MY SONGS

After huge deliberation i have decided on my songs for the BA's got talent competition to be held on Friday 1st October at the Concorde club at Heathrow, tickets £10.00

First song will be "Don't Rain On My Parade"

Second song will be "This is the Moment"

Still trying to learn the lyrics to the first song, really complicated arrangement but if i want to be a winner i have to choose a difficult song and perform it well!

I have no family attending just a few friends who want to show their support which is very kind, i will have to try and get it on video and post it on Facebook for those who were not able to attend.

Sun us shining today, garden is looking tired, i am off to Vancouver on the big 747 jet on Thursday for 24 hours of jetlag and back home Saturday afternoon, such a short layover for a killer of a time change, and to top it all i am home for three days then go to Los Angeles for two nights with another -8 time difference, but after that i am off until 26th September on leave.

Megan is snoring by my side, bless her.

Bye for now

xx

Megan

Today is such a relief for me, Megan is not panting so i will put it down to the humidity as there was a massive storm in the night and it has cleared the air, phew......thought she had doggie Alzheimer's so i can now go on my flight to New York tomorrow with a smile on my face and not spend the entire time worrying.

For those of you who think my job is one big holiday my trip goes as follows:-

Tue 24th Take off 1700 for New York

Wed 25th Leave New York early evening

Thu 26th Arrive back in London at 0830

Fri 27th Take off for Newark New Jersey 1000

Sat 28th Leave late afternoon

Sun 29th Arrive back ion London at 0630

Three days off then i do a Vancouver with the same three day formation except i don't do it twice but there is an 8 hour time change there which can be brutal on the system.

So how are things in Tenerife JS!!!!

XXX

BAD DAY

I found myself up this morning at 0430 when i heard Megan panting downstairs, it was not that warm so i can only presume that is was a pain pant, i let her into the garden where she did a one and a two, she came in and had a massive drink of water then went to sleep without panting.

I need to get it into my head that she is an almost 12 year old Boxer with a usual life span of 7-9 years, she still has good days and the odd bad days , however i know the bad days are starting to out do the good ones.

I am so looking forward to our holiday in Wales with her in September, maybe her last, who knows ( welling up now).

We will drive to many places and have nice picnics and sit in picturesque places, she can walk but she gets tired really quick so we will have to limit the walking. She may shock us and be so excited about new surroundings she may get a new lease of life.

I land from Los Angeles late in the morning of the day we drive to Wales so i will be shattered , i will have to prepare my clothes and other stuff i am taking before i go, must not forget the tartan rug, now that is when you know you are getting old!!!

I suppose when i put the folding deck chairs in the boot of the car and a wicker picnic hamper is another sure sign of maturity, ( prefer that to getting old).

Mum and dad flew home to Newcastle this morning, miss them already, great having them here, dad did his usual thing of looking for jobs and persuading me to have a chrome towel radiator in the bathroom which would take him 2 hours to fit, 2 days later and 4 trips to B&Q and it is up and running, and it does look great and modernises the bathroom and ties the chrome in with the rest of the fittings.

Our house seems empty since they have gone, no smell of home cooking, or their mugs next to the kettle, just the towels and bedding in the washer and dryer is my only memory, i do have a dog very close who is snoring like a pig but at least she is not panting.

The weather is not good, dull, wet and dreary, what i would do to be stress free and sitting on the balcony of a nice cruise ship in the bay of Villefranche in the south of France, it must be my favourite cruise port, nestled between Monte Carlo/Monaco and Nice it is a cute French fishing port with lovely old houses with coloured wooden window shutters, olde worlde shops , bars and coffee shops, a railway station close by will whisk you to Nice in the West and Monaco in the East, been to both and love them , it always feels safe, spotlessly clean and full of rich people who own multi million pound houses and yachts.

The only other place i get this feeling of safety and "at home" is the Boston, New England region of the USA, this started when i became addicted to Murder She Wrote in the early 80's then when i started flying and visited these quaint American towns i realised that they were exactly the same as had been portrayed on the tv, gorgeous little shops with bells that ring when you enter, old cash registers and the smell of wood, paint and the odd incense burner.

I still say if i was regressed i was a wealthy person living in this area of USA in a previous life, it is a weird feeling when i am there and i feel depressed when i have to leave.

I will be in New York City on Tuesday 24th August and back in UK after a night flight landing in London on 26th, on 27th i fly back across the Atlantic to Newark New Jersey for an identical stop over getting home on Sunday morning, i quite like this trip as some of the East coast destinations are dreary, particularly Washington DC and Montreal Canada.

Yearly Exams

Oh God, tomorrow is the first day of the yearly flying exams, a day loathe with a passion, same old same old......same drills, same exams, same routine and the fact that cabin crew are not 9-5 people makes the three day routine pretty dull.

To make matters worse this year the place is full of the volunteers training to do our jobs should we strike, how on earth are we supposed to integrate with these people who are doing us an injustice.

Should i put cellotape over my mouth....gaffer tape....of just sew my mouth up!

The best thing is the evil looks i can give, surely i cannot be reported for intimidation by the way i look at someone, one of Gary's looks is worth more than anything i could say verbally.

Also presently mulling over which songs i should sing in this damn competition, i have my second song but not my first one. I need to win this as i will be plastered all over the works newspaper which kick some right where it hurts.

Mum and dad flying down on Tuesday on the 0910 flight from Newcastle to Heathrow, i need to sort out their transportation from the airport to my house as i will be in Cape Town at the time, i will see them when i get back on Thursday morning.

I was hoping to take them to see Sister Act The Musical in the west end but as Whoopi Goldberg is taking over Sheila Hancocks role the prices have sky rocketed, usually the most expensive seats are between £65 and £85 but to day i saw royal circle tickets for a matinee show for £152.00, now that is extortion, either the show is cashing in big time on Whoopi's three week stint in the show or she is demanding such a huge salary for performing that they have to cover it with raised seat prices, the fact she is a crap singer seems to have no bearing on it, but then again Sheila Hancock can not sing either, she gets by, one of those talk sing singers!! So i think the theatre afternoon which could cost me £300 with tickets and transport is so expensive i could have a holiday for that, i am sure i will think of something else.

August 2010...the real me!

We can all put a smile on our faces and pretend everything is OK, sometimes things are fine but i find most of the time life works against me.
If it not the struggle of work and having to fly with people who do not want to be there, or the mix of strikers and non strikers can lead to very uncomfortable atmospheres and no escape.
My biggest worry is coping with bereavement, i have such a close loving relationship with mam and dad that the thought of losing one and seeing the other one grieve and learn to live alone is too much for me, losing both will break my heart, also i have the same feelings and emotions for my almost 12 year old boxer dog Megan who has already survived more than her average age of 9 and she seems fine but she has no energy, she suffers with arthritis  but controlled with medication, i love her so much and yet something else i will have to deal with.
I miss my brother and family very much and we have never really been close, something inside wonders if he thinks of me, does he wonder what i am up too or worry about me. Since being diagnosed with Diabetes no one has ever called or emailed me to see if i am OK, i could not behave this way. Even when the BA aircraft crashed at Heathrow i would have wanted to know that my brother was OK as he had no idea if i was on it or not.
I think my job has allowed me to get used to my own company and this can make the mind wander and imagine things which are not even happening.
Crying on the aircraft in the confines of my bunk on my crew rest where no one can see is common practice, i cry in my hotel room often, i do not take anti depressants anymore as i weened myself off them but something tells me i should be taking something to get me out of this deep hole of on and off depression.
I have spoken before about lack of friends, in fact "any" friends, watching too much TV shows how close family and friends can be and all this is so alien to me, never had a best friend, and i have a brother who last said hello in October 2009 when we met under frosty conditions to watch mam sing at the Royal Albert Hall, it was OK but it was obvious things were not right and never will be. We all tried, dad was happy that we were all together and mum happy we were all there to support her but it was an act, a show put on to keep the peace.
I look at people with their own businesses and ventures and wish i was my own boss, working for a company is restrictive, i cannot make decisions and have to follow rules and regulations, i will never reap the rewards of profit, just assist in helping the company to make one, i will never earn enough to be really well off, just enough to pay bills, have a regular car and a holiday once a year. People with their own destiny's have the opposite of all that, but i suppose with added pressures and responsibilities.
The more i think about moving back to the North East the more i worry about would i really want to be there once i have my parents no more, would i want to be surrounded by memories and places that will remind me of them, is this just part of life or something i would feel better living away from. I love home, Dipton is always home, i even say when in the south, " i am going home next week", when i leave the north for the south i say " i am going south" i never call it home as after 22 years in the vile south i still struggle with homesickness, being in the south finds me on my own for days at a time, when Ged comes home at 2100 every night he is tired, there is not much conversation and he usually falls asleep, but he does leave the house at 0630 for an 0800 start, finishing at 2000 and home by 2100....a long day and he has every right to fall asleep and be tired, i would.
If someone suggest a hobby i worry about leaving the dog on her own so going out is not a regular event.#
Booked a cottage in wales 11th-18th September for us and the dog, will be relaxing and as i have no staff travel after striking it is not like we have cheap flights to go away with anymore.
The cottage is near Cardigan west Wales, near the coast, north of Milford Haven so plenty to visit during the day by car, we wont make the days long as Megan does not walk a lot so picnics on the beach or in the country so she can sit on the rug and enjoy the view and the fresh air, she will love it. I do not land from Los Angeles until 1045 on the 11th and will have to get home load the car and drive for 3 hours+ to the cottage but i think i will be OK.
It is 8pm here in Phoenix and that's 0400 in morning in UK, now that's jet lag for you, feeling tired not but trying to stay on local time.
Tomorrow is another trip to the shopping mall, maybe some more  bargains and more money spent, nothing else to do!!!!

Phoenix 03/08/10

This trip is something of a treat in a way, as it is a five day trip, usually a four but Monday and Tuesday's trip gain the extra day.It sure makes a change from the nine 24 hour layovers i did in a row.
Very very hot here, i went to the pool and managed 15 minutes before i could stand the heat no more, it gets up to 110 during the afternoon and as the pool is sheltered from any breeze it must be 120.
I walked to the shopping mall and walked into the Express sale, i though the items i chose for $29.99 were a bargain but when i went to pay they had an extra 40% off so i got all three for $50.00. New summer shoes for $15.99, well pleased, i also tried nothing on until i returned to the hotel and all fit perfectly.
My September roster was published yesterday so had a look via the internet when i got to my room, i have a three day Vancouver and three days means in total so that is a 24 hour stopover and night sector home, a four day Los Angeles, and a five day Mauritius, now that flight is vile, full of honeymooners all asking for upgrades, day light flight home, no one sleeps, and call bells going off left right and centre, not looking forward to it at all but if the Union start strikes in September i may lose it so heres hoping, not that i like strikes but once a scab always a scab and i would hate to be labelled with that title so i will stay at home as requested by my union, they seem to know how to attack things and keep a low profile leading us to believe nothing is happening but too many moles around leaking info back to BA so they pounce when the time is right.
So nice ot be in touch with old friends via Facebook, we often think what are those people doing now, or where are they in the world and facebook allows us to stay in touch and see their photos, profiles, comments, i love it and will be the first to admit i am an addict, love Farmville.!!!
Facebook can also be an enemy, people can read things in a way they choose too and you cannot sense emotions and mood when reading so there has been some fall outs but i have been lucky, the only people i have deleted are the weak!
I have my annual flying exams for three days next week, 11th 12th 13th August, not looking forward to that and never do, i will have done them 22 times already in my career and nothing changes, i think what people do not understand is the flying protocol, it is like driving a car you need a licence for each aircraft type you fly on and to get the licence you have to pass the exams on door operation, emergency equipment location, fire fighting drills, all aircraft are different so i could not jump off a 747 and then work on an airbus...i have two licences Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 777-200.
Wish me luck!!

Ba's got talent

BA's Got Talent Final
Friday 01st October 2010
Olympus Hall

10 Contestants, One Goal, To Be the 2010, BA's Got Talent Winner.

This action packed evening all in aid of the chosen charity ‘Comic Relief’, will have 10 British Airways employees competing for a grand prize of £750 and a chance to perform at a British Airways Charity Event.

Chico will be judging the competition with two other judges, followed by a charity raffle with great prizes and then a performance by a special celebrity guest.

Tickets are £10 with under 5's FREE.

I cannot believe i am in the top ten, however i will just go on my own, mum and dad will be on their cruise until October 4th and will not be able to support me, ah well, i will sing even better hoping they can hear me!