxing, many its only downfall is that the village is so popular streams of coaches pile in on a daily basis filling the small pathways with visitors, many elderly and slow, not that i have anthing against that, we all get old, but if you want to get anyway fast it may be a problem.

Nice riverside pubs, cafes, and tea shops, we were blessed with reasonable weather and no rain, i suppose i would have had a different opinion on the place had it been wet and miserable.

A must for all to visit....take my word for it.

Death on Board

Having someone die on the aircraft is a devastating thing not only for the crew but for the other passengers as well who are subjected to the actions of the crew. It all started after take off when a gentlemen who was travelling with his wife, both non english speaking felt unwell, we managed to find out he had angina and had his own medication so after he had taken this he felt better although very hot so sat without a shirt on for the flight, he had a drink, dinner, bought duty free then about 60 minutes before landing he collapsed by door 3 left on the boeing 777 registration G-VIIY....full CPR was given and the defibrillator was used, the crew kept swapping as it was so tiring. We made a medical emergency landing into Heathrow where the paramedics boarded and worked on him for a while, it was very distressing for us the crew but even more for his wife, as he was dragged up the aisle as stretcher did not fit down the ailse my phone was on video mode by accident so have that fiasco recorded. He did not survive, we all went to either the hotel or home as we were operating the BA185 at 0830 the following morning to Newark New Jersey.

Deaths

Over the past few months there has been many deaths within BA crews, mostly cabin crew and all in their 40's...it seems that some people know the reasons and due to the climate and not willing to fit filters into the aircraft air conditioning systems and allow us to breathe fresh air rather than toxic air.
We all suffer nose bleeds on certain aircraft, nausea, dizziness, generally "unwell" more than regular earth workers!!
The deaths seem all too much of a coincidence and i thought it was important to log this on my blog, compared to other industries flying has a very high percentage of deaths for its workforce and no one seems to care!!!
The latest death was a guy in his 40's who became unwell in Hong Kong and then died, three of the crew had to identify his body, how traumatic is that???

50yrs of flying, click on the link

http://vacations.com/50-photos-from-air-travels-glory-years

Family Wedding

The Manor hotel is in a very pictureque part of Wales and only visiting will allow you to take in its true beauty.

This was to be our base for the next two night (7th-9th August 2009), the hotel is olde worlde and charming, an old colleague who i used to fly with is the manager of the hotel and has a great team of staff who really know how to put on a wedding, it was organised, decorated like the queen was about to visit and the feeding of 100 people for a four course meal was seemless, all the food was piping hot and as they use a local source for their meats and veg you know you are eating quality, this also relates to the great british breakfast served each morning.

All the rooms are different with some suites, some with four poster beds, some carpeted, some with laminate flooring, the floor boards creak and the windows are old and not double glazed but this also adds to its charm.

As the weather was hot during our stay the rooms could get a little hot but fans were provided in all rooms alongside plasma tv's fitted to the wall, hairdryers, tea and coffee facilties in room and hot water so hot and powerful that a bath took about 3 minutes to fill, excellent toiletries and soaps were also provided.

The public rooms were well kept, brasses polished daily, two bars with one in the function room, lots of soft comfy sofas and chairs in fabrics and leathers and also daily papers left in the quiet area by the front door.

The manor also boasts a sauna and swimming pool, it is not olypmic sized but i bet it is a hit with guests of all ages.

All the staff here seem to work together to create a great experience for all their guests and i am sure the manager Mr Rodger Francis is extremely proud of them all.

Well done guys!!







The wedding was so tastefully done with an eye for detail, even down to the brides fathers cufflinks matching the brides mothers earrings.
The room in the hotel had rows of pristine white covered chairs with huge pink bows on the back, we were ushered in by the best man at 1225pm and were entertained by a pianist sitting at her keyboard at the front of the room.
The groom was very nervous and sipped his water constantly until there was none left making him drink the water which was left for the bride if she needed it during the service.
At 1240 there was no sign of the bride, then the brides mother was escorted down the aisle by her soon, Brenda looked, happy and very very glamourous in her beautiful matching outfit in cream with cerise accessiories.

Then the nod was given the piano played and the bride arrived, the groom looked at her and got emotional which set off the bride, always a good sign of true love, she walked towards him and comforted him, however his emotions made her emotional too but this came and went during the service and made it even more special to them and their guests.

The line there is not reason "why i" when repeated back by the bride sounded like the infamous line "whey eye" the great geordie expression and this brought a chuckle to a lot of the geordie congregation.

It was a short and simple ceremony but beautifully delivered by the female registraar who was warm and professional and she married Michelle and Jamie as if she had never done it before, making them feel like special people which was an added touch.

The photographs seemed to take for hours but as the temperature reached the mid 20's and the sun beated down on the Manor Hotel it seemed not to matter to anyone,the views were spectacular with the hotel facing the Brecon Beacons and outside seating in abundance made the day even better, Wales does suffer from a lot of rain and the sun truely shone on two beautiful people that day.



















The room for the wedding meal was at 3pm, it was such a beautiful decorated room, homely but exciting, great menu of Cream of asparagus soup, roast beef, yorkshire pudding vegetable, potatoes and dessert was Pavlova for the women and a really yummy cheesecake for the men followed by coffee and mints and a sparkling rose champagne for the toast.










The evening was in the same room as the daytime wedding meal except a few tables were added and things moved about to accomodate another 60 people on top of the 100 who were at the daytime wedding.
Icicle lights surrounded the room which had large white round tables draped in crisp white linen cloths and the white chairs with pick bows as used in the day.
The buffet was hot and tasty with chicken, meatballs, samosa's along with sandwiches and slices of the gorgeous chocolate and white chocolate wedding cake.