Oh dear what a day, after a long GRU-LHR i did not expect what was to follow.
Travelled from T1-T5 by train, quick journey but lots of walking.
Checked in and was put on Standby so went to Staff travel area where all went well and i was accepted.
Security and screening was a breeze then all went wrong.
We were told to go to gate A5 so we waited for boarding for a 0945 departure.
0935- told gate had changed and we were all herded to another stand on a lower level to be coached out.
1115- After standing in a freezing cold area for 1hour 30 minutes we boarded coaches and left for remote stand.
We had a very honest Captain who was obviously livid and angry as to what had happened, he and his crew had been sitting on a crew bus for two hours waiting for buses to empty the aircraft we were to board so inbound passengers were also angry.
We were told there had been no loaders, no tug drivers, no coaches, no coach drivers, no step drivers, he said he expected teething problems on day one but this time " ba had lost all their teeth".
Passengers were filiming him as he stood at the front of the cabin giving regular helpful updates.
He organised a bus to return to the aircraft as so many businessmen did not want to travel as they had already missed their meetings.
It was truely embarrassing but i do not put the blame totally on BA. I will agree there were a lot of lost groud staff walking around the terminal and lots of people milling about the gate not knowing what was happening which did infuriate a lot of passengers.
1330- After sitting on an aircraft for two hours we eventually took off arriving over three hours late.
I would like to Thank the Captain and the crew led my Psr Karen Willings on the BA1326 LHR-NCL, they made themselves available for questions, they served drinks on the ground and Karen was seen on two occasions allowing passengers to use her own personal mobile telephone to inform relatives/friends of the delay. I told her she should write a Bravo on herself!!!!
The BAA/BA name similarity is also causing confusion and passengers seem quite willing to blame BA when many of the problems were caused by BAA.
I would advise crew to travel light and not carry suitcases as we left with no bags and some commuting crew were still awaiting lost bags from previous flights so are now tracing two lots of luggage.
I am sure when it is all up and running it will be a fantastic terminal but i think today did not get us off to the best of starts.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
Sao-Paulo Flight
It is becoming difficult to work and fly with junior Pursers, they work as if they are the only people who know how to do the job and have no faith in the invaluable experience they have working for them, i now have 20 years flying experience and do not appreciate the constant " are you ok" comments and " do you know what your doing".
This trip is a typical example of that and of British Airways blunders and miss-management, the two crew working on the upper deck, business class, 20 passengers, 4 pilots, apparently have had complaints from passengers about their inadequate service styles, this has been noted by th Senior crew member and she has asked me to do the rest of the trip upstairs as she nees experience up there, this does not bother me, what bothers me is the fact that i will have to cope with 4 demanding pilots, always wanting something and the busiest times,they will be asking for First Class food when they know they cannot have it so i will not even go down that road with them, i will remain consistant to company standards then i cannot be accountable if there is a problem.
Cathy Lloyd from pantomime days is First class Purser and she has Barry her husband with her, a nice guy but a heart attack waiting to happen as he is so overweight, he really should do something about that.
Cathy could not believe that i had not done a Pantomime since 2001 ( now 2008) and that i had not seen Andy since 2004 ( my 40th party).
I suppose the way i have secluded myself from the outside world has not helped, i did not attend Andy's 40th in Jersey when he came to mine, i have never been to see the last six Pantomimes since i left and i have heard of friends who were once close are now married and i did not know or even get an invite, maybe because people know they will be wasting their time as i always refuse to go anywhere or make excuses.
I did not even go to Peter's 50th in Belgium and he made such an effort to attend my 40th in 2004.
Shame on me!!!
I was just doing research on Bi-Polar disorder and it said the medication can cause weight gain.....NO WAY will i be taking any of those pills.!!!!
This trip is a typical example of that and of British Airways blunders and miss-management, the two crew working on the upper deck, business class, 20 passengers, 4 pilots, apparently have had complaints from passengers about their inadequate service styles, this has been noted by th Senior crew member and she has asked me to do the rest of the trip upstairs as she nees experience up there, this does not bother me, what bothers me is the fact that i will have to cope with 4 demanding pilots, always wanting something and the busiest times,they will be asking for First Class food when they know they cannot have it so i will not even go down that road with them, i will remain consistant to company standards then i cannot be accountable if there is a problem.
Cathy Lloyd from pantomime days is First class Purser and she has Barry her husband with her, a nice guy but a heart attack waiting to happen as he is so overweight, he really should do something about that.
Cathy could not believe that i had not done a Pantomime since 2001 ( now 2008) and that i had not seen Andy since 2004 ( my 40th party).
I suppose the way i have secluded myself from the outside world has not helped, i did not attend Andy's 40th in Jersey when he came to mine, i have never been to see the last six Pantomimes since i left and i have heard of friends who were once close are now married and i did not know or even get an invite, maybe because people know they will be wasting their time as i always refuse to go anywhere or make excuses.
I did not even go to Peter's 50th in Belgium and he made such an effort to attend my 40th in 2004.
Shame on me!!!
I was just doing research on Bi-Polar disorder and it said the medication can cause weight gain.....NO WAY will i be taking any of those pills.!!!!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
New Car
I am in the throws of deciding whether to buy a new car or not. Mazda are doing a good deal of £1000 off for customer loyalty but probably over price the car to make the deal sound better when in fact they are getting their £1000 back.
Dad is interested in buying my three your old Mazda and i have offered it to him for a good price, i would give them my kidneys if i had too, it's a shame others are mean, tight and selfish, but then they will go to their graves with a guilty concious and i won't!!!
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!
Dad is interested in buying my three your old Mazda and i have offered it to him for a good price, i would give them my kidneys if i had too, it's a shame others are mean, tight and selfish, but then they will go to their graves with a guilty concious and i won't!!!
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, 17 March 2008
Scary!!!! Bi-Polar Disorder
Bipolar Screening Test
Look for signs of bipolar disorder
Read the following lists.
Put a check mark by each sign that sounds like you now or in the past:
Signs of mania (ups)
I feel like I'm on top of the world.
I feel powerful. I can do anything I want, nothing can stop me.
I don't seem to need much sleep.
I feel restless all the time.
I feel really mad.
I can't focus on anything for very long.
I sometimes can’t stop talking and I talk really fast.
I'm spending lots of money on things I don't need and can't afford.
Friends tell me that I've been acting differently. They tell me that I'm starting fights, talking louder, and getting more angry.
Signs of depression (downs)
I am really sad most of the time.
I don't enjoy doing the things I've always enjoyed doing.
I don't sleep well at night and am very restless.
I am always tired.
I feel like eating all the time.
I have lots of aches and pains that don't go away.
I have little to no sexual energy.
I find it hard to focus
I am mad at everybody and everything.
I feel upset and fearful, but can't figure out why.
I don't feel like talking to people.
I feel like there isn't much point to living, nothing good is going to happen to me.
I don't like myself very much. I feel bad most of the time.
I think about death a lot.
Look for signs of bipolar disorder
Read the following lists.
Put a check mark by each sign that sounds like you now or in the past:
Signs of mania (ups)
I feel like I'm on top of the world.
I feel powerful. I can do anything I want, nothing can stop me.
I don't seem to need much sleep.
I feel restless all the time.
I feel really mad.
I can't focus on anything for very long.
I sometimes can’t stop talking and I talk really fast.
I'm spending lots of money on things I don't need and can't afford.
Friends tell me that I've been acting differently. They tell me that I'm starting fights, talking louder, and getting more angry.
Signs of depression (downs)
I am really sad most of the time.
I don't enjoy doing the things I've always enjoyed doing.
I don't sleep well at night and am very restless.
I am always tired.
I feel like eating all the time.
I have lots of aches and pains that don't go away.
I have little to no sexual energy.
I find it hard to focus
I am mad at everybody and everything.
I feel upset and fearful, but can't figure out why.
I don't feel like talking to people.
I feel like there isn't much point to living, nothing good is going to happen to me.
I don't like myself very much. I feel bad most of the time.
I think about death a lot.
This sums up the UK in 2008
Subject: Passport Application
Dear Minister,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am at a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.
How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?
How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?
How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money to themselves if I fail to claim in good time.
Do you people do this by hand?
You have my birth date on numerous files you hold on me, including the one with all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30-odd years. It's on my health insurance card, my driver's licence, on the last four passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes and boats over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done every ten years and the electoral registration forms I have to complete, by law, every time our lords and masters are up for re-election.
Would somebody please take note, once and for all, I was born in Maidenhead on the 4th of March 1957, my mother's name is Mary, her maiden name was Reynolds, my father's name is Robert, and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and the day I die!
I apologise Minister. I'm obviously not myself this morning. But between you and me, I have simply had enough! You mail the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthals working there? Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to activate the Fifth Reich for God's sake! I just want to go and park my weary backside on a sunny, sandy beach for a couple of week's well-earned rest away from all this crap.
Well, I have to go now, because I have to go to back to Salisbury and get another copy of my birth certificate because you lost the last one. AND to the tune of 60 quid! What a racket THAT is!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day? But nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some tosser to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know... the one where we're not allowed to smile in in case we look as if we are enjoying the process!
Hey, you know why we can't smile? 'Cause we're totally jacked off!
I served in the armed forces for more than 25 years including over ten years at the Ministry of Defence in London. I have had security clearances which allowed me to sit in the Cabinet Office, five seats away from the Prime Minister while he was being briefed on the first Gulf War and I have been doing volunteer work for the British Red Cross ever since I left the Services. However, I have to get someone "important" to verify who I am -- you know, someone like my doctor... who, before he got his medical degree 6 months ago WAS LIVING IN PAKISTAN...
Yours sincerely,
An Irate Englishman.
Dear Minister,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport but I am at a total loss to understand or believe the hoops I am being asked to jump through.
How is it that Bert Smith of T.V. Rentals Basingstoke has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a satellite dish from them back in 1994, and yet, the Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date?
How come that nice West African immigrant chappy who comes round every Thursday night with his DVD rentals van can tell me every film or video I have had out since he started his business up eleven years ago, yet you still want me to remind you of my last three jobs, two of which were with contractors working for the government?
How come the T.V. detector van can tell if my T.V. is on, what channel I am watching and whether I have paid my licence or not, and yet if I win the government run lottery they have no idea I have won or where I am and will keep the bloody money to themselves if I fail to claim in good time.
Do you people do this by hand?
You have my birth date on numerous files you hold on me, including the one with all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30-odd years. It's on my health insurance card, my driver's licence, on the last four passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes and boats over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done every ten years and the electoral registration forms I have to complete, by law, every time our lords and masters are up for re-election.
Would somebody please take note, once and for all, I was born in Maidenhead on the 4th of March 1957, my mother's name is Mary, her maiden name was Reynolds, my father's name is Robert, and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and the day I die!
I apologise Minister. I'm obviously not myself this morning. But between you and me, I have simply had enough! You mail the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? Do you have a gang of Neanderthals working there? Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to activate the Fifth Reich for God's sake! I just want to go and park my weary backside on a sunny, sandy beach for a couple of week's well-earned rest away from all this crap.
Well, I have to go now, because I have to go to back to Salisbury and get another copy of my birth certificate because you lost the last one. AND to the tune of 60 quid! What a racket THAT is!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day? But nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some tosser to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know... the one where we're not allowed to smile in in case we look as if we are enjoying the process!
Hey, you know why we can't smile? 'Cause we're totally jacked off!
I served in the armed forces for more than 25 years including over ten years at the Ministry of Defence in London. I have had security clearances which allowed me to sit in the Cabinet Office, five seats away from the Prime Minister while he was being briefed on the first Gulf War and I have been doing volunteer work for the British Red Cross ever since I left the Services. However, I have to get someone "important" to verify who I am -- you know, someone like my doctor... who, before he got his medical degree 6 months ago WAS LIVING IN PAKISTAN...
Yours sincerely,
An Irate Englishman.
Terminal 5
I was so looking forward to operating the Hong Kong into Terminal 5 on 27th March,but just as i thought BA put a spanner in the works by rostering me my 10 day standby block which mad my Hong Kong trip flexible and i have not been rostered changed and operate a Sao Paulo on 22nd-27th instead of Hong Kong 23rd-27th as i had a day of 24 hour availability on the 22nd so they filled it.
I think that is so cruel. I wanted to so much motivate myself into doing something special, i so wanted my parents to be proud of me as i fail to make them proud in other ways eg promotion etc, i am now 44 years old, been flying for 20 years in this job and still have not been promoted any further than my first class training.
If i could find another job i would be gone in a shot, it's a bitchy,selfish, me me me environment which is hate, it is also very lonely, take for instance right this second, i am in my room in Bombay ( Mumbai) i arrived here local time at 215am, i stayed awake until 7am slept until 645pm and it is now 9pm and i have not spoke to anyone or even left my room, the most activity i have done is iron my shirt for work, we leave hotel for flight home at 125am ( 4hr30mins from now)the flight time will be about 10 hours and i will be bored as everyone will be asleep.
i have one full day to sort myself out then driving to Dipton with Ged and Megan, Ged has 10 days off over Easter so nice he can see his family instead of sitting in the house in the south, I will be flying to London on Saturday for Sao Paulo, flying back on 27th and driving home on 29th back to London so i will have a pretty tiring couple of weeks.
Ah well, it is the life i choose so i should learn to get on with it, ps The movie Poseidon has just started on Indian tv.
I think that is so cruel. I wanted to so much motivate myself into doing something special, i so wanted my parents to be proud of me as i fail to make them proud in other ways eg promotion etc, i am now 44 years old, been flying for 20 years in this job and still have not been promoted any further than my first class training.
If i could find another job i would be gone in a shot, it's a bitchy,selfish, me me me environment which is hate, it is also very lonely, take for instance right this second, i am in my room in Bombay ( Mumbai) i arrived here local time at 215am, i stayed awake until 7am slept until 645pm and it is now 9pm and i have not spoke to anyone or even left my room, the most activity i have done is iron my shirt for work, we leave hotel for flight home at 125am ( 4hr30mins from now)the flight time will be about 10 hours and i will be bored as everyone will be asleep.
i have one full day to sort myself out then driving to Dipton with Ged and Megan, Ged has 10 days off over Easter so nice he can see his family instead of sitting in the house in the south, I will be flying to London on Saturday for Sao Paulo, flying back on 27th and driving home on 29th back to London so i will have a pretty tiring couple of weeks.
Ah well, it is the life i choose so i should learn to get on with it, ps The movie Poseidon has just started on Indian tv.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
LETTER I SENT TO ITV LONDON NEWS AND MP.
Tesco abandoned trolleys.
Living near a superstore has it benefits however the downside is the amount of abandoned trolleys found on the streets. I myself have received damage to my car as children ride the trolleys on their way home from the local school.
I have called Tesco HQ almost on a daily basis and they promise to send staff to collect the trolleys but we wait days until they show up then it all starts again. I tried to claim for the damage to my car but Tescos say they are not liable.
My local MP Stephen Hammond (Conservative for Wimbledon) has telephoned the head office for Tesco's personally and was told the trolleys would be collected but they were not, he promises to speak to the manager of Tescos on his next visit to the store.
These large stores are causing our residential areas to become dumping grounds for abandoned trolleys and something must be done to stop this, surely the amount of profit Tesco make woudl stretch to erecting some sort of boundary fence to stop the trolleys leaving the premises. The other exit is onto the busy A3 so usually not a problem on that side of the store, its the back exit which they have the problem with and the local residents of surrounding areas are pretty fed up with it.
I have attached personal photographs which i took while walking my dog today.
Gary Marshall-Gleghorn
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Living near a superstore has it benefits however the downside is the amount of abandoned trolleys found on the streets. I myself have received damage to my car as children ride the trolleys on their way home from the local school.
I have called Tesco HQ almost on a daily basis and they promise to send staff to collect the trolleys but we wait days until they show up then it all starts again. I tried to claim for the damage to my car but Tescos say they are not liable.
My local MP Stephen Hammond (Conservative for Wimbledon) has telephoned the head office for Tesco's personally and was told the trolleys would be collected but they were not, he promises to speak to the manager of Tescos on his next visit to the store.
These large stores are causing our residential areas to become dumping grounds for abandoned trolleys and something must be done to stop this, surely the amount of profit Tesco make woudl stretch to erecting some sort of boundary fence to stop the trolleys leaving the premises. The other exit is onto the busy A3 so usually not a problem on that side of the store, its the back exit which they have the problem with and the local residents of surrounding areas are pretty fed up with it.
I have attached personal photographs which i took while walking my dog today.
Gary Marshall-Gleghorn
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