The Visitor

It’s absolutely fantastic to introduce someone you know to a city that they know very little about to somewhere that you know very well. It just goes to show that the day to day things that you see for granted are instantly admired when they are in awe of your local facilities. I recently showed a friend around the Birmingham German Market and; while I know that a lot of the stalls get repetitive over time and are quite overpriced; my friend’s appreciation of it made it all the more enjoyable as it was significantly larger than the one in his home town. We both enjoyed the free samples of Stollen and stocked up for our friends and families. We were both in awe of the street performers and their props. We both took the opportunity to try something new and visit places that we wouldn’t normally discover off the beaten track. So hosting a visitor is a worthwhile experience.

Catch-up for a catch-up

I’ve had an old college friend come to visit me today for a catch-up. It’s been a long day as I still had a work shift to complete and I was asked to start earlier than usual to account for the Christmas period. We still have an imminent health and safety inspection which I need to prepare for as I won’t be available for the day of the visit. So I then have to change the daily rota plan to get this complete; all the while the staff are complaining because it means that they can’t stand around while it’s quiet. And while I’m on the floor preparing and filing the paperwork; in walks our area manager who naturally wants to know what is going on. After yet more overtime and trying to understand my admin co-ordinator’s filing system; I give up and explain to her what has been done. Then I give up on everything and head out the door.

I'm doing it my way

Once again, the day job is getting in the way of things. As we reach our busiest season, my request for help has been completely ignored. Right in the middle is a health and safety inspection which I have to prepare the paperwork for. I have a team of people who are determined to do things their way while not following guidelines, including my manager; who admits that my role is not what he expected either. We have all been put under a secret agenda in a cost-cutting exercise in order to make cheaper deliveries within the company. I’m fed up of people going behind my back and not sharing information which should be included as part of a team. I seriously need to find time to press on. And in the meantime; I’m not prepared to put any extra effort in. I’m just going to turn up for the hours and pay check then disappear.

Christmas Party Chaos

For some strange reason, it was all down to me to organise our Christmas party. The guy who’s hardly in the workplace; doesn’t get introduced to any new colleagues or invited out to any staff socials. It was hard enough to try and work out who was going, who was paying and to get the money off everyone on time. Then add a twist by taking along a group of immature people who’ve never experienced foreign cuisine before and an unsympathetic hostess who doesn’t recognise that people want to relax and have a good time. It’s then a task to keep everyone happy and calm while waiting for their food and explaining what’s going on; while also trying to determine why the plan has changed. For some reason people get very paranoid  when they take insults, and we got a stern telling-off for extinguishing candles. I won’t be organising another one for this crowd.

Rambling about RambAles

Just lately I’ve been writing offline on another project, and it’s nearly complete. Within the beer club that I volunteer for, I also run a series of pub walks where we find a group of rural pubs and walk round them all using a series of country footpaths. It’s a ramble and we drink ale; so we call it… RambAle! The content wasn’t particularly creative to write as most of it was just giving clear and concise directions; it was more of a labour process. Over the next few weeks I’m going to try and add some creative content to make it interesting; though I don’t really want to give the reader a history lesson and distract them from the purpose of the article. I’m in the process of uploading the content, and you can check it out at www.rbcamra.org.uk. I still need to write a longer article for general publication to a wider audience; this may be published in a national magazine.

Railway Rouges

Last night I made a resolution to go to the pub more. So I started by visiting the Railway in Studley; mainly to get rid of my last batch of the Worcestershire Pint Taken magazine. I arrived just before seven, which I thought would be a fairly quiet time as the drinking crowds would still be at home tanking themselves up for their big night. I ordered a pint and duly distributed the magazines then the question was where to park myself. There was a large screen TV showing a match, and all of the nearby tables were full apart from the one underneath it. So I decided to prop up the bar with the intention of chatting up one of the lovely barmaids. Unfortunately, this stood directly in the way of some locals who wanted the best of both worlds. My only option was therefore was to retire to a corner on my own, until a bunch of chavs decided to sit at the adjacent table to order a meal. Not a great place to visit if you’re new in town.  

Time out (a new start)

Last night I attended a masquerade ball as part of an old school friend’s wedding. It was a bit of a fiasco as I didn’t arrange to get the time off work. So my first black mark was for arriving fashionably late. I also failed to obtain a mask; having dashed into the local bargain shop only that morning to find that most of their Halloween props were off the shelves as it was the last day and everything was going out of fashion. I still had no gift but decided to make the journey to work to save time and shop there; only a traffic jam put paid to my plans to wander into town. Instead I dashed into the superstore where crying kids were tearing things off the shelves in amongst zombies stacking shelves and inflatable giant pumpkins. I then chose a bottle of champagne only to find it was overly priced at the checkout; but I didn’t have time to complain and forgot what the proper price should be. I really need to find more time for these things.