Tales of the wolf

Holiday in Greece 2009

2010-02-07T06:11:00.003+11:00

xmas in mauritius

2010-02-06T22:37:00.005+11:00

ages since i posted anything so heres a vid

oh and the room party was fancy dress hence the sari!

My Airline !!!

2009-01-08T03:02:00.001+11:00

The airline i fly for. of course, we all look like this!

Oh and just for laughs

Another day in the life of

2008-12-12T04:14:00.009+11:00

I open my eyes to the dulcet tones of my alarm going off at 2.30am on a Sunday morning.
I reluctantly drag my sorry ass out of bed and shuffle zombie like towards the kitchen, to make myself a cup of coffee. 2 spoons of coffee this morning,
I think.
The distant sounds of Saturday night revellers echo throughout the streets outside my window. Lucky Bastards.
I struggle to make myself Vegemite toast, wondering why the knife is rebelliously refusing to spread the butter smoothly today.

Sitting on the couch, I take the first sip of coffee, feeling it's warmth slowly spread throughout my body like a gentle energising wave. It's a mild improvement.
I draw back on my first cigarette, it's comfort reminiscent of my recently deserted bed.
A quick glance at the clock tells me I have an hour to get ready. Unable to muster even the minutest amount of panic over the short time frame to pack and groom, I have one more cigarette and lurch towards the bathroom.

I stare at the haggard face reflected in the mirror, and I can't help but wonder, is this really the glamorous life or am i too, contributing to the lie that all Flight Attendants perpetuate?

The soft droplets of water of the shower slowly wash away the shroud of sleep, even as my mind conjures all kinds of excuses not to go into work today. Sighing, I resign myself to the fact I have no choice but to go. I briefly muse at the fact that when I finish work today, I'll be half way around the world.

Bags packed, I call the taxi at 3.45am.
As I leave through the front door, I bump into my neighbours coming home. We smile at each other. They at me, with a sympathetic pity, and me at them, with an envy, knowing they are about to go to a nice warm bed, and I'm beginning what will be a 24 hour no sleep day.
The blast of cold hitting my face seems distant, as though its not really happening to me. Perhaps after all I'm dreaming, still in bed. Chance would be a fine thing!

4am. Standing at the bus station waiting for my bus to Gatwick Airport. The streets are filled with drunken party goers looking fr the next venue, or the nearest kebab shop. sounds of fun and merriment surround me tauntingly. What wouldn't I give to be throwing off the uniform and joining the party, rather than be flying to Barbados. Its then that it hits me. Have I become so inured and cynical towards my job already? With all these exotic destinations I go to, I cant help but wonder, Is heaven overrated?

I can hear the voices incredulously chiding me. Am I mad not to want a night in tropical Barbados, and a chance to defrost from the bitter cold of winter? Seriously, the thought of spending 9 hours in a crowded Boeing 747 is not exciting at this hour of the morning.

4.30am. all hopes of sleeping on the bus are gone, as my energy drink kicks in, leaving me hanging in the null space somewhere between the fully waking world and a dozing state. So i get out my Ipod. Too early for club music, but i scan for something uplifting. My eyes settle on Bananarama. I select it, even though every fibre of my being screams in protest against the stereotype this brands me as. Somehow the mindnumbing lyrics and upbeat tempo seems to lift my spirits, just in time for the bus to pull into gatwick.

I trudge up the aisle...the door to the outside world drawing ever closer. Going live in 5...4...3... ... ... I step onto the airport world that is my stage, smiling and looking happy and confident. Holding within, all the frustrations of inept and inconsiderate travellers that meander in front of me, aimlessly wandering with luggage carts overflowing, to cut in front, to stop in the middle of the path, without nary a care who is behind them, as i continue to serenely keep a placid, genial visage.

Finally i make it to the crew room, where a bunch of crew sit awaiting their briefing call. all sitting there, groomed and made up. Tonnes of foundation and smiles covering the fact they are all just as knackered and longing for a warm bed as I am. But we keep on smiling, even if we're out of bloody mary mix.

Who's going to Barbados, the flight manager calls from the doorway of the briefing room. In response, 16 strangers converge on the small briefing room. as i sit there, looking around at those that will now be my new temporary best friends over the next 3 days, i search for anyone I might have flown with before. Nope. I conduct a secondary scan, wondering who I am going to get along with, who is going to annoy me, and wonder, who i will be working closely with on a cart, or sharing a galley with. Funnily enough, you can never tell, and often you come back from a trip surprised at the ones you really gelled with.

Time to commence the briefing. the flight manager is talking. Whatever is being said is being lost in the world of nerves that comes before the almighty safety question. That one question that if answered correctly means youre going, and if answered incorrectly could mean being offloaed from the flight and sent back to training. UGH!
Time to get the brain in working order and up to full speed. It complains all the way and i can almost hear the gears screeching in protest. Suddenly my name is called. Shit! What was the question? My mind races to recover the last few seconds and I somehow manage to answer the question that was asked. It wasnt that I didnt know the answer, it was more that I almost missed the question.

Question time over, I can relax, and take in all that is being said by the service supervisors for the flight, and before we know it, we are shuffling out the door, grabbing cases and headed for security.
Do we really need to take our shoes off? I moan to myself. The floor is freezing. We grin and bear it, as my besocked and tighted colleagues pass one by one through the scanner.
Sitting on the airside bus that takes us to the aircraft, we all commence our preflight ritual. Out come the mobile phones, sending that last, I love you text, in the unlikely event of an emergency. I wonder if other airlines crew have this ritual too.

Before I know it, we are onboard the massive 747 and running around doing our checks and prepping the cabin. All too soon, passengers are boarding, and the everlast smiles are spread across our faces, as we prepare to hurtle ourselves into the wide blue yonder. Sigh, here we go again.

talk about putting it out there

2008-12-11T21:40:00.002+11:00

on my last trip i had just about everything i love happen.
passengers used my name, i had passengers shake my hand on getting off, stating it was the best flight they have had service wise, i even had someone come into the galley while i was eating ad place an order, but only when i was finished eating... WOW. i think theres a lot to be said for positive and wishful thinking.

and Tim, i reckon you would be a fun passenger.

things we love

2008-12-05T18:01:00.005+11:00

well, after my rant over my pet hates in the job, to balance it out.. here's things that really make my day... or things you can do to get on the good side of a flight attendant.

1. have your boarding pass ready when you get to the door, and show it to us.. we do need to see it, and kicking up a fuss only delays things. i love it when a passenger gets on, ready, and has a happy face..i usually remember the ones who have something nice to say and store that away for later.

2. i love it when a passenger takes time to read my name badge and refer to me by name. makes me fell like a human being, and ill usually go out of my way to give them a great service.

3. whilst we do get marked on our performance on each flight, nothing makes my day more, than having a passenger comment to me towards the end of the flight, telling me they have loved my service or that i have done a great job. it really energises me for my next flight, and lets me know what im doing right. im on top of the world when i have a passenger specifically thank me for a wonderful flight.

4. i love it when passengers are honest. if they need something and come and ask really nicely... you actually feel like doing all you can to assist. we have all seen the waterworks before, and some people think it gets them what they want...it doesnt...i actually go that extra mile for people who have been totally upfront and honest and nice about it.

5. i love it when a customer comes into the galley, and sees that im eating and actually asks for something, but only when im finished. i think most people forget we are human too. they have all been fed and given drinks... and when someone comes in, during the 5 mins i actually have to eat something, and demands a drink.. and expects you to drop everything right then... of course we do anyway but do they not realise we are often working on ur feet, for over 9 hours, without a break, and they want to interrupt that 5 mins we actually do get. i tell you what... i go 110 percent further for anyone that wud come in and apologise for interrupting my meal, and ask that when i finish if i could bring them what they need. actually if someone did that i woudl probably stop eating anyway, but if not.. i can bet they would certainly get more than they originally asked for, and would be treated like royalty for the rest of the flight.

6. having said point 5, i do really love it when someone sitting on an aisl seat actually gets up and comes to us for something rather then ringing the call bell. sometimes its so ice to have a chat to someone other than the crew, whilst youre getting what they ask for.. and sometime they end up getting something extra whilst they are there (ok this goes for me i cant speak for the rest of the crew)

7. i love it when people actually say please and thank you. you wud be surprised how many people forget their manners on a plane and bark ordered or dont even say thank you when you give them something. so it really makes my day when i have someone be really polite to me. they are the ones who stand out amongst the 300 passengers, and the ones who get the extras.

8. i love it when kids do something really cute on board (as opposed to being a brat)

9. i do love it when people actually appreciate what we do. and realise we are not sky waiters..in fact, the whole food thing and drink thing is just a complimentary add on and gives us and you something to do for 9+ hours. the primary reason we are on board is for the safety thing. in case anything goes wrong, or someone gets sick. the reason you always see us serving food is that theres so many passengers it takes so long to do. i really get a kick out of someone who actually understands that, and i tell you what, they really do get all the extras.

10. ok, honesty time.. I F'ing love it when i walk thru the terminal in my uniform, i love going to work every day (i really do), i love walking onto the plane (even though they smell....all planes do, especially boeings...they have a particular scent to them, that you get so used to) i love arming doors and crosschecking, i love doing safety demos, i love the thrill of take off, i love that double ding for landing, i love getting to play in the galley , i love being able to play with all the equiptment, and i love being able to do something special for my customers. im the luckiest guy in the world. i actually getting to do what i have always dreamed of doing.
ive done the high money thing, ive done computer software analysis, ive done being a trainer, ive done sftware helpdesk, ive done all kinds of jobs. but nothing, nothing can compare to what i do now.
its funny, when you work in a plane, most of the time your not actually conscious of where you actually are...youre too busy focussed on what you are doing to think about the fact youre 37,000 feet in the air or where in the world youre over...but on that odd occaision you happen to glance out of the window...nothing beats some of the spectacular views that you get.

well, thats my balancing out all the whinges about what pisses me off in the job..and believe me the pros far outweigh the cons.

Time flies

2008-10-19T05:27:00.011+11:00

Is hard to believe that a year has passed already.

I have been at Virgin for a year come Wednesday.

Have just emerged from SEP, my annual exams. I dont think i have ever been so stressed out in my life. To tp it all off, i got the flu right before it, so trying to study while being muddle headed is not easy, and was making me panic even more. was i aboout to lose the job i had earned for all my life, and finally achieved??

Well, of course not. Passed with flying colours.
I think being my first one, with no idea what to expect, you listen to everyone else on board saying how vile it is and how hard it is. well there was nothing hard about it. If you study,and understand what you do, then its pretty easy.

The couple of mistakes i made in the exams, were purely down to reading errors...oh, except for which way to handle turns on the crew rest door to lock it.. what a stupid question, i mean really..you can see it lock so if you turn the wrong way you know instantly and turn it the other way.. sigh.

so i promise to study throughout the year and keep on top of my manuals and read a section each month... hahaha.. everyone says this every year..

locations were actually the hardest... where things are located on board each aircraft type.... god, its almost like its in a dogbox, attached to the bulkhead adjacent to the centre hatrack forward of the aft door... GRRRR

anyway... to celebrate my first year i put together a package which pretty much sums up my year. hope it balances out my top ten pissed off things. haha

top 10 things that piss me off in the job

2008-10-03T04:59:00.010+10:00

if you really wanna piss off your flight attendant.. heres some good clues. these are the things that really really get my goat when im working

1. people who open overhead lockers inflight and then sit back down without closing them!!! do they think they are not allowed to close them? if you hear a loud slam on one of my flights you will know its me closing one of them!

2. passengers who have no concept of what underneath the seat in front of them means. even after several boarding announcements, a safety video and hearing crew tell others to push something further under their seat, you will still find some daft moron with a handbag sitting on their lap as we secure the cabin.

3. walking down the aisle with a coffee pot...saying Coffee? Would you like some coffee? cup of coffee? only about 50 times already, to have someone then put their cup on your tray and as you pour coffee into their cup, they ask you..."is that tea?

4. having already done 2 rounds of tea and coffee...having said either coffee or tea about 100 times as you slowly walk down the aisle with a tea or coffee pot, to then be collecting in the trays and have some loser ask....'aren't you going to serve tea/coffee?' AHHH!

5.idiots who think they are superheros, who, whilst the seatbelt signs are on, and the plane is jostling and lurching around so much, that even the cabin crew are sitting down, think they can just wander up to the toilets, that have been locked off, to stand around in the aisles...even tho announcements have been made to fasten seat belts and toilets are out of use..... do they have death wishes??

6.passengers, who even after seeing/hearing the seatbelt sign go on.. and having a cabin announcement being made that the seat belt sign is now on and you have to fasten your seatbelt...with crew moving through the cabin to check seat belts are fastened...will just sit there, having made no attempt to fasten theres, in fact act either hostilely or surprised youre even asking them to fasten theirs.

7. (again seatbelts...can you tell they are the bane of our existences) that even after several announcements regarding if you are using blankets, to fasten the seat belt over it,to save us having t wake you, still get the shits if you wake them because they have covered their belts with a blanket. honestly folks...do you think we enjoy having to stop what we are doing..which could include finally having 5 minutes to ourselves to eat something...just to check if you have your seatbelts on. whilst im on the rant... what is with parents, esp mothers... who refuse to wake their child to fasten a seatbelt, and will actually argue and yell at you... do they have no care to their childs safety at all?? its not our fault the law states we have to care for your child more than you do.

8. this one will REALLY piss off any cabin crew. A passenger will ring their call bell, typically they will be in the row furthest away from the galley. they will ask you for a mixed drink. you will walk all the way back to the galley, to make the drink and then walk all the way back to their seat. (im betting any cabin crew will guess whats coming next..) only to then have the person sitting next to them say "can i have one too" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

9. passengers who press the call bell by mistake, and either dont bother to turn it off..or keep pressing the button oblivious to the dinging going on over their head and the little light going on and off!! forcing us to have to rush all over the plane rather than set up and serve the drinks/food. and these are typically the people who complain that the service is slow in coming. whats just as bad is parents who let their kids continually do this, with an only mild "sorry" and a "shanay, stop that" only to let them continue.

10. kids that scream and yell and chuck a temper tantrum, when its time to sit down and put on the seat belt for take off. if this isnt bad enough, parents that just let their kids run all over them, and let them get away with behaving like that. i know kids are kids.. and sometimes just dont want to do things.. but you can tell the kids that are just so used to getting their way...back in my day (oh god did i actually just say that?) heaven help me if i didnt do as my parents told me! so we end up delaying.. just to try to placate some tantrum throwing child..when the parent could just yell at or discipline their children (non physically of course)

sigh... just had to get that off my chest.. ... so that i can continue to smile and be pleasant.. even though we have run out of bloody mary mix...after having been awake for 20 hours, having been on my feet for 9, without a break longer than 5 mins, and having been yelled at by ungrateful pigs for things beyond my control... sigh. i do love my job, really.....promise.. lol
one day ill have to right a top ten best things just to balance this out.

September Update

2008-09-17T22:49:00.002+10:00

Standby Month has been gruesome!

My first trip, i was at home waiting and crewing happened to call at the worst possible moment when i couldnt make the next train, which meant i woud miss the next crew bus from gatwick....long story short, i was way later to the airport than the allowed 2 hours... so i got rolled onto a dubai flight.

was actually the best thing that could have happened since i havent been there before. Was a bit of a killer arriving there during Ramadan...it meant i couldnt have a cigarette until we were actually in our hotel room... bugger!

But wow! what a room they gave us.

At night, in the one and only restaurant that was open, even then we had to wait unti 7pm before they would serve us alcohol... oh well.. when in rome...

The buffet dinner at the hotel was awesome... and i dont think i have ever eaten so much.... oysters, lobster, prawns, steak...... i must have gone back about 9 times to fill my plate.

my 2nd trip was a quick shuttle to New York... only there for 16 hours... but the highlight of my tri was i actually got to close the rear left hand door of the aircraft. We Never get to close or opens doors..ever... so this was a real treat!
(we only practice opening the doors in emergency drills in a rig never on the real aircraft...in case you wondered)

On the down side... we got our rosters for October.. and the dreaded time has finally arrived. My annual recurrent exams. The yearly exams that all flight attendants dread. If we fail these exams we no longer have a job. They are gruelling to say the least, there are 4 major exams, and a whole day of practical exercises to get thru..including all kinds of emergency evac situations, cabin fires, decompression, dangerous goods drills.....pilot incapitation, emergency opening of all door types on all aircraft types.... shame is we dont get to go down the slide again... bugger that.. that was way too much fun.

so the next 4 weeks are going to be filled with study...the exams are quite hard so you have to know every line of the manuals.

just as well i have practiced my reading. i have recently discovered a series of books by Stephanie Meyers. The Twilight saga.. and lord if i havent become addicted. I have read all 4 books in 5 days. thats 3x600 pages and 1 x700 pages.
The first book is due to be released as a movie in nov, but ima bit worried they will not capture the true essence of the book.. oh well.. ill still go see it.

As luck wud have it, scott requested a Sydney trip, which is 9 days,and wouldnt you know it, they gave it to him, exactly during my exams.. so i will be faced to do my first recurrent alone without any support. i cant tell you how pissed off i was at this, but i am used to having to deal with most things on my own so i will just muddle thru. it wud have been nice to have him here to support me as i will be stressed and terrified, but i guess i have fallen into the trap/lure of having someone to depend upon and support me, where i have usually in the past been so fiercely independant and un-needing of bolstering from others. So its a good reality check for me.

time to go hit the manuals i guess....

What Dan did in august

2008-09-09T23:15:00.006+10:00

Just to prove i have waaaaaay too much time on my hands, here is a vid clip of my journeys in August

Whilst i always try to be tolerant of other cultures, i have to admit, jamaica was the worst trips i have ever been on. its so dangerous there we cant leave our hotel. Add on top of this they are extremely violent towards homosexuals, and are white racist to the extreme too. so you can imagine the fun we had on the flights.

we fly into montego bay, stay a night and then transfer as passengers on board an air jamaica flight to kingston and then stay the night before crewing home. The air Jamaica flight takes 20 mins, but can you believe it takes us 6 hours to actually do it.... with the airports being soooooo bad, with long long lines for everything. we were in the check in queue for 2 hours.

managed to finally get into manhattan this month and fell in love with the place.

st Lucia was great too.... we got a 4 hour catamaran booze cruise....i was so drunk when i got off that thing....lol

So you want to be a flight attendant?

2008-08-24T22:31:00.002+10:00

saw this and thought it amusing.....and so true.

Go to a resale store and find an old, navy suit that an army sergeant might have worn. Add a white shirt and a tie. Wear that same outfit for three consecutive days.

Go to an airport and watch airplanes take off for several hours. Pretend you are standing by for them and they are all full. Go home. Return to the airport the very next day and do the same thing again.

Fill several large boxes with rocks. Lift them over your head and place them on the top shelf of a closet. Slam the door shut until the boxes fit. Do this until you feel a disc slip in your back.

Turn on a radio. Be sure to set it between stations so there is plenty of static. Turn on the vacuum cleaner and garbage disposal. Run them all night.

Remove the covers from several T.V entrees. Place them in a hot oven. Leave the food in the oven until it's completely dried out. Remove the hot trays with your bare hands. Serve to your family. Don't include anything for yourself.
Serve your family a beverage one hour after they've received their meal.
Make them remain in their seats during this time.
Ask them to scream at you and complain about the service.

Scrounge uneaten rolls off the plates for you to eat 6 hours later when you're really hungry.

Place a straight-backed chair in a closet facing a blank wall. Use a belt to strap yourself into it.

Eat the rolls you saved from your family's meal.

Ask your family to use the bathroom as frequently as possible. Tell them to remove their shoes and socks before entering, and see who can make the most disgusting mess. Clean the bathroom every hour throughout the night.

Make a narrow aisle between several dining room chairs and randomly scatter your husband's runners and loafers along the way. Turn off the lights and spend the night walking up and down the aisle while banging your shins against the chair legs and tripping over the shoes.

Drink several cups of cold coffee to keep yourself awake.

Gently wake your family in the morning and serve them a muffin in a package. Don't forget to smile and wish them a nice day when they leave for work and school.

After the family leaves, take a suitcase and go out into the yard. If it's not raining, turn on the sprinkler system and stand in the cold for 30 minutes pretending like your waiting for the crew bus topick you up.

Then go inside and wait by your bedroom door for another 30 minutes for an imaginary maid to make up your room.

Change into street clothes and shop for 5 hours. Pick up carry-outfood from a local deli. Go back home. Sit on your bed and eat your meal.

Set your alarm clock for 03:00 am so you'll be ready incase you don't get your wake up call.

Repeat the above schedule for three days in a row and you'll be ready to work your first international flight

Im wondering why this song is so stuck in my head

2008-08-20T20:13:00.001+10:00

i cant stop humming or singing it and its driving me nuts. (at least im not singing that crazy numa numa yei sng anymore)

surviving Jamaica

2008-08-15T03:56:00.003+10:00

back from my first Jamaican trip. its one of the hardest trips we do. suffice to say most of the passengers are extremely rude to us and theres usually fights on board. Luckily i didnt have any of that on mine.

arrvied at Montego Bay, after working a 9 hour flight (means i was actually working 11.5 hours) and then a 30 min bus ride to our hotel, only to then wait 1 and a half hours for my room to be ready. thought i was gonna keel over. on top of this... they decided to tune the piano in the hotel lobby, next to where we were sitting.... i had to think.. THIS IS HELL!!! i actually died on the flight and im now in hell.

we didnt even get 17 hours to stay i the hotel, before having to get up early in the morning to passenger over to Kingston. What is a very short 20 min air jamaica flight, actually takes 6 hours door to door. its ridiculous! we waited in the check in line for almost 2 hours. Then we got to wait in the line to enter immigration, to then wait in line for security, then in line for immigration booth..we then got to the gate to find our plane has been delayed for an hour...before waiting in line to board the plane.

i luckily got an emergency exit row. The safety demo was a bit amusing...do they actually train to point like that or what.. but i picked up some good tips on how to deal with jamaican passengers for my leg from Kingston to London.

Once off the plane, we got to again wait in line for immigration and were forced to fill out an immigration form, even though we had just done a domestic flight!! go figure.

We got to the hotel just over 6 hours from when we left the other hotel. But kingston is so dangerous we are actually advised not to really leave the hotel. We did get to drive past Raetown, one of the most dangerous areas in the carribean so im told.

The flight home was relatively calm..the one and only passenger really kicking off was a scottish woman, who apparently complained about everything, continuously...luckily i was upstairs and didnt have to deal with her... however, i did get to hear her complaining loud and aggressively as she got off at how ridiculous it was that she and the other passengers had to wait until the people in the front of the plane get to disembark first..... honey, youre only gonna have to wait at the luggage carousel anyway so whats your rush? some people just need a good smack around the head.

oh well.. off t sunny st lucia soon... my little island paradise... one of the most beautiful islands we go to...where the locals are actually friendly. despite the 1.5 hour bus journey from the airport to the hotel..better make sure i go to the lav before i get off the plane eh?

oh well.. thats my whinge for the week...im sure there will be bright and bubbly and funny stories to tell next time.

from no class to upper class

2008-08-07T08:32:00.007+10:00

Just back from my last trip. we were 1 senior crew member down so they asked if anyone wanted to "work up" I.E work in the upper class cabin. i jumped at the chance as i had not done it and thought it a good chance to learn something new. We are not trained for this cabin when we start.

I was so nervous on my way ot the aircraft that i left my cabin bag at the security checkpoint.. oops.. had to be driven back to go collect it. had a fantastic trip, loved working in our upper class cabin.. its so different. different kind of passenger and totally different style of service. Crew said i did a fantastic job and they couldnt tell i had not worked up there before. Even got a glowing performance review from the onboard manager. so all in all i was chuffed.

now just a few days off before i have to go to jamaica. one of the most undesirable tris we have. the passengers are all so rude and obnoxious and totally white-racsist.. so im in for a real treat im sure. going to just chalk it all up to experience and try to enjoy the poolside once i get downroute.

here is the summary of trips for july

My life in the sky

2008-07-21T17:08:00.004+10:00

a couple of mates have asked me what its like being a long haul flight attendant, so thought i would sum up a typical day in the life of one.

halfway through the month you get your next months roster... we all sit on the edge of our seats, waiting to know if the following month is going to be heaven or hell. will we be relegated to the depths of standby hell... or worse, annual exams.. or will our lifes be filled with sun, sand, fun filled destinations and good paying trips. usually its dire, with one little ray of sunshine somewhere in the month.

As we have to be at the airport 2 hours prior to scheduled take off, and factoring in the 1 hour travel time for me to Gatwick, or 2 hours to Heathrow, plus the minimum of 1 hour to groom and get ready before i even leave the house, i could have been up and on the go at least 6-7 hours prior to the flight even taking off. With flight times anywhere from 7-14 hours you can imagine how tired we can be at the other end.

We sit around crew check in, waiting for todays on board manager to call us in for our briefing. This is our first chance to know who are crew are going to be. We sit around in a tiny room, looking at 17 strangers, trying to figure out who we will get along with and who we wont. its usual that you fly with a complete bunch of strangers every time... with over four and a half thousand crew, the chances of you flying with someone you have flown with before are small.. but it occasionally does happen.

No one really talks to each other during this phase.. we are all too nervous about the briefing, where we are told the particulars of the flight, details of the aircraft, briefed on what each cabin manager expects from us and how they want the service run, and are asked the dreaded safety question, based on this month's topic. failure to answer the questions correctly can lead to you being offloaded and sent back into training, although i am yet t see this actually happen... we all know our stuff, but its the fear of getting a question we cant answer that fills our heads at this point.

Once the briefing is over, its a quick dash to have the one last cigarette that has to last you for the duration of the flight and get through security, and onto the bus that takes us to the plane. This is where we start tentatively exploring each other. We all usually sit alone on the bus, frantically texting or making last minute calls to loved ones saying we are about to go, and how much we love them (you just never know what might happen on the flight) and start testing the waters about the personalities of those you are going to be working with. We all pray fr a god crew that gels together nicely, and that you can have a good laugh with during the flight and downroute.

we get onboard and get our checks done and prepare the cabin for the passengers. and before you know it, the seats are filled and you are strapped into your jumpseat ready for take off.

By now you have a small indication of what the passengers will be like. if they have been making tiresome demands or ringing call bells before they have even sat down, you know its going to be one of "those' flights. If we manage to close the doors without any tears, or people demanding to have seats changed or complaints about being separated from a companion, then we are going well.

once in the air, its all systems go for the crew as we get everything out ready for the endless services that we perform on the plane. it is literally non stop from the moment we ourselves board the plane until the moment we get off it. when you don't see us in the cabin, we are in the galley packing away the last service and preparing the next. on some flights, youre lucky if you get 10 minutes to eat something yourself.. usually done whilst standing up.

They tell us in training, that you will see all walks of life and every facet of human behaviour on board...and they arent kidding.

we can expected to be waiters, rescuers, survival experts, policemen, counsellors, dangerous goods experts, medics, fire fighters, world encyclopedias, security agents, safety procedure experts and above all do it with a smile and a winning personality, even though its probably been 16 hours since you last slept.

if we are lucky, we are given crew rest, which means an hours break 9sometimes a bit more depending on the length of the flight) and you rush to the crew rest area, and lay in the bunks, desperately trying to get some sleep..sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.

it still amazes me hw many people do not wear the seatbelts for the entire flight. pilots cannot see r anticipate clear air turbulence and planes can suddenly drop some hundred of feet without warning..which would result in passengers flying up out of their seats.. or during bouts of turbulence, be thrown around in the seats, and yet they still argue and grumble when you tell them for their own safety to fasten their seat belts. i have even seen passengers get up and walk around or try to go to the toilets during turbulence... its just crazy.

finally the moment will arrive that you have been hanging for for the last few hours..... descent... and again, it amazes me how many people do not consider their own safety, and when you ask them to raise window blinds, or fasten seatbelts, they look at you like you have asked them t bite the head of a small child.
it doesnt matter how many announcements you make about placing bags under the seat in front, you can guarantee that at least 4 people have totally ignored it and still have a bag under their feet or on their lap. women with handbags are the usual... it seems a foreign concept to them, that if their handbag was in the hatrack above their head, they wouldnt possible notice if someone went into it and touched their bag.

from the moment the seatbelt signs come on... the cigarette craving starts.. funny, i never even think about it during the flight, but the prspect of soon being able to light up, seems to make the last 20 mins of the flight drag out. Then you strap back into your jumpseat, and have to sit in front of passengers, feeling like total crap, being tired out of your brain, but still manage to have a smile and strike up an intelligent conversation with the people sitting opposite you, all the while, concentrating on whats happening and ready to spring into action should anything untoward happen.

finally the darlings are all off..you're knackered, but glad to be off that aircraft.
they (the groundstaff) say that when the doors are opened, the emanating stench is enough to gag a maggot. (well i guess the BO and the farts of 400 people confined in a small space would be enough to make anyone retch) but funnily enough we crew seem immune.... that is until you go to iron your uniform for the way home and it reactivated the smell that has permeated your clothes.

by the time we get to the hotel, you feel knackered, but hopefully you have bonded with at least 1 or 2 of the crew (sometimes the whole crew gets along like long lost friends) and you will head out for after work drinks or a crew party.

i think we are picked, amongst other things, for our ability to form close bonds quickly. passengers on flights would never guess that the mates having a laugh over a cart or chatting together on the jumpseat, have really only just met. one of the positives for this is, when youre down route, you know you can let your inhibitions go as you dont really know these people, and probably wont fly with them again, and yet can trust them to look after you should anything untoward happen.. like god forbid you should get drunk.. lol. Since we have all just gone through the same ordeal of a flight, we usually all have something in common now.

depending on where in the world, that metal tube has spat you out, will depend on how long you will have there, and what you can get up to whilst your there.. but you have to ensure you have enough rest before you receive that wakeup call 1 hour prior to being picked up from the hotel and driven back to the airport, to crew the flight home and go through it all again... fun.

funny things that people do..... can you believe on my last flight, we found a plastic glass on the bench in one of the toilets, with poo in it. someone had shat in glass and left it in the toilet.... why??? who can say.. but thats just one of the those crazy unexplained passenger behaviours. they do they expect us to clean that up after them??? ummm.. no.. we do not.. FYI, the offending bathroom was locked off for the remainder of the flight.. we can be dealing with shit.. when we are food handlers)

LA LA Land

2008-07-15T16:27:00.002+10:00

just back from a really nice 2 days in LA, spent sunning myself and drinking and eating with a nice bunch of crew.

flights were awful.... had a passenger hurl abuse at me (we dont call this the psycho 7 for nothing) LA flights are reknown for having slightly unusual passengers.)

didnt get to sleep before check out and didnt sleep in crew rest, which left me with being awake for 24 hours before i actually got to bed at home. you can imagine how delerious i was by then. but then such is my life now.

on a positive note.... i did get to assist in upper class for the final service.. which was a nice chance to see how being a senior is.

a few days off before going back to the states...sigh.. hope the weather is nice, wanna go to the beach today

Catch up

2008-07-10T19:22:00.005+10:00

Its been so long since i had the chance to update this.

have been jetting over the world, bringing mum to the UK, and back again to australia.

since they say that pictures tell a thousand words.....here is a glimpse of whats been happening.

home sweet home

2008-04-28T10:16:00.002+10:00

well, i seem to be mastering the art of one handed house packing. Two more sleeps and Ill be in the new flat. Then comes the challenge of one handed unpacking.

since im grounded from flying while my hand is out of action, i might look into coming home to sydney mid may. spend some time in the sydney holiday home.

Thems the breaks

2008-04-26T03:54:00.002+10:00

cant type much......seems i have broken my hand...resulting in this ridiculous full arm cast. Resulting in a month off work. on the plus side might mean coming to sydney a week early on my own..since im not working

Daniel-San was not lost in translation

2008-03-28T06:25:00.003+11:00

Survived my first Narita trip. Studied a bit the day before, on some japanese phrases, and asked the national crew as i went for the japanese phrases, and managed to do the whle flight speaking only japanese to the passengers. not bad for someone who doesnt speak japanese. mind you... bit of a tongue twister saying gotojo arrigato gozaimas to every single passenger who boarded.

was a nice surprise to have scott on the flight... he managed to swap onto it the day prior.

had an earthquake while we were there... was strange... laying in bed..and the bed started shaking and the walls were creaking.... only lasted a few seconds but long enough to notice.

Our room had a mirror in it that was like the one out of The Ring.

Narita town is where all the air crew stay, so you can imagine what the bars were like.. full of flight attendants and flight deck, all getting drunk and being sleazy.

went and saw the temple at narita, which is the 2nd oldest in japan. then went out drinking again...there really isnt much else to do in narita... tyoko is 70 mins away by train and apparently you need to change trains, and buy extra tickets etc.. so wasnt worth the trip.

strange thing about the trip was how hard it was to seep at night here...and how tired during the day we were. so i was absolutely hanging on the flight on the way home. which was 12 hours long. we were lucky enough to get 3 hours crew rest, and all i remember is laying down and closing my eyes and the next second being woken up and told its time to go back. but did manage to eat 2.5 meals during the flight.

as knackered as we all were, we decided to amuse ourselves and stay alert by playing dress ups with the demo kits

and seeing how many flight attendants can fit in an aircraft toilet.

even got to join the club!!! (sorry no pics of that!!)

scotts birthday today.... havent had a chance to get him anything as we were together s much i cant go shopping without him.... but he is going away again soon so hopefully i will have some time to go look.

whats coming up for me?? a 3 night trip to the Caribbean.. nothing but booze and sun baking to do. LOVE IT!!

What a goose I am

2008-03-18T19:25:00.002+11:00

the day started like any other.. me running around trying to get ready, in time to leave to get to the airport. I had checked my roster the night before and caculated my check in time.
Got to train station, with 5 mins to spare for the train to gatwick, however, the ticket seller had sold me a ticket on one operator, and the train was another, so i had to wait 15 mins for the next train which my ticket was valid for. This meant that i would be arriving at the airport about 5 mins before my check in time.. eeek.. any delays would be disasterous. My anxious nerves jumped up and down like a kid on a pogo stick.

i arrived at check in.... only to find that instead of a 7.45am check in, i was supposed to get here at 10.40am. How had i got it so wrong?

anyway, i stood around waiting for 25 mins whilst they made a decision if they were going to roll me onto an earlier flight, so instad of a 1 night orlando they might have put me on a 2 night st lucia, which was returning via manchester.... not ideal but hey.. who cares where i go, its all the same really. but someone else was desperate to get onto that flight so i gave the position to him.

so now i sit at the airport... potentially still going to orlando, but have to standby in case they put me on something else. could end up anywhere... with only 1 nights change of clothes, for warmer climates. luckily all gatwick flights go to warmer climes.

wonder what else today is going to bring??

a new chapter

2008-03-15T21:09:00.002+11:00

well after a days hunting and traipsing from agent to agent we found a new flat. 1 block from the seafront and ocean views from the balcony!! moving day will be a bit of a hassel since both scott and i are rostered to be away on the day.. bloody carmen!

Living Happily Ever After

2008-03-13T04:41:00.003+11:00

I often wondered what happened once the white knight carried off the princess into the fairytale fantasy ever after. And now i know.

12 months on, Scott and are are just as much in love as ever. true, we have our moments, like any couple.. where we could just kill each other, but then i look at him and know im where im supposed to be.

so whats happened in my life so far that has kept me away from blogging.

i was on standby, and got given a Hong Kong / Sydney run. whilst it was a 9 day trip from home, and would have me away for my birthday, but since Scott wasnt going to be home, i thought it was a great opportunity.

ended up being in HK for the actual big day. woke up in the morning and opened the parcel scott had given me to open on the day. There was a big birthday card, which actually sang happy birthday daniel to me, and a small box which contained a birthday cake and a stuff toy doberman. i should have been down...being on my own for my birthday but i was actually fine. My crew mates tok me out for the day, and we went into Bubba Gumps, a restaurant/bar at the top of victoria peak for a drink and they had ended up telling the staff it was my birthday and next thing you know theres an ice cream sunday with a candle and the staff and crew singing happy birthday, at my horror and embarrassment. but it was very sweet.

that night the crew took me out to the nightclub district. at any given time there are 4 crews in HK at the same time. and id say there was a good mix of 3 crew at the bar we first went to. they waited for a lull in the music before launching into another rendition of happy birthday at the top of their lungs, before lying me with a B52 and 3 tequila shots. 2 of which were taken as a body lick sip suck.. where i had to luck the salt of a chicks tits and then take the lemon out of her mouth. needless to say i was a bit tipsy after all that.

then we all started laying pass the cherry.. which you really do have to be a bit drunk t play. it involves someone putting a glace cherry in their mouth and then you pass it from one persons mouth to another, t another, to another... when i think now of all the germs and spit all ver that cherry i cant believe i did it.. however it did seem like a fun idea at the time. after a good pub crawl, numerous beers, and a bit of a boogie later, i finally got in a cab back to the hotel at 4.30am. slept like a log.
n landing in sydney, i tried to get a few hours sleep.. but to no avail. was totally weird arriving into sydney, but being cabin crew, and its not actually coming home but rather my stopover. every thing looked familiar yet surreal.
had lunch with a friend of mine mick, and then a quick afternoon tea with don and andy, before surprising mum once she had got home from work. Had decided not to tell mum i was coming so i could surprise her. spent the evening with her, and had my brother and nieces over.

slept back at the hotel.. like a log, since by the time i had got to bed i had been awake over 24 hours.. which seems to be becoming a regular occurance these days.

the way home was strange.. walking thru sydney airport as crew.. afer all those years as a passenger, wishing i could be crew... and now i finally did it. was surreal... like a dream come true.

when back into hong kong, some of the crew and i went to disneyland, where i regressed into a big kid and ran around hugging all the characters. was kinda fun to let go for just one day. i loved the buzz lightyear ride.

was strange to realise i was on my way back home.
when i actually started to think..im on my way home, i realised i had really started to feel like the UK was now my home, and now that i had the chance to visit sydney, it was just a stopover for me, rather than my home. it really helped me get over my homesickness and while ill always be an australian at heart and always call australia home.... im now living 100% in the uk and liking it.

my flight after that was supposed to be to miami, but i got to gatwick only to realise i had left my ID at home...so had to go all the way back home on the 40 min train, pick it up and g all the way back again... by the time i got to heathrow i had missed my flight and was now going to chicago. imagine for a moment.. miami.. warm sunshine and tropical heat.... so now picture whats in my suitcase..... now im told im off to chicago.... where we are told onboard, that its -1 and snowing. hmm.. luckily they give us a decent allowance there and i shopped up a storm buying warm clothes. basically the wind there was so cold, in 2 mins your ears and nose are frozen so badly they hurt.

was supposed to go to shanghai after that but the flight got cancelled so i have been sitting at home for a week on available days.. which means they might need me and will tell me the day before.. however... not needing me.. means i have had a week off plus 3 days leave coming up at the end of it all. enjoying the break.

so happily eer after seems like a worthwhile thing....and just keeps on being the best thing ive ever done.

Dan Francisco

2008-02-18T15:51:00.004+11:00

Scott and I on our San Fran trip for Valentines day.

god i shopped up a storm, after walking the entire length of market st and shopped non stop for 9 hours. desperately needed a massage after all that.

was good to fly with scott again, even if he gets narky at me in the galley.

completely buggered after the 10 hour flight home, and as usual, jetlagged and a buggered up body clock.

Arriving at the hotel in Japan Town in SFO

All strapped in ready for takeoff

This is how flight attendants eat dinner

Well deserved crew rest

best trip ever !

2008-02-12T12:24:00.001+11:00

just back from St Lucia, tropical carribean paradise. had finally gotten over my deadly man-flu, going crazy from cabin fever, and got a 2 Night St Lucia off my standby.

fantastic flights, great crew, and best FSM ive had yet. despite the 2 hour bus ride from the airport to the hotel, we arrived in good cheer and headed for a famed crew room party. not sure exactly what time i got to bed, was a bit tipsy.

next day, the beer kept flowing, and started drinking before lunch (breakfast?) before laying by the pool drinking the strongest cocktail ive ever had.
after the whole crew met for dinner, some of us braved the local karaoke bar. We may have been the only foreigners but we were the last ones standing. .in fact we made them reopen the machine for one more song before stumbling to bed somewhere in the region of 3am.

with a modest few hours sleep and a lazy lunch it was time to board the bus again for the long ride to the airport. somehow, even tho my head was thrown around like a bladder on a stick, on the bumpy road, i did manager to get some sleep.

And somehow, despite some narcky passengers, managed to have a fantastic flight on the way home too.

this trip was exactly what i needed to lift my spirits and remind me why i do this job. 2 days off before being sent to lord knows where. fingers crossed its sydney.

birthday wish list

2008-02-05T19:59:00.000+11:00

been sitting here trying to compile my birthday wishlist. apart from a trip back home, here are the things im wishing for this year. as you can see im not really wishing for much. its the simple things in life that make me happy.

a big jar of Kraft smooth peanut butter
a big packet of cheezels
a big packet of smiths sour cream and onion chips
a pack of original tim tams
a decent bacon and egg roll with real bbq sauce
a toasted turkish bread with vegemite

The dreaded man-flu

2008-01-30T23:21:00.000+11:00

currently suffering the worst flu of my life. arrived back from johannesburg on friday and literally collapsed into bed, and was unable to get up again for 4 days. you know its serious when you have 2 sets of clothes on and 2 doonas on and the heating on full,and youre still shivering uncontrollably.

had to go to the doctors and have ended up getting a week off work and to stay in bed.

johannesburg was great. i was working in premium cabin with a wonderful girl and we ran the service like troopers. got great performance review from my on board manager.

now that i am earning pounds, i found south africa so incredibly cheap. i had a fillet mignon for £5.50 ..unheard of.. and you dont need to drink much as the altitude of j'burg means you get drunk quicker. got to eat ostrich on this run. hmm..travel the world... eat weird things.

scott has his yearly recurrent exams next week so we are studying a lot. standby next month so lord knows where i will end up

kinda diggin this right now

2008-01-28T22:25:00.000+11:00

survived my lagos experience

2008-01-19T18:30:00.000+11:00

what a bizarre but fun trip.

the flight was half full going there.... the passengers are pretty demanding... bordering on greedy.. 2 of this, half the time i think they just ask for stuff because its something they can have. i even had one guy kind of offering me his daughter. weird.

arriving at the airport... we have to be escorted from the baggage hall, out of the airport, to a waiting set of mini vans. luckily as the locals all hanging around the airport looked like they were scary and ready to jump us. the mini vans are escorted to the hotel where we stay, by 2 police vans with flashing lights. sitting int he van, staring out into the darkness.. wondering if this was indeed a dangerous place.

the hotel... lagos sheraton.. is basic at best. room that i got was nice and modern, butt hats only because several airlines have pumped money into the hotel.. some crew got old crappy, and dirty rooms... so i was very lucky.

we are not allowed to leave the hotel. hmm.. nice place they sent us too.. so we just get to lay by the pool or stay in the hotel bar. several air crews stay there.. KLM, Lufthansa, BA.. etc.

imagine our shock to all see the drama unfolding on the runway at heathrow. those poor flight attendants.... we were all imagining how knackered and tired they would have been, after a long trip from beijing. by the time you land back into london you are so tired and exhausted and almost delirious. but after al the rigorous training we have, it just goes to show it all just kicks in. i hope this does bring new respect for flight attendants in this country. i have never in all my years fo travelling as a passenger, see travellers take the piss so much with virgin crew. i have never seen a flight on any other airline where the call bells just do not stop and the demands made on crew. im not sure if its a american/british thing, but certainly flights from Australia and asia are never like this.

was shocked to actually see faeces on the aerobridge. not sure if iti was human or dog or what.. but dogs would not be allowed in the terminal so one can only imagine it was human

anyway..the flight home was full, but i was asked to work up in the premium economy cabin, which was quiet. i was working with the seniors in the front galley, and even got to man the upper class bar at one stage, so i got the sense of what it was like up there. however, every time i walked down into the back galley, it was like walking thru chaos.. passengers wanting so much, like they were tryingt o get everything they could off us before the plane landed.. however.. they all got off satisfied and happy, which ultimately is the end goal.. thats whats is important really, so we just bear with it.

took me 4 hours from the time we landed until i got home.. which meant i got home at about 9pm... a long day.

i look back at my days of training, and having to work 8 hours training with 2 hours travel time on each end, when i had to go interstate..and think back to how tired i was. well.. this is like that, only, multiply by 2, imagine spending 2 hours getting to and from work.. then spending 8-12 hours on your feet, constantly moving, constantly thinking, add into the mix jetlag and ever changing time zones, eating snacks if..and that's a big if... you have time to, usually you eat whatever crap is left over on board, from either the crew food, which is pretty bad, or leftover passenger meals..which are ok, if you only had to eat it once.. but when its 2-3 times a week... hmmm.. and even then you usually only get5-10 mins to scoff as much of it into your mouth as possible, while standing in the galley.. so you tend to eat the snacks and junk on board because you can shove it in your mouth and hurriedly chew it on your way back up the aisle to answer the 100th call bell..

my biggest annoyance so far has been when a passenger in the front row of economy presses the bell... so i have to walk the entire length of the cabin, he orders and drink... i walk all the way back, make the drink.. walk all the way back to his seat.. and deliver it, walk all the way back to the galley.. only to have the bell go off again, and the guy next to him wants to order the same drink. i literally wanted to go make one and pour it over him... but hey.. we also end up with the patience of saints.

buggery bollocks!!!!!!!

2008-01-16T08:59:00.000+11:00

bloody sods law....and more bollocks!so ropeable!!! scott and i both swapped onto a lagos flight..... probably one of the least wanted routes, and they called him today and took him off it, leaving me to have to now go there on my own!!!!! to really rub it in, they have now put him onto the flight i was originally on, before i swapped onto the lagos. GRRRRR

to add you all into the picture.... this is a 6 hour flight each way, there are usually deportees on board this route, the passengers are rude and racsist towards white people, on the whole. Once we get there, we have to get police escorts to and from the airport to the hotel, and we have a security guard posted on our hotel floor, plus we are not allowed to leave the hotel, so we are virtual prisoners. by the time i get back, scott will be away for a night, but then we have all weekend together. so theres the silver lining.

rosters just came out... .and i have standby all month of feburary. great! so much for getting my birthday off or spend it with scott. most of it starts at 6am.. which means i have to be up and ready to go by 6am and just sit around and wait to see if they call me, then i have 2 hours to get to the airport so basically id have to leave straight away to make it to heathrow by then. on the plus side i could end up going anywhere in the world but knowing my luck ill end up in all the places that no one wants to go to. hahahaha

my life! my life!

Kenya believe it??

2008-01-15T15:45:00.000+11:00

so much for being worried about my trip to kenya... turned out to be a great trip.

crew were fantastic and had such a good time with them all both on and off the aircraft.

you'd never guess what i did once i got there. i actually went ice skating. yup you read right.. all the way to africa to go ice skating. was a hoot.. since i havent skated for about 10 years. will definately be doing that again when i go back at the end of the month.

whoie crew went out for dinner to a brazilian charhuscarria ok so i cant spell it.. but i did get to eat camel.....weird!!!!! looks like braised beef but has the consistancy and taste of liver. not the greatest taste but there you go. also had croc too. although i think the aussie croc tasted nicer.

got to do manual demos in both directions.. this means getting out the old oxygen masks and life jackets to show rather than the video version.. sigh.. but its becoming old hat now and im well used to it.

did have my first medical incident on board on the way there..... a new crew memebr comes running up to me in the galley frantically telling me a man has collapsed in the aisle and she hadnt handled any medicals yet..... hmmm.. like i have.. but i raced down there and treated him. turns out he spoke french... so here i am, kneeling in the ailse, getting no response rfom him.. bending down to check his airway and breathing, you have no idea the wave of relief that swept over me when i discovered he was breathing... didnt feel in the mood for CPR...lol anyway.. looked after him.. tracked down his friends and tried to talk to them in french.. which im not good at but luckily made a mistake and said a word in german and found out they spoke german too so finished off in german.....

have been very multilingual so far.. have delt with passengers in french, german, spanish, brazilian portuguese, russian and dutch so far. still waitng on the sign language to pop up.

ah, well a days rest then off to nigeria.. .that shoudl be interesting... police escorts to and from the hotel and not allowed to leave the hotel at all.. luckily scott will be with me on that trip

Eau de Boeing

2008-01-07T10:36:00.000+11:00

you know, i always thought that this was a myth, but there is a particular smell to the boeing 747. it permeates everything. when you iron your uniform, you can smell it coming out of the fabric. sigh, i used to like the smell of aircraft... but now it just makes me think of work. lol

if you dont beleieve me about the smell, next time you step onto a 747, have a good whiff.. its always there.

speaking of smells... you never, ever want to open a galley oven after a flight... the smell of old meals will make you wretch!!

catch up

2008-01-06T10:04:00.000+11:00

god its been ages since i wrote something and so thought i had better catch up.

on dec 27, scott and i managed to take our first flight together, to barbados. was very surreal, getting on a cart with scott. wandering down an aisle handing out ice creams with him was something i just didnt expect to ever do in my life. and there we were, amid 376 odd passengers.

got to spend a nice day, laying in the sun, on a tropical beach.. was well nice.

even got o experience my first disrutive passeneger being thrown off the plane, and my first suspicious person, who turned out to simply be a first time flyer..

went to orlando after that, and spent all my allowances on shopping in the big mall there....well its not hard to do since they hardly give us any money. finding it a bit hard to make ends meet on the measely wage they pay us. im actually surprised, how they keep telling us how we are responsible for the safety of all these people, and at how hard we work, for many long hous, and that they pay us so little for it. im bascially being paid just over 10K in pounds per year... plus what they call allowances, which is basically meal money for when youre downroute. thsi is less than half than other airlines get and they are surprised that we are thinking of striking. however, im not working on any of the strike days, so i dont have to make a decision on if i strike or not.

weather here is bitterly cold, and if it wasnt for the sun breaks my job gives me, i would not be liking this very much.

have found my feet in the job and already it feels like i know what im doing. loving the feeling of being all strapped in, and feeling the thrust of the engines.

its amazing the different perspective you have of it all, when working on the plane. the other day i was fling over greenland and could help but lean on the door bustle and look out the back window at the amazing view fo all the frozen rivers. sometimes, ona day flight, i catch sight of the huge engines out the window, just sitting there like giant cylinders, propelling us along. its an unique view when youre standing up.

luckily most of my customers have been really nice. i have been getting good performance reviews on every flight, with most marks reflecting i am exceeding expectations. yay !! this is what i aimed for.

scott is off in new york at the moment and we have almost a week apart, with out schedules having us miss each others, passing like ships in the night. but however it is, its still better than when we lived so far apart.

oh..new pics coming soon

what a wonderful world

2007-12-27T10:56:00.000+11:00

yesterday was truely wonderful. scott had everything planned. he cooked me a delicious dinner, and looked after me all day. i didnt have to lift a fnger, for which i was so grateful. I felt like crap, with a severe head cold, which now has started to ease and at least my voice has returned, even if i am still al little croaky.

We went for a walk thru the laines in brighton, looking at all the xmas lights. it was like strolling thru diagon alley. so romantic.

today we met up with a friend of mine from sydney, who was visiting relatives in brighton. was nice to see a familiar face from sydney.

And tonight we have been given some more wonderous news, in that we have managed to play with our rosters and are off to barbados together. YAY!!! so we get a romantic layover in the sun for 24 hours.

that also will mean i have a few more days off at the other end.. although scott is still working NYE and i still havent found a way to be on his trip. but im holding on to the fact we will find a way.

speechless

2007-12-26T01:34:00.000+11:00

Had a fantastic trip to Miami. crew were fantastic, everyone worked together as a team, with no slackers, and everyone was in an great mood.

we had to shut off the entertainment system halfway through the safety video due to refuelling, so with no notice we were told to do a manual demo. before i knew it i was standing in front of the entire cabin, doing a manual safety demonstration, i only realised what i was doing as a was standing there with an oxygen mask fastened over my face (vast improvement i might add), i was so in automatic mode the fast i was doing my very first one was almost lost on me.

about halfway through the flight, out of no where, i completely lost my voice. no idea why. i think i have a head cold, but the only symptom was a slightly stuffy nose and loss of my voice. was so funny, i sounded like a drag queen on crack. i would get half way thru a sentence to passengers and then it would go completely and nothing would come out.

got a bit tipsy when crew had a few drinks after we got to the hotel, and went to bed to rest the throat.

next day i had to walk 20 blocks to the nearest pharmacy to stock up on a handful of different remedies just so i could have a voice for the flight home. otherwise i would not have been fit to operate the flight (cant work if i have no voice for safety reasons) but luckily it was loud enough to fly, even if i was all raspy sounding.

had some severe turbulence on the way home. was standing in the galley and next thing you knew, my feet actually lifted off the floor....only slightly, but enough to make me realise how quickly turbulence can hit. its weird how turbulence can feel so bad down the back in the galley, but be completely smooth at the front of the plane.

just before landing, i did manage to spill an entire jug of orange juice all over myself.. from my stomach to my shoes. i was amazed at how water resistant my uniform is, as most of it just wiped off and my pants were dry. thankfully.

well, its xmas day.... missing my Friends and family but so happy scott and i are getting to spend our first xmas together....even if i am sick.

got some amazing gifts from scott. i got a new watch, with dual time (so very donna jensen from view from the top)

and got a roboquad robot.

but best of all....... scott bought me the naming rights to a star!!!! how amazing is that.. he even gives me the stars. now i just have to think of a name and then pick a star from the available list and officially name it. its the most wonderful and romantic gift anyone has gotten me.

he has also made me breakfast of smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels and champagne, which is what i have every xmas with mum back home so he has really gone all out to make my xmas a special one and no so homesick.

next trip coming up in a few days to nairobi...and scotts off to barbados. not sure if we will have new years eve together.. as scott will be away, and im off. so i may end up sitting at home alone on new years eve... oh well.. xmas sure has made up for it.

the top 6 things that are annoying me about flying

2007-12-20T04:18:00.000+11:00

thought i would have a good vent and get it all out of my system. Here are the top 6 things that get on my nerves about passengers so far. they are really in no particular order since it depends on the day as to what annoys me more.

1. People who start pressing their call bells before they have even sat down, wanting this that and the other. how about waiting until we are airborne and able to access the galleys before asking for the world.

2. after walking down the aisle handing out UK landing cards and saying in a clear loud voice, landing cards for the UK are required by anyone who does not have a UK or European passport, and then having all Americans on the flight think that this does not apply to them. perhaps they think that either they are exempt from any immigration policy around the world because they are American, or they just don't realise that American is not part of Europe.

3. people who wait until you have walked 3 rows past them before deciding that they do want coffee. or better yet, when asked if they want coffee they wait until you have half pours the cup before asking...is that Tea??

4. passengers that respond when asked...Orange Juice or Water.... answer yes please... and when you ask which one do you want.... they either get stumped, like it was a life threatening decision and they simply cannot choose due to absolute fear of making the wrong decision.... .or that they point to the OJ and say water. (whats ever worse, when you have a jug of either as and if they want oj or water and say to you no but ill have a coke... like youve have stored one up your arse just in case somsome should want one.

5. when you walk down the aisle with a coffee pot in one hand and a serving tray in the other, and someone asks you to take their meal tray. how many hands do they think you have.

6. passengers who try to have an indepth conversation with you, whilst wearing their headphones, and wait until you have finished a lengthy explanation about something before removing their headphones and asking you to repeat what you have said.

hats off to all flight attendants around the world, because its a hell of a lot harder than it looks. and to all those who think that we are just waiters in the sky... well there is so much going on behind the scenes, that if thats all you are seeing, then we are doing our jobs well.

ok, rant over... los angeles was nice.. despite the flights there and back being hell. still tired and jetlagged, but i have 2 days to get over that before im off again. yay.

luck of the draw

2007-12-15T08:46:00.000+11:00

just got my jan roster. spewing i didnt get a sydney trip AGAIN!!! but i did get 2 orlandos (i like those) and 2 nairobi's and a johannesburg and a barbados.

just as well scott and i both get a night LA together this week.

ill try to swap onto a sydney trip soon tho as dying to get home and see friends and family

chewed up and spat out

2007-12-13T04:50:00.001+11:00

just landed from Orlando. 9.10 hours there and 7.42 coming home. with 24 hours downroute.

flight over was full and pretty busy. 747 was amazing to work on.. even if it was huge. got an hours crew rest even.

went out for drinks when i got there with the crew, and woke up with the hang over from hell. the hotel is attached to a huge shopping mall, but alas, no money to shop with so had to settle for getting scott just one xmas present.

flight home was half empty so got to have 2.15 hours crew rest. was a bit weird to go trotting off to go lie down on a bunk whilst passengers were sitting downstairs, and then hit some pretty bad turbulence. totally weird feeling being strapped to a bunk, whilst the tail fo the plane is fish-tailing all over the place. managed to get about 1.5 hours sleep out of it. and emerged looking refreshed and thankful i wasnt sitting in a normal seat for 7 something hours.

still ended up feeling delerious and hypoxic when i got off, and its amuzing to see all the crew turn crazy when we get on the crew bus, from tiredness, jetlag, and hypoxia. one of the fun things of the job!

Top Ten things that spin me out about flying

2007-12-10T17:52:00.000+11:00

1. Waking up in the morning and thinking, "I'm going to another country today!"

2. Not having to go thru immigration like everyone else, and not even showing my passport coming and going from the UK.

3. Getting to 'Arm Doors and crosscheck'

4. Being downroute and converting foreign currency back into British Pounds. (this really does my head in as normally it would be back into aussie dollars.

5. Standing in front of the cabin and doing a Safety Demo. (after years of watching others do it.

6. Pushing a trolley up and down an aisle asking chicken or beef.

7. Being in an aircraft and not actually knowing where in the world im flying over at any given time

8. Having everyone in the airport and on the plane looking at you all the time.

9. Sitting in a jumpseat for takeoff and landing

10. How quickly an 8 hour flight can go when youre not sitting down watching movies.

The Eagle Has Landed !!!

2007-12-09T01:41:00.000+11:00

OH MY GOD!!!! I love flying!!!!

Ok gordon and i were shitting ourselves when we got to the airport. The Pre-Flight Briefing was nerve wrecking but wasnt as bad as we thought. next thing you know we are going thru security.. everything was a total blur..i was so nervous.

Next thing i know, we are on the plane, checks complete and im trying to figure out everything in the galley.. i hadnt even realised passengers had started boarding until i saw a strange man standing in the galley.. scared the crap outta me.

Had to do my first video safety demo.. had no idea what i was doing as we had only seen it once during training.... almost wished it was a manual demo.. at least i know that back to front.

Before i knew it, we were strapped into our jumpseats and hurlting down the runway.

lets just say it was a real trial by fire. totally full flight, lots of seat back video problems, passengers complaining headsets didnt work, ran out of meal choices and the call bells did not stop for the entire flight. but i tell you, i havenever had 8 hours pass so quickly.

had listened to my service trainers and had crouched down to deal with all my passengers, and by the time i got off, my thigh muscles were so sore i could hardly walk.. my feet were killing me, i was deliriously tired but i loved the entire experience.

Brooklyn was freezing cold, and i was only there for 16 hours so slept most of it.

fliht home was a breeze, really felt i knew what i was doing for the services except for the duty free.. got totally confused on the computer but hey, i know it now.

had extreme winds on landing and aircraft was all over the place, but just goes to show how great our pilots are as we didnt have any issues, apart from us being a bit scared down the back.

slept for about 16 hours when i got home.

can hardly wait for my next trip and getting to deal with more passengers and get to play on a 747 next time !!!!

Virgin gives you wings!!!!

2007-12-05T22:08:00.000+11:00

in the words of my group OMG!!!!

i got my wings on monday night. was a bittersweet evening in that we all passed but was the last time we would be together as a group. I was group spokes person and had to get up and make a speech to thank all the trainers. got about 1 sentence in and started to get all weepy.. how embarrassment. but go tthru it fine.

got a surprise tho. the class had voted me the class hero and i got a trophy. i thnk thats what set off the waterworks.

anyway... here it is.. wednesday...D Day. i am about to go get dressed and take my first flight... scared, excited, nervous... all of the above.

watched view from the top last night for some last minute pointers.

better keep it brief as i have to go manicure myself within an inch of my life.

last full training day done and dusted!!!

2007-12-01T03:13:00.000+11:00

after a sleepless night.... stressing and pondering my practical drills all night, the day had arrived where our actual practicals took place.

we all marched from the classroom to the training rigg, like prisoners walking the long green mile. you could have heard a pin drop as we all entered the training rigg and st down... everyones knees were shaking.... palms sweating and butterflies rattling to get out.

but guess what..... i passed with flying colours. we then finished off running through our practical experience on all the boeing doors, and running through all the bells and whistles of the boeing.

then a little nice surprise came at the end of the day...as we realised that was it... end of 6 weeks, with only our 2 written finals on boeing to do on monday... that in fact, since we passed the practicals today.. .we are indeed FLIGHT ATTENDANTS!!!!! regardless of the outcome of mondays exams..... i WILL be flying on wednesday, because that is on an Airbus. (mind you, i cannot fly on a boeing if i do fail monday and would need to do the 3 day conversion course again...and im so not going to let that happen...esp since i have been getting 100%-96% in every exam so far.)

I WILL be getting my wings on monday... i cannot believe it. even now i am fighting back the tears that threaten to well in my eyes, that i have finally, after all these years, achieved my life dreams. Not only this, but doing it for one of the worlds best airlines.

but you can bet i will be crapping my pants on wednesday as i walk into that pre-flight briefing room, and even worse as i step onto that plane... feeling like i dont know what to do from one moment to another... but in my heart i know that i do know it all.. just have to get over the nerves.

are you being served?

2007-11-29T05:51:00.000+11:00

well folks..... service week is over and im proud to say i passed with flying colours.

now, i have boeing to learn, but more practical and written exams before im finally graduated. hard to believe that in 4 and a bit days i will be finished my training and ready to fly!!!!!

Photos from the training course

2007-11-25T19:08:00.000+11:00

Me signing my certification to fly

Gordon and I in the service training rig

Having some fun in the rig

Learning how to set up the dinner cart

My Smoking Buddies

Dancicle

2007-11-24T21:22:00.000+11:00

its bloody freezing here. last night driving home at 5pm was 3 degrees. ive heard it got down to -6 overnight. woke to to see frost on the roof opposite our flat.

And its not even december yet. looking forward to warming up when i go down south to miami and orlando!!!!

Coffee? Tea? or Me?

2007-11-23T18:10:00.000+11:00

You for coffee?? You for tea??

spent yesterday learning how to set up the trolleys and what goes in what box and cart in the galley, and how to use the trash compactor. today is day for of service and we still havent learned how to actually serve anything. i do hope they give us a practice run before our assessment on tuesday. our assessment is having to searve each other ona pretend flight, and having to set up carts and meals. they have told us service flows and where to find things but have given us so practice..... so i hope i do ok in my practical. although really how hard can it be??

today i learn how to use the duty free computer... all day... how fun!

poor scott is sick with the flu.. so he is home for 5 days. luckily... as in december he and i have horrible rosters and i think we get about 4 days together in december.... but at least we have xmas together...

Im certified

2007-11-20T05:09:00.000+11:00

today has to be one of the most stressful of my life so far. i had my safety and airbus finals today. 120 questions and 194 pieces of equiptment to place on 3 different aircraft.

amazingly i passed.

which means i am now leagally certified (or certifiable!!!) to fly in an airbus. i just have to pass a conversion course for boeing and im certified on that too.
only 2 weeks to go until i finish my training. 5 days service training, 2 days self defence and 3 days boeing conversion. then one day of exams and im online!!!!

well.....its not paris, first class, international but its just as good

2007-11-17T04:26:00.000+11:00

hey!!!! mt roster came out!!!

obviously for security reasons i cant say my exact roster. what i can tell is the destinations i got. my first flight is going to be New York, then Orlando, LA, Miami and then Nairobi. luckily (unheard of for a junior) i got xmas and NY off!!! but scott is away for Ny so i will try to get onto his flight.

how exciting!!! its all very real now. we have finally finished the training for safety and airbus, i have the weekend to study a plethora of information and memorise locations before the 2-3 hour exam on monday and thats safety done and dusted for a year. before i have to resit again next year... no rest for the wicked.... its constant study and testing here!!! safety is our prime concern!

spent the last 2 days running around from pane to plane having a look at all the bits and bobs and buttons and whistles (well chimes and lights really)

its bloody freezing now it is. today at the base, there was frost on all the plants outside and front on the cars and smoking shelter....been 0 degrees some days... and well.. new york is just going to be mega cold so i may as well get used to it.

miss aussie summer but at least miami and orlando should be warmer.

bitchin ditchin

2007-11-15T06:56:00.000+11:00

well....survived ditching day.... barely.

had to be at the base at 0515.... onto a bus to the pool. was the coldest day here yet. rain.. still dark.... you can imagine this is not the most inviting morning for a swim.

we get to the pool and my stomach is so tied in knots. i hate the water.. totally hate the water... having almost drowned twice as a child, i guess i have a good, if not unneccessary fear for the water. im not the strongest swimmer. another bloke in my course..darren is exactly the same. we would just look at each other across the aisle of the bus..and the look in our eyes said volumes, but tried to be supportive of each other. was a great time for scott and i to be having a disaggreement, and this was adding to my stress. (things calm now tho)

we get to the pool and change, and all too soon im standing at the side of the pool. thankfully the indoor pool area is heated...and the water seemed quite warm.

the drill seargent of an instructor lead us through an hour and a half of hell. first of all we had to get into the pool at one end and swim to the other end, without touching the sides or bottom. 25 metres. now normally im not a strong enough swimmer to make that without going thru panic. i got about half way and felt the panic rising. so flipped onto my back and did the 2nd half in backstroke.. the look of sheer horror i was to find out, was seen by one of my crewmates. but i did it. then we had to get out, and put on a life jacket, and pull the toggle to blow it up. and roll into the pool and make our way to the centre of the pool.. which was fine since i had a flotation device, there was no fear or panic and i felt quite comfortable. we did various exercises basedon water survival.. and then i had to be dragged one length of the pool...i teamed up with darren so we could support each other. and then i had to drag him back the other way.. was totally exhausted by this stage.. hes a big hefty muscle boy. then we had to remove our life jackets and swim to the centre of the pool and retrieve a rolled up life jacket floating on the water, and tread water while putting it on and manually blowing it up using the tube. amazingly i just aced that.. had it on and blown up quicker than some guys who are good swimmers.
last but not least we had to swim to a life raft in the centre of the pool and haul each other in, and row to the side of the pool. great fun in the end. glad i never have to do that again.

we all passed !!!

then we got taught PELDS.. portable equiptment location diagrams. we have 3 types of airbus and we have to learn 194 specific locations on them by monday. from memory. fudge fudge.. its hard. this is the one section i think i might actually fail. some girls in the class are saying they can already plot them all. im about half way. and its just not sinking in.

today we took a trip to heathrow to go visit an airbus a340. a real aircraft. we got to open and close a door. arm and disarm a door (oh yes and lets not forget that all important crosschecking!!)

we gto to go down to the crew rest area, and practice climbing out the escape hatch. i think this was real fun as we were on a real plane. got to see a few things that the average punter doesnt know about.

going to a hanger tomorrow to spend more time on the plane, and im hoping i wil have more time to explore all the drawers and stowages so i can picture these bloody locations.

tomorrows test.... doors and exits... how to open and close, how to arm and disarm.. pre flight checks and how to evacuate each of them (there are different specific phrases to say for each)

sigh.. im exhausted and weary and my brain is pretty full. if i can survive it all., i have 2.5 weeks left til graduation.

thankfully next week is service week.. now im not saying its easy.. but certainly less of a brain strain than the last 2 weeks.. its not so cerebral and is more based on customer service and our personalities than facts and figures. plus, we get to serve each other meals and drinks for a few days so free lunch!!

danny - do what you have to mate.

my slide descent

2007-11-10T20:12:00.000+11:00

caught it on video. shame we could only do it once.... man it waqs scary though, it doesnt look like youre going fast, but you really fly down those things. my stomach was still at the top as i reached the bottom

Half Way There !!!!

2007-11-10T05:46:00.000+11:00

WHOOOOOOAAAA we're halfway there
living on a prayer !!!!

today marks the halfway mark in the training course, and today has been the most exciting so far.

started off mega nervous and stressing over whether i would pass todays exam.. managed to get 100% so the stress of the day was over and done, and we got down to the serious business of those unspoken unlikey events of an emergency incident.
then... today i finally fulfilled on of my lifes little goals.

I GOT TO JUMP DOWN AN EVACUATION SLIDE !!!

then we spent all afternoon in the rig... this mock plane cabin with doors and lights and sound effects. and we got to practice our evacuation drills. my god that was so much fun.. weird really since in a real event it would be anything but fun.. but has really brought home the fact im working for an airline as cabin crew. my throat is sore from yelling all afternoon for people to open their seatbelts and get out.

all from no notice emergencies to short notice and long notice and all the differences we have.

bit nervous about ditching day on tuesday.. being thrown inthe pool and having to put on life jackets while treading water and manually inflating but hey... ill do fine.

anyway... loving this song right now.

lucky streaks cant last

2007-11-08T06:00:00.000+11:00

sigh.. knew it was too good to be true. tried my best but the 100% run just wasnt going to last.

the last few days have been hell!! so fucking much to learn, and remember.. facts and figures going around in my head so much, its all a blur.

last 2 days i have only managed to get 96%. got one question wrong in each exam.

so far we have been lucky and everyone has passed all exams (pass is 88%)

today, we saw one girl fail an exam. means she has to take a resit exam tomorrow. hope she studies because if you fail that, they will give her a verbal exam tomorrow after lunch and if she fails that, she is out. eeek.. and we dont want to lose anyone.

mind you , yesterday was a bit of fun, where we were in a mock up cabin and went through all the stages of flight, pretending to be real trolley dollies. i got to do from take off until disembarkation. got to sit in jump seats.. secure cabins, and play with all the bells and whistles. was dead exciting..even if i did catch my finger in the jump seat... mega-ouch.

today was fire safety day and we got to go out to a fire training facility in the middle of no-where. got to put out an over fire with a BCF extinguisher. and also had to don a smoke hood and make my way through a smoke filled cabin, and grab an extinguisher and fight a pretend toilet fire.

was really eerie walking through this cabin which was the back section of a real 747. what you are used to seeing, looks totally alien when filled with smoke.. the light (of which there was only 2 small ones at the back of the cabin) was dim and spooky. the only sound is your breathing in the smook hood. im vaguely aware of my 2 crew mates with me shouting out if im ok, as part fo the standard checks..but really easy to feel freaked out as everything seems so closed in. but wish i coudl go do it all again.

easier night fo study tonight.. just have to study fire drills and elements and types of fires. should only take an hour of study, plus by pre flight checks and durations of fire fighting equipt.

scott went to LA today... will be back saturday. hopefully i can surprise him with a nice 100% result for the next 2 exams. he is very proud of me but im gutted i didnt get 100% i have very high expectations of me, and although most people have been getting one or two wrong in most exams... i want to exit the course knowing i achieved what i set out for and that i know is all confidently. 2 more days and we are half way through the course. phew. the group are bonding even closer which means the dirty talk is becoming more and more prevalent. tee hee.

been discovering the joys of facebook. most of our group are in there and slowly finding people i knwo and havent seen for eons on there.

missing my friends back home heaps

definable moments of pure contentment

2007-11-06T18:03:00.000+11:00

do you ever have those moments that make you stop and just realise how happy and content you are.

moments like just laying on the loungeroom floor, next to your partner, legs and arms entwined, just staring at the ceiling, listening to music. you suddenly realise just how happy and content you are, and how it never gets better than this. You lay there for hours, lips touching tenderly, revelliing in each others presence. How lucky am i ???

the study has just doubled. i had about 3 hours worth to do yesterday. ugh. 1 hour in the morning and 2 at night. this is on top of 8 hours of instruction during the day. god help anyone who calls me a glorified waiter. my exam today is on turbulence and decompression and child restraints. yesterdays exam saw another 100% result. but im sure the streak cant last.

today we are on FSR's ugh... can i ever escape FSR?? only this time its not functional requirement specifications, its flight safety regulations. actually makes functional requirements look like a walk in the park.

missing my friends back home.. getting to the homesick stage... but scott is making my hearth feels very at home.

yesterday saw my 1 month in the UK. god its passed quickly...but feels longer.
tomorrow is scott and my 8 month anniversary. again feels like longer.

Finally some pictures from my training

2007-11-04T07:10:00.000+11:00

Happy as a pig in mud

Hope this is not part of the uniform

Welcome aboard the Av-med training rig

Uniform fittings

And so the nightmare begins

2007-11-03T22:22:00.000+11:00

yesterday we had the start of 11.5 days of pure hell. SEP. Safety and emergency proceedures.

the volumne of work has already been thrust upon us. yesterday we had a surprise exam. we had to watch a 10 min video and then had an exam on it right after.

ok so i got 100% but i dont think that this lucky streak will continue as its massive.

we got told yesterday that what we learn in 3 weeks of this course, when compared fact to fact, is 1/3 more than a 2 year travel and tourism course. sheesh.. and we only have 15 days to learn all that. i swear if anyone calls me a flying waiter ill bitch slapt them into oblivion.

went out for drinks with my crew last night. was nice to see everyone outside of the class environment, but the music was so loud that you couldnt actually hear what anyone was saying. am igetting too old for that crap??

scott is finally back. i missed my mate. i am pretty sure he really missed me, judging by all the totally dirty things he was saying to me in his sleep. but disconcerting when you are awoken by someone whispering the rudest things imaginable in your ear... and then realising he is totally asleep. sigh. whats a boy to do ... tee hee

having some mates over for dinner tonight. and have at least 2 hours study to do today. it never ends.

Av-med done and dusted

2007-11-02T03:41:00.000+11:00

5 gruelling days later
5 written tests later
3 practical assessments later

and i have passed and finished Aviation Medicine. (god i can even deliver a baby now)

got 100% for my final exam.

the rig assessment we had was hilarious...nerve wrecking before hand but so funny when we look back.

our group of 4 had to deal with an economy class passenger who had taken an overdose of heroin, and still had the needle stuck in his arm. half way through treating him, he went into convulsions, and we had to get a medically qualified volunteer from the passengers to come help, whilst on the phone to medlink. apparently i was the only person in the whole class who did not follow the volunteers advice to move the patient to the floor to treat and they were really impressed at how i stood up tot the doctor. (either way is correct but it is safer for all concerned to leave him lying across the seats as we were diverting and had to land and you cant strap him inn on the floor.)

so got some brownie points there.

everyone did really well...and we all passed. so all going out for drinks tomorrow to celebrate.

tomorrow is cabin resource management and then the beginning of cabin safety. the toughest 2 weeks of my career. apparently its hell and its not uncommon to lose one from the group during this phase.

but NO STUDY TONIGHT !!!

finals of av-med tomorrow

2007-11-01T05:21:00.000+11:00

well... had yet another exam today. becoming par for course now. was about 42 answers. and recently on my exams i have been finishing but not wanting to be the first to get up so have sat around double and triple checking my paper waiting for someone else to get up.

today i finished, double checked and no one had gotten up so i thought well bugger it i may as well get up. well..... i was wating outside on my own for about 5 mins...sweating it out thinking i must have really fucked up as i finished so much earlier than everyone else.

when they called us back in....i really was scared to see my results. i slowly turned over my exam paper.... holding my breath....... 100% phew.. so then we had to to a practical exam for cpr.... breezed thru that as was not anything new there.

got finals tomorrow.. which is 66 answers encompassing the whole weeks work.. and then we get into a team of 3-4 and are taken to the rig, which is like a mini plane with seats and a galley, and we will be presented with a medical emergency at no notice. quite cool actually. bit nervous but confident i know my stuff. i think at this stage im more worried about not getting 100% than actualy passing. so i will be gutted if i get one wrong.

should get my laptop back from the shop tomrorow so will be able to post up some pictures soon.

DR "help" AB

2007-10-31T04:41:00.000+11:00

you would think i would be well used to the exams by now, but this morning i was so nervous i was almost nauseous..... which is just as well i now know how to deal with that.

got another 100% score. except im now setting my bar so high that i think i will be quite upset if i dont get 100% in every exam. also passed my practical too.

another exam tommorrow.. written and practical. not sure what the practical will contain other than CPR. this includes adults, children and infants.

learned today that our final on friday will be in the av-med rig, which is the mock cabin, and we will be let loose on this pretend plane with an av-med playing an instructor and we will need to pretend we really are 30,000 feet in the air. kinda cool if it wasnt so nerve wrecking.

got trainer chris today.... he's totally cool and actually makes the learning experience fun. did bleeding today.. so you can only imagine the comments flying around the room about chris' bleeding gash.

scotty has gone to j'berg so im on my own again for 3 nights. sigh. oh well.. since im so exhausted and having to study im feeling guilty about not paying him 100% of my attention when i get home, but he does understand.

2 days left of av-med and then onto cabin safety, where the real work begins. apparently this is the hardest 2 weeks of the course. eeek ! but also the funnest.. we get to jump down a slide, practise safety demos, learn principles of survival and phases of flight, flight controls and go practise a ditching. all exciting stuff.

uniform looked good except the jackets are too small so need to get them swapped.

2 more weeks of casual clothes and then i am finally in uniform...

go team!

surviving av-med

2007-10-30T05:06:00.000+11:00

first av-med test today. got 100% again.. but was gruelling studying for it.

today we learned the basics of DRAB which seems so logical when on the ground but when in the air its all the basics you tend to forget.

had to get up in front of the group with 2 others and treat some one in a set of airline seats. got half way through and realised the person was suffering the exact thing my dad died from and since i was the first aider on the scene when he suffered a stroke/heart attack, all this emotion came floodiing back out of no where. kinda weird.

but am enjoying the course and the experience. tomrrow have another exam and a practical exam. ugh !! oh well.. ill survive. got me class mates to get me thru.

on the plus side - i got my uniform today.... so have to go try it all on. yay!!!

one down - five to go

2007-10-27T19:28:00.000+10:00

hard to believe that we have completed 1 week already.

day 5 saw the start of Av-med (aviation medicine) amazing the stuff we have to learn. already we have learnt all the common conditions we can expect to treat on board, how to administer oxygen, and the locations and contents of all the medical equiptment on board.

mots of the training took place in a large classroom, however we were shown the Av-med rig. its like a mini plane, with 3 rows of Upper Class, and 10 rows of Economy, seperated by a mock galley and with 2 fake doors and 2 sets of jumpseats. its all becoming very real being inside an aircraft.

totally loving the experience and my class mates are a hoot. been taking heaps of photos, of course none of me, but with my laptop dead i cant upload yet. going to go take my laptop to get fixed.. lord knows how much that will cost. eeek!

bonding well with my class.. slowly but surely. kinda hard to get around to everyone as its such a large group. but already have made some close bonds which i know will last thruoughout my career and will have a blast when we get to fly together...if ever. its weird to think al these people you may never fly with since there are about 4500 crew and you may never see some of them. although looking forward to a trip with dave.. he has me in stitches every day.

scott got back last night and was glad to see him, even though i havent had time to miss him yet.

cant sit on here all day, as have a crap load of study to do for my av-med exam monday morning. aparently out of all the avmed exams, this is the one that usually most fail, since its the first one and you have no idea what to expect in it. but i had scott test me on everything, and even things we have not done in class yet and i passed with flying colours so im not too concerned yet, although i will be crapping my daks on monday morning.

day 4 in the big brother house

2007-10-26T03:44:00.000+10:00

todays exam was dead easy. 100% again.. phew. and guess what....no exams tomorrow.. but we sure have a hell of a lot of reading to do. luckily we have the weekend to really study beofre the daily exams commence again. we have been warned that the first two exams are not that bad but the 3rd is a killer. and the 2nd week of safety training is the worst we will have to go thru. i think thats all the practicals.

today saw special needs awareness day. spent half the day learning how to deal with Visually Impared and Deaf customers. ended up being led around the base in a blindfold to realise how it is. i think i surprised a few people when i started speaking sign language. aparently i can get more money for that, but the BSL is so different to australian sign language. so i think i will need to go study it again here ot learn thelocal version.

got a great group. slowly we are starting to bond closer, although it is way to big to really get around to everyone. i think i have started to bond closest to my smoking buddies. the charlies angels trio. cant believe out of 21 there are only 3 smokers. anyway, have started to see peoiple come out of their shell and gradually im getting to know others.

my laptop died...not really sure whats going on with it.. and having to use scotts, so not sure how i will get the photos out of my video camera yet, but will go get my laptop fixed and then will be able to publish my pics here of what im going thru.

must go.. study calls

day 3 done and dusted

2007-10-25T03:39:00.000+10:00

funny how 21 people can all be going thru the same intense nervousness. before our exam this morning, i thought i was going to throw up.
we had to leave the room once finished and then wait for it to be marked. i think i had butterflies as i walked back in.

the results of my first exam. 100% PHEW!

had a full day of customer service basics with loads of terminology i have to know. was thinkinig by the end of the day... hmm, thats not too hard. not too much to study tonight. then at 4.30 the av-med guy came in and gave us our manuals. we have a shit load of reading and study to do before friday. about 50 pages worth. on top of todays work. plus we will have homework tomorrow too. and then every day of av-med is about 50 pages to read. before the exam the next day, on top of revising what you learned that day.

and aparently cabin safety is harder.

they likeded it today to being like doing your masters. what have i gotten myself into. mind you... ive met some pretty thick flight attendants so it must be possible. funny learning all our customer service stuff today, and then you compare to qantas, and realise just how crap they really are, compared to how the virgin guys are doing it.

apparently qantas are recruiting trolley dollys at the moment. wonder why.

oh wel.. off for a quick power nap to recharge the brain before i hit the books.

Like a Virgin

2007-10-24T13:49:00.000+10:00

day 3 in the big brother house.

excitment and nerves are the 2 words to describe my first day at virgin. day 1 was induction day. 35 new staff from all over the world from all kinds of jobs. happy to see a couple of familiar faces from my interview day. seems the nice ones made it.

induction day was very similar in format to the one at flight centre. company history, branding etc... only incredibly high tech. makes our training at flight centre look like the dark ages. at "the base" every training room has computerised name screens outside each room stating what course is being run, with airport style indicator boards throughout the complex directing trainees to the right rooms. every room has a built in data projector, and a computerised lights and projector panel in the wall plus a pc for each room.

actually the base is mega huge.. theres about 20 training rooms and theres a whole rig section with a mock plane, mock cockpit to teach how to get the pilots out of the seats in emergencies, door section to teach door operations, mock check in desks, a huge slide and a blown up raft. theres an indoor town square and various break out sections. the whole thing looks very logans run or buck rogers. its amazing.

day 2 was course introduction and the trainee meet and greet. there are 21 of us ini the class. 10 girls and 11 guys (unheard of number of guys...usually theres 4-5)
we played speed datingand got to have 30 seconds to talk to about half the class, so that at least half of us knew the other half. nice group.. no show ponies. we are slowly sussing everyone out, and we think 10 out of 11 guys are gay... one is still to be confirmed and he is remaining tight lipped about it so we think more than likely straigt.. which is no big deal. girls are ranging from 18 thru to an unknown age but i would guess late 30s early 40s... normally thats when women stop telling ages. im the only overseas one but one guy has just come back from living in australia. he hated it... cant imagine why.

then we had sessions on personal safety and then uniform regulations. believe it or not, uniforms took about 3 hours. which included hair, grooming and makeup regs. we should get the uniform next week but wont wear it for another 3 or so weeks as next week is av-med and then we have SEP (all the evacuation and survival stuff)

today is our first exam. kinda nervous but this one should be easy. its all terminology and codes and grooming regs. we will soon see. pass rate is 88%

so far its been fun, and only took 1.5 days before the guys started talking and joking about sex.

scott left home at 3.30 this morning off to miami. so im up mega early. cant get back to sleep.

weathe rhere has turned cold. up at gatwick its 1 degree in the mornings. oh my god what have i done ??? at least when you get inside its nice and warm.

scott is on his way

2007-10-17T05:16:00.000+10:00

well.. its been along long long, lonely boring 9 days but Scott will finally get home tomorrow morning around 9am.. wasnt fun being left alone here right after arriving from australia, but it was a decision we both made, that we needed the money the allowances from such a trip would provide... he didnt want to be going either... poor guy was as bored trapped in his hong kong hotel room as much as i was.

its been an interesting time.. i have seen 2 street fights in my street so far..

i have learned that british shop keepers are the rudest on earth. youre lucky if they even speak to you whilst taking your money.. its kind of like you should be grateful that they have a shop you can go into.. rather than being grateful that you walked in and chose to spend you money there in the first place. i did walk into one convenience shop down the road they they were most friendly.. so even tho it means walking an extra block, they will now be getting my custom... and screw the rude assholes in the shop just down the road.

they are also impossible on the foot path here.. i thought adelaide was aggressive on the footpath. here they walk all over the place.. and will not give way. so im feeling like i have to meander all over the pathway as im walking from A to B. people here are so rude,and just do not look at where they are going. they back up, turn without looking and generally dont give a crap about anyone else but themselves.

i had always thought that it was strange that visitors always remarked how friendly sydney was.. when being a sydney sider you think.. are we really??? but believe me.. compared to the UK.. we could all win the miss congeniality contest.

can you tell im british now.. having my official licence to whinge ??

on the plus side.. the weather had been great.. ok so its this dull grey sky all day.. but its been nice and warm.. most days i can wear just a light jacket outside.. and not be cold.. and wear just a tshirt in the house, with the window open.

have been exploring the myriad of pre-packed ready made, ready to heat meals that you can get here.. i mean...does anyone in britian actually cook these days?

grabbed one interesting one and ate it today.. it was a sure fire way to triple my carbon footprint. was a haloumi cheese with beans and lentils in a basil and tomato dressing. not sure what it was supposed to really be but i heated it and turns out it was like a bean and lentil stew. the microwaved haloumi was nice for a short time, while it was hot, but as soon as it cooled, it took on the consistency of vulcanised rubber. but was tasty none the less. luckily scott has gotten home tonight. the beans and lentils have sure taken their toll and raised the carbon emissions of Brighton by a few points, i can tell you.
tonights dinner was a somewhat tasty tom yum prawn curry. who knew tom yum came in a curry.. was ok.. but the prawns were like chewing pencil erasers. i think ill stick to cooking myself. might have a macaroni and cheese later.... have done nothing but eat since i arrived..

you know you must be getting bored when you start to clean everything. what started out as a general tidy up for scott before he got home, turned in to a marathon spring (or autumn in my case) clean. vacuumed the entire flat... scrubbed the shower screen.... even cleaned the toilet.. something i rarely did at home, rearranged a few things in the bedroom area, to make more space on the crowded floor which is packed with suitcases still, and folded all the linen in the house. sigh..

mind you.. will be worth the look on scotts face when he comes home from an arduous 12 hour flight and walks in to a nice clean home..... god im so domesticated, i could puke. has one man so well and truly tamed the wolf ?

something the world shoud learn

2007-10-17T05:12:00.000+10:00

i came across this article on ninemsn and thought i shoudl publish to the world... in advance for all those ungrateful, irate and crappy customers i may encounter.

Why long haul flights aren't so bad
By AFrosty / Lonely Planet
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

The hosties
With airline competition so tough, today’s flight attendants are in outstanding customer-service nick. They happily get you anything while you do nothing. This is the kind of attention that you only get in the first month of a relationship. Enjoy it.

It’s a flying spiritual retreat
When your second bottle of red, the cabin pressure and someone else’s sleeping pill prescription kicks in, you get to fly higher than a pig in space with nothing else expected of you other than to wear a seatbelt. This is relaxation at its purest.

High dining
At least you don’t have to cook. Or chew. Or stack the dish washer. Even better is that you get to eat lying down and in front of the telly, a luxury reserved only for the chubby kids of divorced parents at the 'away' parents house.

Hollywood on demand
These days, movies on demand allow you to lock your brain in the overhead locker and point, click and dribble your way through a romantic comedy movie marathon while never having to go into battle for the remote.

The sea was angry that day, my friend
You can bang on about that defining moment in your life when you realized that being a fighter pilot wasn’t quite your bag of tricks or, with a tear in your eye, of the time you saved an entire orphanage from an inferno. The stuff of lore and legend.

Enough
You can tell the person next to you to stop talking.

You’re traveling
You’re going places, somewhere, anywhere, with nothing more than a pack full of gusto, an empty credit card and an adventure that needs to be had.

Dan's first day on the job ??

2007-10-15T20:33:00.001+10:00

and just had to show this amazing evacuation practice of the new airbus

and here are some of the previous groups of virgin training. im going to be group 633

and this one is for carolyn.
its not virgin but still shows what im about to go thru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8SCxCr3IQ

study break

2007-10-15T05:55:00.000+10:00

well.. after 8 hours of study today

i have completed the induction modules.

i have coompleted about 60% of the crew training modules... but saving the big test for later on when i have had time to restudy all 7 of the cabin saftey components.

did complete the turbulence module, and did the exam at the end of that. only got 80% which is the pass mark, but i think that was mostly do to the questions not being worded very clearly and me thinking it was meaning something else, as knew all the content proficiently. so might take the exam again to see if i can improve on the 80%

ONCE TRAINING REALLY BEGINS I HAVE TO GET 88% !!!

time to study

2007-10-14T21:18:00.000+10:00

ok world, time for an update
was here for a few days and then scotty left to go....... back to australia, can you fucking believe it?? his roster had him going back to sydney. its a 9 day trip for him
have been here 5 days on my own so far...... bored outta my brain. been playing computer games and watching season 2 of Mile High (comedy series about flight attendants)

have been for my uniform fitting... i look fantastic in it (well as fantastic as i can look).. i was a bit worried, since the FCm uniform was so crap and impossible for anyone to look good in.....

and like a true gay.. exclaimed loudly to the uniform lady and scotty and nigel (a mate of ours who is also starting same day) "oh my god the fabrics are amazing"
and then promptly realised what i said.
but really.. they are amazing.. no cheap materials, and the whole thing is fitted and tailored

paris.....first class.... international!!!!!

they have already sent me my precourse learning pack. theres a cd outlining the course we are about to undertake with a self test section on what was contained therein. fuck !!! talk about full on and we havent even started yet.

i have to now go online and do these e-learning modules, and its about 7-10 hours worth of study, and i have to attain at least 80% before they will let me attend the training course.
after that, pass mark for daily exams is 88% (they will own me for the next 6 weeks)

1 more week of freedom and then im knee deep in paperwork and study. been to the base already.. man the classrooms are in the shape of aircraft cabins. they even have a cockpit mock up to teach us how to get the pilots out of the seats in case they fall unconscious.
been to the pool for a swim, where they will teach us ditching excercises. have to swim 25 meters and then tread water, while manually blowing up a life jacket. just as well im well versed in blowing.

weather here is great..... cant beleiev its so warm..... has been warmer here than sydney i beleieve... most days in mid 20's which for autumn is incredible i have been told.

got nigel coming over today to study together... first of many many study sessions i think.

its been a very surreal experience being here and having scott in sydney.. total role reversal. my mates don and andy entertained scott while i was down there. scott has a lot of respect for them both and im glad they all got along, although i dread to think what was said about me.

Alright gov ?

2007-10-08T17:37:00.000+10:00

I think this song says it all.

it was a very emotional week in sydney. my emotions were like a rollercoaster, full of excitment and happiness that scott and i had finally made it and were now together and the teary sadness of constantly realising this was the end of a part of my life, for now.

tried to see everyone i could before i left. tried to organise a little going away party for myself to see all the people i missed out on, but not many turned up....some forgot and some were too busy with recovery from sleaze, so i guess i wasted a huge amount of money but those that were there were among the closest to me so i was happy about that.

the flight out of australia was full on emotional.... never want to go through that again, but the moment i got to hove and was in my new home, i was totally fine. scott even carried me across the threshold. adorable isnt he. the past few days have been bliss with the slow realisation that this is my new life and scott and i are together at last. this was definately the right decision and exactly where i want to be.

weather has been fantastic.. quite warm actually.... ok not as warm as the 36 degree heat of sydney in the week before i left, but certainly not as cold as i was lead to believe england would be. already got a bank account and a mobile phone. today i go to get my national insurance number and i have my uniform fitting for virgin!

been reading loads of books written by flight attendants to gte a feel for the lifestyle and the pitfalls. been studying the manuals and worrying about the exams.. but hey, its normal to stress about this and ill pass with flying colours i think. i already know so much so its just a matter of getting it cemented in my head.

scott leaves for a trip tomorrow.. can you beleive it..... sydney! he will be gone for 9 days.... and the flights are too full for me to go with him... so im stuck in the uk on my own for a week. shall use the time to clear out my emails and stuff like that.... and explore my new home!

currently life is wonderful and so i havent had time to miss sydney too much, anthough i do miss my mum. wont be long until i go home to see her anyway

reasons to be a flight attendant

2007-09-28T12:01:00.001+10:00

foudn this on a wonderful site http://www.bootsnall.com/tk/jul01stewardess.shtml

Reasons To Be
A Flight Attendant

Free flights.
All the peanuts you can eat. (Nice when budgeting)

Cool overnights, i.e., being paid to be in Vegas for 25 hours can be a really sweet deal.

Slipping "We know you're in there" notes under the lavatory door to bust couples that thought they had snuck in without being seen.

Did we mention the free flights?

Getting a 10% in-uniform discount off our McDonalds fries in airports around the world.

Sometimes having 16-17 days off a month, if we worked our schedules right.

The wonderful and interesting people you meet (although you must be cautious due to people wanting to take advantage of our access to #10: see below).

Seeing the look on your friends' faces when they ask where you got a particular item they admire, and you reply, "Oh, Paris – I think. Or was it London?"

Free flights were a definite bonus. Sorry, did we already mention that one?

Reasons We Quit and/or
Are Glad We Quit
(Short Version)

The Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome: We get no respect.

The stench that fills an enclosed metal tube packed with dozing people that have been eating peanuts. 'Nuff said.

Having to deal with predicaments such as the following: You have 12 very fussy First Class passengers, and 12 meals for said passengers. When preparing the meals, you accidentally drop one entrée. Question: Does the five-second rule apply?

Not being able to get on our free flights to go on vacation because they're overbooked, or because too many employees senior to us had the exact same idea. In this scenario free flights suck.
Having people say "BuhBye" with a snicker as they deplane, as if they are the only ones that watch Saturday Night Live. Here's a hint: It's not original, and not even mildly amusing.

One word: Turbulence.

Here are two more: Airline food.

Having to stand in the aisle and dutifully perform the pre-flight safety demonstration, only to look around to see that absolutely no one on the plane is paying attention. (Or, if they are, it's likely that your zipper is down)

Making plans to go out to dinner with the crew on an overnight and then cringing when the pilots show up in tracksuits, tube socks, and bright white tennis shoes.

Being trapped in a corner of the First Class galley while Scott Baio attempts a conversation with you. (F.Y.I.: Scott Baio has halitosis and hates Pittsburgh.)

Having to endure six weeks of unpaid training, which includes how to pour wine at 35,000 feet, but neglects teaching how to maneuver rollerboards on escalators.

The realization that our pantyhose and belts were much tighter (a.k.a. "Boeing belly") at the end of a four-day trip, and then having to wait a 24-hour period for our bodies to return to normal, post-airplane-bloat size.

3am wake-up calls from scheduling, asking "What do you want to do today?" before assigning a trip that leaves in two hours anyway.

Having passengers ask three hours into a flight, "What is that down there?" (while pointing to a speck of land, or spot of blue that looks suspiciously like a body of water), then having them give you a dissatisfied look when you tell them you're really not sure.

Wondering how to professionally reply to the 6'2", 230-lb businessman who just asked you to lift his overstuffed 70-lb suitcase into the overhead bin.

Having to bite our tongues as people moan about "the seats getting smaller" when we really want to shout "The seats are the same freakin' size! Maybe your arse is getting larger!"

The uniforms. The luxurious blue polyester "little man suits" (as we liked to call them) and housecoat dresses left us feeling decidedly unfeminine and frumpy.

Finding out that the rumors of being able to have "a man in every port" just isn't workable. Frankly, it's too confusing and exhausting. (Disclaimer: We do not speak from personal experience on this one – but from observing our old roommate, who shall remain nameless.)

Screaming children that despise being strapped down for hours on end, and cannot be reasoned with. ("Would you like some cookies? No? How about some juice? No? Well, you have to keep your seatbelt on Honey... you really don't want to be thrown forcibly in to the ceiling and have your head split open, do you?")

Other passengers that ask you to do something to quiet #19.

Working flights from New York City to West Palm Beach and vice versa.

Receiving calls from long-lost "friends" who ask for a buddy pass after five minutes of catching up.
Finding dirty diapers stuck in seat back pockets.

Having to stare at 100 laps several times a day during seatbelt checks while trying to ignore the grins from badly mistaken males that believe you are merely using it as an excuse to check them out... THEN... Later having to toss a blanket over the laps of those males while they are sleeping and obviously dreaming about seatbelt checks. (That's right guys: if you wake up on a flight and discover a blanket that wasn't there before, be very embarrassed.)

Developing painful bunions and unsightly varicose veins.

That mysterious crud that builds up in one's nose during long flights.

Having to endure countless... ahhhhhh... looooonnng... weellllllll... drawn out... hmmmm... announcements from... uuummmmm... the flight deck.

Having someone stop us in an airport we pass through maybe once a year, to ask us where Baco-Burger or gate such-and-such is.

Arriving at our overnight hotel at 3 AM, after a 15-hour day, totally exhausted, only to find that, for some inexplicable reason, our rooms won't be ready for another 20 minutes.

This one question in particular: "So, is this your route?" We found that we were spending way too much time attempting to explain (after being asked for the umpteenth time) our so-called "routes" and schedules. This question just might have been the straw that broke these flight attendants' backs.

Its time to go..................... Daniel !

2007-09-28T09:44:00.001+10:00

last day at work !! caught a cab in this morning, thought i would travel in style (plus i had so much work crap to bring in)
Smiled bittersweetly at my last south to north harbour bridge crossing. Sydney has put on a glorious day today, with a top of 28 expected.

so kinda just need to sit around waiting for a handover meeting, with not much to do, then a long boozy lunch, followed by an exit interview, then im free and can leave the big brother house ! well feels like that a bit.

woke at 5.30 this morning, all ready to get up and go to work.. weird never been able to do that before.... except when im flying interstate. rang scott, he got ont he London to Hong Kong leg... but the flight out of Hong Kong to Sydney is full so fingers crossed for some no-shows otherwise he will be stuck in HK overnight, for lord knows how long.

so.. thats it.... next thursday 4 oct Dan will be leaving on a big jet plane, and he dont know when he'll be back again.

but its not all sad, although i think ill be bawling my eyes out come the day.
but scott will take my hand and lead me off into my bright future. who knows what adventures mighty mouse and wolf pup will have, but i know its going to be filled with fun and merriment. (and a very cold british winter..hahaha)

on the plus side, the Aussie dollar is getting.4346 pence.. (the highest its been in 1 year has been .4348) so ill be getting more bang for my buck!

not sure if i will have the chance to get back online before i goas i have cut off my home internet, so thats bye for me for now, and will update after i get to good old Blighty !

last legs

2007-09-27T16:37:00.000+10:00

ONE DAY TO GO !!!!!

Then i have finished work in Australia !!!!

this is so wrong

2007-09-27T12:17:00.000+10:00

i cant believe this was actually a real show

Home Stretch

2007-09-27T09:39:00.000+10:00

2 Days to go !!!

Had a fantastic dinner last night with Anna, down at the Bavarian Beer Cafe. got rather tipsy. quelle surprise!

woke this morning, happy knowing today is my last day in this uniform. threw my dirtys in the washtub and only have one shirt and pair of pants to wash tonight and I'm done !! YAY!

got a little sad this morning going over the bridge, thinking, its the 2nd last time i get to cross it in the morning. But the thought of Scott made me smile in the end.

hard to believe that after 7 months of separation and distance, and totally commitment to making this work, in 45 hours, when i see him next, that's it! we are together! we made it!

Nothing in this world can make me happier, than being by his side. (Anna commented last night that she cant believe I've gone soppy. Dan is so not the soppy type..) but i guess once you have met "the one" rules go out the window, everything changes. and i wouldn't have it any other way.

have only 2 hours actual work to do today and then... what the heck am i to do for the rest of the day ??

Hmmm i know..

OH MY GOD !!! look at the urinals in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse !!!

The Final Countdown Continues

2007-09-26T09:28:00.000+10:00

3 Days to go.

Actually thought this last night as i lay in bed, and then all of a sudden it hit me...shit! only 3 days to go...in a anxiety ridden moment.... what the Fuck am i about to do.. giving up my job.. moving to the other side of the world.... away from all my friends and support network...to a place where i virtually know no-one. my blood ran cold and my heart raced (although it may have been the wine)
Then i thought of Scotty, and knew that no matter what, i would be ok. And all this angst of seperation and long distance thing will be but a memory and our relationship will be so strong because of how hard we have fought to make it work.

Still a bit nervous but also excited so im a bit Sybill at the moment.

running out of things to do at work now. when im not training or designing training courses, there isnt a lot to do, and since theres no point training or designing smething new.. im kinda left to just tidy up and try to pass on IP to everyone i think needs it.
got soooooooo bored yesterday as really did by 4pm, have totally nothing to do.

Penultimate steak night last night..... its weird when you meet someone new, at this stage, its like how much time do you invest on getting to know them? (there was a newbie at the dinner)
sat across from Ian, and got this really weird vibe go through me, at how important it is to really appreciate those you hold dear, as you dont always know how long you have them in front of you. Don and Andy gave me mum some lovely Gerlaton Wax (its a flower) for her birthday, so she was pretty chuffed.

Scott will be boarding his flight from LA soon... and thank fully by 11pm tonight we wil be back on track to call and talk for hours. (it really is enough to make you sick)

The Final Countdown

2007-09-25T10:40:00.002+10:00

4 Days to go, and work is....O.V.A.H Ovah!

just wishing it was all over and done with. getting a bit sad now as these days are starting to fill with goodbyes, and im getting a little sad. Im trying to be brave and trying to remain distant and hard hearted, otherwise i think ill be constantly crying.

Mum's birthday today, little possum that she is, she's not up to going out tonigh as still got the brace on her leg, but hoping by thursday she will be ok. Got steak night tonight witht he boys. not sure if this si the final steak night or the penultimate, so going to just enjoy it while i can.

Scott sounds like he is having fun in LA. Hoping he can make it down here by Saturday. Flight is looking rather full, but he does have high priority so fingers crossed he doesnt spend all of his trip in HKG !!

submitted final expenses today.... got to hand in the uniform on friday.. so casual friday for me !! yay!

Rona came up from Melbourne and we went for our final lobster dinner at Golden Century, down in chinatown. wont be affording lobster in UK, im betting.. not on a flight attendants wages.

sigh - best get back to work, while i can.

On the lighter side 2

2007-09-25T10:40:00.001+10:00

On the lighter side 1

2007-09-25T10:36:00.000+10:00

Its the Final Countdown!

2007-09-24T13:03:00.000+10:00

Ok world, we are currently 5 days away from finishing work.. (well technically 4.5 days, or 36 hours, but who's counting)

spent a wonderful weekend, catching up and chilling with those nearest and dearest.
Thanks to the ever perennial hosts Don and Andy, for a suberb dinner on saturday nightand managed to have a surprise guest at their house for dinner, Crofty so managed to see hmi before i left.

Shopped for my latest little toy on saturday... ok went slightly over budget but scored a great deal (saved $150!!!!) a new Sony digital camcorder!! learning how to use it tho. important function, it has nightshot and super night shot.. for all those darkened room home movies i may wish to make.. lol

Sunday i got to meet my nieces boyfriend (she also turned 17 on sunday) and then spent the arvo chilling out with Ian and David.

couldnt have asked for a nicer way to spend a weekend.

Scott is in LA at the moment.. so hanging out for him to get a phone card so we can talk, or ill have to wait until thursday. GRRR !

On the lighter side

2007-09-24T13:00:00.000+10:00

unconscious mutterings

2007-09-24T12:55:00.000+10:00

Not done one for a while so here goes.

Singles :: Kraft cheese slices

Blaze :: a trail

Sandwich :: pastrami on rye, hold the mayo!

Outside :: George Michael

Gooey :: snot

Industry :: Travel

Exclusive :: snobbery

Warranty :: for an arresty?

Magical :: Scott

Heels :: hmm scott again?

Disturbing

2007-09-20T10:02:00.000+10:00

Just heard the most disturbing thing on the radio.
A cover version of the Divinyls "i touch myself"
but sung by a young girls choir from Belgium called Scala.
its just not right! but very funny to listen to.

On a lighter side

You Came

2007-09-19T13:49:00.001+10:00

Someone I know is staring at me
And when I look into his eyes
I see a boy that I used to be
I hardly recognise
Cos in the space of a year
Ive watched the old me disappear
All of the things I once held precious
Just dont mean anything anymore
Cos suddenly

You came, and changed the way I feel
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place

Ive never felt good with permanent things
Now I dont want anything to change
You cant imagine the joy you bring
My life wont be the same
And Ill be there when you call
Ill pick you up if you should fall
Cos I have never felt such inspiration
Nobody else ever gave me more because

You came, and changed the way I feel
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place

I watch you sleep in the still of the night
You look so pretty when you dream
So many people just go through life
Holding back, they dont say what they mean
But its easy for me
Since you came
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place
You came, and changed the way I feel
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place

whacky laws around the world !!

2007-09-17T17:11:00.001+10:00

HERE is a list of the world's most ridiculous laws or urban myths - were not quite sure... let us know which ones you think are real.

- In Victoria Australia, only a licensed electrician is allowed to change a lightbulb.

- In Victoria Australia it is forbidden to wear pink hot pants after mid-day on a Sunday.

- It England, it is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.

- It England, it is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.

- It England, it is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.

- In France, it is forbidden to call a pig Napoleon.

- Under the UK’s Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don’t want him to know, though you don’t have to tell him anything you don’t mind him knowing.

- In Alabama, it is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle.

- In Ohio, it is against state law to get a fish drunk.

- Royal Navy ships that enter the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.

- In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants – even, if she so requests, in a policeman’s helmet.

- In Lancashire, no person is permitted after being asked to stop by a constable on the seashore to incite a dog to bark.

- In Miami, Florida, it is illegal to skateboard in a police station.

- In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation.

- In the UK, all men over the age of 14 must carry out two hours of longbow practice a day.

- In London, Freemen are allowed to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll; they are also allowed to drive geese down Cheapside.

- In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.

- In the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.

- In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on Sundays can be jailed.

- In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon more than six-feet long.

- In Chester, Welshmen are banned from entering the city before sunrise and from staying after sunset.

- In the city of York, it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.

- In Boulder, Colorado, it is illegal to kill a bird within the city limits and also to “own” a pet – the town’s citizens, legally speaking, are merely “pet minders”.

- In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth.

- In London, it is illegal to flag down a taxi if you have the plague.

- In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals but is forbidden from looking directly at them during the examination; he may only see their reflection in a mirror.

- The head of any dead whale found on the British coast is legally the property of the King; the tail, on the other hand, belongs to the Queen - in case she needs the bones for her corset.

- In Eureka, Nevada, USA, it is still illegal for men with moustaches to kiss women.

- In Alexandria, Minnesota, USA, it is still illegal for a man who has garlic, onions or sardines on his breath to have sex with his wife.

- In Logan County, Colorado, USA, it is still illegal to kiss a woman while she is asleep.

- In Providence, Rhode Island, USA, it is still illegal for shop owners to sell toothpaste and toothbrushes to the same customer on a Sunday.

- In Zion, Illinois, USA, it is still illegal to offer cigars to your pets.

- In St. Louis, Missouri, USA, it is still illegal for firemen to rescue women who are still in their nightdresses.

- In Ames, Iowa, USA, it is still illegal for men to have three sips of beer while they are in bed with their wives.

- In Maryland, USA, it is still illegal for radio stations to play Randy Newman's song 'Short people'.

- In Oklahoma, USA, it is still illegal to make faces at a dog, a crime that could result in a prison sentence.

- In Texas, USA, criminals are still required to give their victims at least 24 hours oral or written notice giving details of the crime they are about to commit.

- In Washington, USA, it is still an offence to pretend that you have rich parents.

- In Baltimore, Maryland, USA, it is still an offence to take a lion into a cinema.

- In Tremonton, Utah, USA, it is still an offence for a woman to have sexual intercourse with a man in an ambulance. She can be charged with a misdemeanour and have her name printed in the local paper.

- In Oxford, Ohio, USA, it is still illegal for a woman to undress in front of a picture of a man.

- In Miami, Florida, USA, it is still illegal for anyone to imitate an animal.

- In Afghanistan the Taliban militia banned women from wearing white socks just in case men find them attractive. The police are also ordered windows to be painted black to stop women being seen from the outside.

- In the USA impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 states.

- In Illinois, USA, it is against the law to give a lighted cigar to a pet.

- In Iowa, USA, it is against the law to kiss for more than five minutes.

- In International Falls, Minnesota, USA, it is against the law for a dog to chase a cat up a telegraph pole and dog owners can be fined for this.

- In Kentucky, USA, it is illegal to carry and ice cream cone in your pocket.

- In Louisiana, USA, if you bite someone with your own teeth it is classed as 'Simple assault' but if you bite someone with your dentures it is classed as 'aggravated assault.'

- In Massachusetts, USA, it is illegal for mourners to eat no more than three sandwiches at a wake.

- In Chico, California, USA, the law says that anybody who detonates a nuclear device within the city limits is liable to a fine of $500.

- In Lebanon any man may legally have sex with any animal just as long as it is a female.

- In Conorsville, Wisconsin, USA, it is illegal for a man to fire a gun while his wife is having an orgasm.

- In Tremonton, Utah, USA, it is illegal for a woman to have sex with a man while riding in an ambulance.

- In Oblong, Illinois, it is illegal to make love while fishing or hunting on your wedding day.

- In Bahrain it is illegal for a doctor to look directly at a woman's genitals while he is examining her although he is permitted to see their reflection in a mirror.

- In Ames, Iowa, USA, a husband may not take more than three gulps of beer while lying in bed with his wife.

- In Hastings, Nebraska, USA, the law says that hotel owners have to provide a clean white cotton nightshirt for each guest. Also no couples are allowed to have sex in the hotel unless they are wearing these nightshirts.

- In Willowdale, Oregon, USA, no man may curse while having sex with his wife.

- In Indonesia the punishment for masturbation is execution by decapitation.

- In Kingsville, Texas, USA, it is against the law for pigs to have sex on airport property.

- In Florida it is illegal to have sex with a porcupine.

- During World War I anyone found to be a homosexual in the French army was executed.

- Hundreds of years ago in Japan anyone who attempted to leave the country was instantly executed.

- The very first country to abolish capital punishment was Austria in 1787.

- In Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada, in 1917, it was illegal to tie a male horse next to a female horse.

- In San Diego, USA, hypnotism is banned by public schools.

- Chewing gum is illegal in Singapore.

- In Paraguay duelling is legal just as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

- In Milan, Italy, there is still a law that requires citizens to smile at all times or risk a hefty fine. The only exceptions are visiting hospitals and funerals.

- In Switzerland every citizen is required by law to have access to a bomb shelter.

- In Burma it is illegal to get internet access. If a person is found in possession of a modem he can be imprisoned.

- In Bangladesh it is against the law for schoolchildren to cheat at school exams. Pupils as young as 15 can be imprisoned for this.

- Until 1984 Belgians were made to choose their children's names from a list of 1500 drawn up in the days of Napoleon.

- In Romania, in 1935, Mickey Mouse was banned because the authorities thought that the sight of a 10ft high rodent on screen would terrify the nation's children.

- Donald Duck comics were once banned in Finland because he never wore pants.

- Belgium is the only country that has never imposed censorship on adult films.

- Karate films were banned in Iraq in 1979.

- In Indiana, USA, during the 1950's, all Robin Hood films were banned because authorities thought that robbing the rich to give to the poor was an act of communism.

- In Iceland it was once against the law to own a pet dog.

- The bloodhound is the only animal in the world whose evidence is admissable in court.

- In Basle, Switzerland, in 1471, a cockerel was found guilty in a court of law for laying an egg "In defiance of natural law". The bird was then burnt at the stake as a "Devil in disguise".

- In Stelvio, Italy, in 1519, a court issued a warrant for the arrest of a gang of moles that had severely damaged crops. The moles were sumoned to court but when they failed to appear they were sentenced to exile.

- In South Bend, Indiana, USA, a monkey was once found guilty of smoking a cigarette.

- In Munster, in 1670, the courts banished a plague of fleas from the city, prohibiting them from returning for ten years.

- In Seville, Spain, in 1983, an alsatian dog was arrested for snatching handbags from shoppers.

- Judge J.H. Logan from California, USA, created the Loganberry fruit. He crossed a wild blackberry with a cultivated raspberry and came up with his own fruit.

- In ancient Sparta men were required by law to eat at least two pounds of meat every day. This was supposed to make them brave.

- In Turkey, during the 16th and 17th centuries, it was illegal to drink coffee and anyone caught doing so was sentenced to death.

- In Venice all gondolas have to be painted black unless they belong to a high ranking official.

- In England, in 1865, a law was passed stating that any self propelled carriage on an English highway had to have a crew of three, one of whom had to walk in front of the carriage with a red flag to warn horse drawn vehicles of it's approach.

- In Rome, 2,000 years ago, Julius Caesar banned chariots from the centre of Rome to ease congestion.

- In London, England, there is still a law that states London Taxi cabs must carry a bale of hay at all times.

- In Bermuda, up until 1948, all private cars were banned.

- At one time it was against the law to slam car doors in Switzerland.

- In Britain, in 1888, a law was passed which stated that every cyclist had to constantly ring the bell on his bicycle non-stop while the machine was moving.

- In Singapore it is illegal for a person to walk around the house naked and not flushing the toilet. Also a person can be executed if they are found in possession of more than 200g of cannabis resin. Oral sex is banned unless it is used only during foreplay and if a person is caught littering the streets he is forced to make an appearance on TV with a bib around his neck saying "I'm a litterer."

- In Birmingham, England, it is illegal for a man and a woman to have sex on church steps after sundwon.

- In Iowa, USA, it is illegal for horses to eat fire hydrants.

- In Denmark it is not illegal for a convicted prisoner to escape from prison. If the escapee is caught he only serves the rest of his sentence.

- In Denmark it is illegal to start your car without first checking to see if there are any children asleep underneath it.

- In Thailand it is illegal to step on a banknote, leave your house without wearing underwear and if you drop a piece of bubblegum on the pavement you can be fined $600.

- In Thailand all cinema goers must stand up during the National Anthem before a film starts.

- In Switzerland it is against the law for men to urinate standing up after 10pm which is the same time that it is illegal to flush the toilet.

- In Canada, by law, 1 out of every 5 songs on the radio must be sung by a Canadian and in British Columbia it is illegal to kill a Sasquatch or Bigfoot if one is ever found.

- In Alberta a released convict is entitled to a gun and a horse to ride out of town on.

- In London, England, it is illegal to use a camera tripod, throw a stick for your dog or use an offensive powder like pepper on your jacket potato in any park.

- In London, England, wife beating is legal just as long as it is not after 9pm and it doesn't disturb the neighbours.

- In London, England, it is illegal to impersonate a Chelsea pensioner which once carried the death sentence in the 19th century.

- In Lebanon men are allowed to have sex with any other animal just as long as it is a female. If a man is caught having sex with a male animal then the penalty is death.

- Non-Christians have been banned from being within 20 metres of churches in Rovato, Italy. The move, instigated by the local government, has angered police because a major highway passes within 15 metres of one of the churches. Officers claim that they cannot be expected to stop motorists and demand to see a Baptism Certificate.

- North Carolina has a law to ban people from swearing in front of cadavers. The law also sets out guidelines transporting the recently deceased after one funeral firm was caught piling stiffs onto the back of a pick-up truck. It outlaws 'profanity, indecent or obscene language in the presence of a dead human body' making it technically illegal to say the 'f' word in front of a hearse!

- In Minnesota, USA, it is still against the law to hang male and female underwear together on the same washing line.

- In Indiana, USA, in the 1950's anything to do with Robin Hood was banned on the grounds that robbing from from the rich to give to the poor was a communist act!

- In England, in 1837, a law was passed that entitled a woman to bite off a man's nose if he kissed her against her will!

- The Egyptian government banned male belly-dancing in 1837 because of the enthusiastic riots that it caused.

- In Arizona, USA, it is illegal to hunt camels.

- In California, USA, in 1986, Judge Samuel King became so annoyed that jurors were absent from his court because of heavy rain that he issued a decree which stated "I hereby order that it cease raining by Tuesday."
Amazingly it stopped raining on Tuesday and California suffered a 5 year drought.
In 1991 the judge then decreed "Rain shall fall in California beginning February 27th." Later that day California had the heaviest rainfall in ten years.

- In Alexandria, Minneapolis, USA, it is against the law for a man to make love to a woman with the smell of sardines on his breath.

Take, Store or Throw

2007-09-17T11:07:00.000+10:00

what an interesting weekend.

After spending 7 hours on saturday converting my millions of CD singles onto my ipod so i can take the music to the UK. rediscovering some old old faves. not sure how im going to convert my vinyl to digital. got the turntable but not sure how to record in my laptop. i think windows media player can do it.. but ill play until i figure out.

spend most of sunday sorting my life into 3 distinct piles.

Take (to UK)
Store (at the sydney house until who knows when)
Throw (out)

found some photos i never knew i had.. found heaps of Ansett memorabilia, and even found my very first pay packet. was in 1986 at K-mart and i got $122 for the week. god that seems like so much back then too.

ended up throwing out 3 whole boxes worth of crap that i have carted around with me for the last few moves. Stuff that you think.. oh ill keep that for memories sake, but in reality you never really look at it again.

need to get some photo albums to store the dozens of old photos i found. was a bit sad going thru azll those boxes...seeing happy and painful memories of past, but also acknoledging without them i woudlnt be who i am today, and look how far ive come over the years.

Looking forward to hording loads of junk with scott! he is a bit of a hoarder too and needs to really work hard to get his flat ready for my, and my junks arrival.

going to do more sorting tonight, but since i have an 16 hour work day tomorrow.. (god i cant wait to start the new job. at least there a 16 hour day would have a 3-4 hour break in the middle of it) last training trip tomorrow anyway.. off to sunny downtown brisvegas !

Meme Borrowed from Muzbots blog

2007-09-14T13:36:00.000+10:00

been reading a mates blog, and he had done an interesting meme, so thought id give it a go right now. (hope ya didnt mind there muzzy)

1.Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?
Cabin Crew Non Emergency Sitting Position.
Sit upright, head against headrest, legs together, feet flat on the floor and slightly behind the knees.
Palms on jump seat under thighs. THINK SAFETY
(B747 cabin safety manual) i know.. how geeky am i!!

2. If you stretch out your left arm as far as possible, what are you touching?
a framed picture of Scotty sitting on my desk at work

3. What’s the last program you watched on TV?
sadly, Sunrise on Channel 7 this morning.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
2pm (hmm, its 1.41pm)

5. Aside from the computer, what can you hear right now?
traffic on the street below, the hum of the printer, and someone turning pages as they flick thru paperwork.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?
About 20 mins ago. had a cigarette.

7. What are you wearing?
a very sexy navy blue trouser and flight centre light blue french cuff business shirt. (sexy ! NOT!!) does it count that im wearing a jock strap under it all tho ?

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?
I Dreamt i was telling people in england, that i was there to stay, "this is it, im here forever now, im not just here on holiday, this is my life now." there was then something about a gay parade down the street (not connected to my arrival) and someone trying to offer me drugs (i have really vivid and warped dreams)

9. When was the last time you laughed?
yesterday when scott sent me a funny poem

10. What’s on the walls, in the room you’re in right now?
a shirtless picture of Stephen Dorff its on my cubicle wall, next to a picture of scott and his sister

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?
the guy sitting next to me on the flight from melbouren to sydney, taking off his shoes and flexing his socked feet throughout the whole flight, in the space in front of my knees.
The flight attendant making announcement on descent to review the safety card, and the captain standing at the exit door as we got off, saying goodbye to everyone.

12. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regard to politics or bad guilt, what would it be?oh god, Muz stole my fave idea about having super powers. that would so have been my thing.
so runner up... i reckon that no one in the world would have greed and there was no need for aggressive material gains. (prob similar to star treks replicator technology)

13. Do you like dancing?
Yes, but need to relax a lot to lose my inhibitions

14. What do you want your children’s names to be, girl/boy?
Boy: Matthew James or Brent Aaron
Girl: Jade or Kira
although currently i think Scott Campbell Thomson is about the sexiest name on the planet.

15. Would you ever consider living abroad?
never, not in a million years.......lol yes, esp since im about to do just that in 19 days. although i would never have imagined it would have been the UK. But now its happening im very excited about it.

Things i bet you never knew about Melbourne

2007-09-14T12:51:00.000+10:00

Since i have said goodbye to Melbourne, i thought I would post a few interesting facts that ive learnt about Melbourne.

Did you know that

Black Box flight recorders were invented in Melbourne ?
A Melbourne man invented the "black box" flight recorder. Nobody in Australia was interested in David Warren's invention, developed at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne in 1956, but he was invited to develop it in the UK. Soon, the "black box" was in use world-wide and in 1960 all Australian airlines were compelled to install them

Vegemite was invented in Melbourne in 1923 (and subsequently did you know every jar of Vegemite 'ever made' has come from the Melbourne factory at Fisherman Bend !!)

Amazingly, the Dim Sim was invented in Melbourne in 1945, by chinese chef William Wing Young (that really astounded me.)

The world's first feature film was shot in Melbourne. 'The Story of the Kelly Gang'

ACDC Lane in Melbourne's centre celebrates the heavy metal rock group AC/DC. ACDC Lane is off Flinders Lane, a block and a half from Swanston Street, where the video clip to 'Long Way' to the Top was filmed.

Also, The worlds first McCafe was in Melbourne.
And the worlds first Blood Bank was in Melbourne. (founded by Dr. Lucy Meredith BRYCE)

Did you know the term "Call Girl" for prostitute was invented in Melbourne in 1891

Melbourne had the first gay and lesbian radio station in the world. Starting with a 90 day test licence in 1993, Joy Radio was one of only four community stations to receive a full licence in 2001.

The site of the popular Queen Victoria Market, opened in 1878, was once a cemetery. There are still roughly 9,000 people buried under the sheds and car park of the market. Every time work is carried out at the market, bones are disturbed.

Melbourne's Luna Park is the world’s oldest amusement park under private management. The St Kilda landmark opened in 1912 on the site of 'Dreamland' which closed in 1909.

Melbourne was briefly named 'Batmania' after one of its founders, John Batman. Other proposed names included Bearbrass, Bareport, Bareheep, Barehurp and Bareberp.

But Funniest of all, is the Moobma Festival in Melbourne
The word Moomba may actually be an insult. Melbourne’s popular annual festival was supposed to be named after an Aboriginal word meaning 'let's get together and have fun' but some experts say differently...

“…one wonders how anyone could be naive enough to believe that all this can be expressed in two syllables. In fact 'moom' (mum) means 'buttocks' or 'anus' in various Victorian languages and 'ba' is a suffix that can mean 'at', 'in' or 'on'. Presumably someone has tried to render 'up your bum' in the vernacular.” (Barry Blake, Australian Aboriginal Languages).

bye bye melbourne

2007-09-13T16:38:00.000+10:00

about to leave sunny melbourne.

its been weird knowing this is the last melbourne trip. the time has been full of "lasts" i keep running thru my head... this will be the last time I......

last time to catch a cab from the airport to office
last time to drag that suitcase up the steps to the office
last time to stay in this hotel
last tim eill eat from the local mcdonalds here
last time ill see most of these employees.

got a bit teary saying goodbye to some yesterday
went to see a good friend at work who used to work in sydney with me. gave her big hugs. she made me hug one of her gay boys goodbye

got to say goodbye to brett, a really good mate of mine who lives here. ill miss the bugger but will def keep in touch with him,

so now its the last time ill be catching a taxi to the airport from flight centre melbourne.

hate the qantas dinners but better than having to buy a stale chicken wrap !

11 working days to go!!!

oh my final fly out date from australia is now set at 3oct !!

the last month

2007-09-10T13:36:00.000+10:00

this weekend was a thankfully long weekend in sydney. All thanks to APEC. although yes the police totally overreacted in some cases to non violent bystanders, one poor camerawoman was brutally thrown to the ground for just standing in the wrong place. however i didnt let that spoil my weekend.

on friday i modelled for a photo shoot, for the promotional poster for Woof Clubs 2nd birthday party. shame i wont be in the country when this is on, to attend and maybe get some celeb recognition....(lol) im dreading to think which shots willbe used, however, all is in good taste (erm.. well best allowable taste)

sat night went out to a party and then to the shift, and somehow managed to see many many people that i know, so if worse comes to worse i have at least seen those i would need to, although there are still a few more i need to catch up with.

had a huge fight with scott on sunday night. aint love grand! but things are being smoothed out. with many lessons learned.

monday has blurred past and already its 2pm.. where did the day go ? i have so much work to do, but need to take a lunch break.

on the countdown stakes

14.5 work days to go.
24.5 more days to go until i leave australia
42.5 days until i commence flight attendant training

have calculated that my 1st working flight will be 2nd of dec. eeek ! just in time for the xmas rush.

what a weekend

2007-08-27T12:20:00.000+10:00

well after a CBD pub crawl on sat night, which saw us get home at 1am (god am i such a nana now that this seems late ??) we had to be up at 9am on sunday to prepare for moving my stuff out of storage.

finally everything is now in the house !! not that there is any room for all of it but somehow we will make it work.

ended up finishing the move at 2pm.. started chatting to the movers, and ended up going across to AEBC across the road for an afternoon of barefoot bowls and beers. funny, ended up spending 5 hours drinking with my removalists. nice guys. ended up throwing out my old fridge and desk and even gave away my fish tank since there is no point in having it.

TV antenna guy turned up this morning, and aparently now we have perfect reception !! finally! not that i watch much TV but its nice to know its there if i have to.

scott is meeting a collegue today so at least he is occupied and not pining for me. but im at work and still pining for him.

counting down

2007-08-23T14:10:00.000+10:00

The countdown is on.

only 26 more working days left at my current employer. (thats 221 hours)

only 45 days to go until i leave australia (thats 1080 hours)

only 62 days until i start working for Virgin Atlantic. (thats 1488)

already been studying stuff so much, that Scott is calling me Hermoine Granger !

what a week that was!!!

2007-08-22T12:13:00.000+10:00

it never rains but it pours

last monday mum moves into the new house.
tueday she falls over on the street, and breaks her knee.
has be to rushed to hospital and operated on.
luckily my boss gave me 3 days carers leave, so icould spend all day at the hospital.
then at night i had to alternate between unpacking mums stuff so i could mum-proof the house, and packing my own stuff to move into the house.
luckily scott arrived on friday to help out.

spent all weekend moving and packing and unpacking, just in time to go to melbourne for 3 days for work on monday. meantime, mum comes out of hospital, having to use a zimmer frame, and no one is at home to help her because im in melbourne and my brother is in NZ.

luckily im going back to sydney tonight so i can at least look after her, after only being at home for 36 hours alone. such is the joys of my job, mind you ill soon be on the other side of the world.

My New Office to be

2007-08-14T17:23:00.000+10:00

Look what I got !!!!

2007-08-13T09:26:00.001+10:00

Im so happy and so relieved i could cry. i was so worried that for some reason they would not give me my British passport. Stupid i know since i am entitled to one but you know, worry over nothing. This was the final obstacle, that would prevent me from moving to be with Scott and to start flying for Virgin Atlantic. YAY!!!

No Sign of it - Natalie Grant

It's a long wait at the gate
just to glimpse your fate
just to see whether it all works out
It's a long road, a heavy load
You gotta really want to go
and just let the others walk around
you now

up and down again
but this time it's different
it took some waiting to straighten
out the bend
In and out of luck
yeah at times it was difficult
I got a new life baby, It takes some getting used to but...

Chorus:
No sign of any rain
My skies are clear today
I keep bracing for that hit
But there's not sign of it.
No obstacles in sight
My skies are clear tonight (My skies are full of light)
I keep thinking I might see that cloud arrive
Oh but there's no sign of it
No sign of it

And as I look around, it's all new ground
the leaves on the trees touch down
But I'm above weightless as a dream
It's been a long road, a heavy load
I just simply had to go
Had to get here hard as it's been

In and out of luck
yeah at times it was difficult
I got a new life baby, it takes some getting
used to but...

drunken weekend

2007-08-13T09:17:00.000+10:00

Me Getting Sloshed already and this was only the first winery

The Whole Gang

My Beloved Team

Had a team building weekend with the team from work. trip up to the hunter valley.. Partners were invited and luckily scott just happened to be here on a trip so he got to come along.

had a fantastic time..... it was my first trip to the Hunter... ended up buying 9 bottles of wine... mostly dessert wine.. somehow i just seem to have a weakness for it when i taste it, its just like lolly water.

we went to 4 wineries for tasting.. dan was well and truely hammered after the 3rd.
got back to the hotel at 5.30pm, and had to meet in the lobby at 7pm for dinner... well, scott and i fell asleep and slept right through the alarm, imagine our shock when we heard a knock on the door at 7.15pm.. eeek!
was fantastic to have a weekend away with the team and to introduce them all to scott. At least scott got to see a bit more of the beauty of australia, and now i think he is beginning to understand why it is a bit hard and sad for me to be leaving it. but then again, ill have him by my side so i know i can get through anything.

facts and figures

2007-08-10T11:08:00.001+10:00

just calculating some figures i thought i would share

18 Hours until i see scott again
48 hours until he leaves again
175 hours until scott arrives for his 2 week holiday

278 working hours left at my current job *(excluding all the extra travel time interstate)
51 days left to go until i leave Flight Centre
54 - 59 days left in Australia

73 days left until i start Cabin Crew training
then after 240 training hours and 43 exams
its only 115 days until i potentially get my wings
117 days until i work my first flight !!!

can you tell im excited. so little time to do so much.

will this be me ?

2007-08-10T10:19:00.000+10:00

Me in 15 weeks !

Scott and I if he tells me off onboard!!

had this song stuck in my head today

2007-08-09T11:27:00.000+10:00

Those schoolboy days of telling tales and biting nails are gone
But in my mind I know they will still live on and on
But how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try

If you wanted the sky
I would write across the sky in letters
That would soar a thousand feet high
`To Sir, With Love'

The time has come for closing books and long last looks must end
And as I leave I know that I am leaving my best friend
A friend who taught me right from wrong and weak from strong
That's a lot to learn, but what can I give you in return?

If you wanted the moon
I would try to make a start
But I would rather you let me give my heart
`To Sir, With Love'

no wonder qantas are seen as crap

2007-08-08T18:18:00.000+10:00

just did online check in for my flight tomorrow night.

i was the first person to check in.... and what seat had they pre-assigned me. 28 bloody F on a 737.

2nd last row window seat.

keep in mind in a freq flyer... ok only silver..but im on aircraft every bloody week (if i flew business class i would be platinum by now) and im the first to check in and 2nd last row is the best they gave me? and i have an aisle seat request.

no bloody wonder i didnt even attempt to work for qantas..... what a crap airline.

at least on Virgin Atlantic they care about their customers esp their freq flyers.

ok, ive had enough of a rant. swapped my seat for a centre seat in the first row. figured that was better than being right down the back.

no rest for the wicked !

2007-08-08T15:22:00.000+10:00

im right back in the thick of things now. feels like i have never left on holidays.
my last 2 months here at work will certainly see me flying around the country.

so far i have my schedule set at

8 - 9 Aug Brisbane
11 - 12 Aug Hunter Valley - scott going to be with me this weekend !! yay !
15 - 17 Aug Melbourne(scott arrives in Australia on 17th for 2 weeks double yay!)
21 Aug Brisbane
28 Aug Adelaide
4 - 6 Sept Brisbane
11 - 13 Sept Melbourne

Finish up at work on 1 Oct and fly out to UK sometime that week. (betting all the VS flights are fully booked !! well naturally, everyone wants to fly the best!)

So much to do in 2 months, so many people to see. Have to move from where im staying into my own house, which has finally completed being renovated...well shower screen still to be installed but minor job. after 4 years of waiting and stressing, its finally done, and im only going to get a month in it before i leave the country. oh well, at least mum will enjoy it. Scott is coming down to help me move. hmm some holiday for him! but he can at least help me decide what to take and what to leave in sydney.

started packing my dvd collection last night... taking out all the dics and putting them in a disc holder.. that holds 96. then taking out the cardboard form the covers and storing them, and giving away my empty dvd cases. man thats a boring task, and i have over 400 dvds. at least scott will never need to go to the video shop again.