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Preparedness for when
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Safely back with just the essentials; bread, chocolate and toiletries.
pumpkinlife, my job provides a service 10 hours per day on weekdays but on weekends, public hols and before and after we're open, our colleagues on the after-hours service takes over. So they have a settled work pattern, and we have a settled work pattern. I'm grateful, as oscilating work patterns are particularly harmful to health. I've also worked a 6 day a week job with 06.00 starts for the weekdays and 04.30 am starts on Saturday. It certainly takes it out of you.
I once worked what had been the 2-10 (pm) shift in a factory but the beggars had made it a 2.30-10 pm shift to get our of paying "shift allowance". My Dad did shift-work when we were very young, as the extra money was badly-needed.
All these allowances seem to have gone by the by, don't they?
Goldiegirl, don't you think getting about-to-board passengers to sign off that they haven't been ill before boarding the cruise ship is about butt-covering for the company? Are many people likely to admit to the gippy tums/ steaming colds if it means forgoing the holiday? I doubt it!
Happy Solstice everybody!Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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pumpkinlife wrote: »Incidentally, a few years ago it was generally accepted that you would get some recompense for working antisocial hours. Now it seems that it is considered just another day...no rest for the wicked.
It was pistols at dawn as the Christmas and New Year rotas were positively fought over :eek:0 -
Happy SATURNALIA everyone, runs from 17th to 25th December, MAR will know!!!0
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Goldiegirl, don't you think getting about-to-board passengers to sign off that they haven't been ill before boarding the cruise ship is about butt-covering for the company? Are many people likely to admit to the gippy tums/ steaming colds if it means forgoing the holiday? I doubt it!
To give cruise companies their due, they are very hot with on board hygiene and the prevention of the spread of germs.
The idea is, with the pre boarding questionnaire, that if you have to tick 'yes' to any other the health questions, you are then assessed by the doctor - if you are deemed fit to board then you can proceed with your holiday.
But as you say, the weakness in any system like that is the people completing the forms, and people can be less than truthful if they think they might lose their holiday (if the worst happened, they'd have to claim on their holiday insurance to reclaim the money)
I'd like to see some sort of sanction on people who lie on forms - maybe a life ban from the cruise company, or even legal action against them.
Once on board, you are constantly reminded about hygiene hand washing etc, and you are hand gelled before you get on the ship and before going to the buffet or restaurant.
If there is a noro outbreak various measures are put into place, for example closing the buffet, or cancelling parties where large groups of people would get together.
It's not unknown for deep cleaning of a ship to happen when it returns to Southampton.
I do think the cruise companies take the issues seriously ....but as with many things, the weak link in the chain is the general public!Early retired - 18th December 2014
If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough0 -
I must admit, a cruise ship, even without bugs and having to disinfect your hands every five minutes is something I would go out of my way to avoid
Each to their own though
Just been to Sainsbugs and W*itrose (I had some vouchers I wanted to use up, so decided to get some of the Christmas food there - I am more of a L*dl's kind of girl at heart). I was surprised how quiet it was considering it is the weekend before Christmas. It was easy to park (they are across the road from each other), and there was only one person in each store in front of me in the checkout queue. This was between about 11 am and midday, so not massively early. Perhaps it really is quieter this year in retail, even in our busy little town - other years it has been completely manic.
If anything Waitrose was the busier of the two :think:0 -
Winter Solstice today I think - shortest day, then the world turns back to the sun
It most certainly is the shortest day, Yule and my wedding anniversary. It was said that getting married on the shortest day/longest night meant that if you survived the darkest times, then better, lighter, brighter times were ahead.
Thank you all for the info on 'Mr Sands'. It is all very interesting and something I shall pay attention for in future.
GQ makes a very valid point as to surviving an incident and looking out for one another directly after. If you are ever unfortnate enough to be caught up in something and are safe, please pay attention to anyone NOT making a sound. This often a sign of shock/heart issues/head issues and they need looking after. If someone can scream and move around, they are breathing and can be left for a bit while other potentially more injured folks are cared for.Spam Reporter Extraordinaire
A star from Sue-UU is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day!
:staradmin:staradmin:staradmin0 -
Enjoy your break, WCS, and may the weather be benign and the yarn be plentiful and bargainous.
A chance conversation a few weeks ago with a shopkeeper pal, drew my mind to something I haven't even thought of for years; mid week day/ half day closing.
Can you imagine, if you're under thirty; shops used to routinely close for half a day midweek. And they sometimes closed half-way thru a Saturday. And weren't open on Sundays at all.
Unbelievable, isn't it? How backwards. I'm not yet 50 and I can remember this, and I've never lived in a particularly pious region where churchgoing was the norm rather than the exception.
And, guess what? Business was still conducted, people managed to make profits, food, clothing, hardware and miscellanous goods were sucessfully bought.
I've decided that my New Year's resolution will be to Shop Less Often. After all, time is one thing you can never save, bank or recover once it is lost.
Still some of the older shops/farm shops close around here. One refuses to open on Sundays as its family run and they all go to church. I remember a year or few back Christmas eve fell on a Sunday, so I went up on the Saturday and was suprised that although busy it wasn't heaving as normal. Now most years they opened extra hours on Christmas eve and if it was one of the half days/shut days (mon and wed) they would open specially. BUT all the locals knew they wouldn't open on Christmas eve on a Sunday. They had in fact also put signs up for the fortnight before.
Chatting as I bought my stuff they confirmed it was quieter than usual, but they reckoned all the regulars had been in so it would be the rest who assumed they would open Sunday like the big stores that would be left trying to fight around the local mr T et al to get their veggies. Some people seem to use the supermarket 51 weeks of the year, then decide to use the farm shop Christmas week, do they think its quieter/easier/quicker/better quality so worth the trip at crimbo?-who knows.
I am only in my early 40's and remember clearly the WHOLE of town shutting down half days on wednesday.
Ali x"Overthinking every little thing
Acknowledge the bell you cant unring"0 -
In the wake of the theatre accident, I vow to keep a small but very bright torch in my handbag at all times .....
We are going over to Ireland on the ferry for a few days after Christmas, and I really can't bring myself to book the overnight, cheaper crossing. The thought of anything happening at sea is awful enough (keeping fingers crossed for a smooth crossing as I am not a good sailor), but the thought of it happening in the dark is truly frightening to me. Luckily enough we have sufficient time off (self-employed!!) to make the travelling days part of our short holiday.
Wishing all my fellow preppers a joyful and light-filled Solstice (and happy wedding anniversary to Wyre).0 -
GQ makes a very valid point as to surviving an incident and looking out for one another directly after. If you are ever unfortnate enough to be caught up in something and are safe, please pay attention to anyone NOT making a sound. This often a sign of shock/heart issues/head issues and they need looking after. If someone can scream and move around, they are breathing and can be left for a bit while other potentially more injured folks are cared for.
When I was taught first aid (by a senior fire officer, no less, fascinating stories he had to tell) we were told that the screamers in a crisis are not the ones you ought to be focussing on first.
It's the people who are quiet or unconscious who need the most urgent care. Also, as a person with a hidden but potentially life-threatening medical condition I wear a warning bracelet, SOS Talisman. There is also MedicAlert. This warning jewellery is also available in the form of a pendant necklace and some people carry medical warning cards in their wallets (I do, as am steroid-dependant).
So, if you have a casualty at hand, look out for these things as first aiders and paramedics are trained to do, as acting on their information is quite possibly the difference between life and death.
Also, even if you don't have any first aid training or supplies, never forget that simply holding a frightened person's hand and talking to them comfortingly can be priceless in an emergency.
My big tough fire officer told us how he'd been injured on a shout and knocked semi-conscious at the scene. He was flat on the ground, he couldn't see or move, but he could hear and he was so grateful for the fellow officer who stayed with him, held his hand, kept telling him it would be OK. And he was Mr Macho and did heroic stuff every month, and he was prepared to admit he'd been terrified and needed to be comforted.
Always be very careful to keep the words calm and positive around a casualty, because the sense of hearing is the last to go down and the first to come back up again, and people need to be reassured as much as possible that it will be OK soon or they could die of the side-effects of their fear. You might be horrified by how their injury looks, but you need to keep calm.
Something to consider if you should ever be unfortunate enough to be caught up in what appears to be a bombing, is not to run towards what may turn out to be a secondary device. If you've survived the immediate disaster and it may have been a bomb, and you aren't in imminent peril from falling things or burning things, you might be best to stay put and wait for assistance, and give what assistance you can to others, depending on your circumstances.
I sincerely hope that none of us find ourselves in such a position, but stuff just happens. I used to have a little multi-drop delivery job and ended up giving first aid, and having to take over a scary accident scene (car afire and fuel running down road from another car in crash towards the on already well alight) no less than three times in 10 months.
The emergency doctor, fire brigade and full ambulance got there within 10 minnutes but, even though we were on the edge of town and only 1.5 miles from the fire station, me and some others had to get a woman driver out of a burning car. If we'd've stood around wringing our hands, she would probably have died rather than ended up with only shock and bruising.
Sometimes, we regular joes and josephines have to be the cavalry, at least for a little while.Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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I wonder i my chickies are feeling the turn of the season so to speak as we had only been getting 2-3 eggs a day then earlier in the week OH reported 4 then 5 and today was 6, one for every girl. Could do with doing some serious baking for crimbo to get rid of the pile of eggs I now have, but still not feeling right as yet.
OH picked our turkey up today. He wasn't sure what the type was, just knew it was black not white. Have confirmed now they are Norfolk Black pure breeds, which is why they were so old. They had a lovey time running around a field, scrumping apples, jumping and flapping around and you can clearly see on the bird this extra movement. The wings and legs are huge. TBH its such a big bird (20lbs in weight) that its still got quite a big breast, but its definately a leaner less bulky shape to the normal supermarket birds. I suppose its like looking at an athelete compared to a couch potato. You can see the bird had a good and natural life. Really looking forward to it. Going to spend some time looking up leftover recipes though as there will be loads.
Wasn't sure how long it would keep fresh, but the owners confirm they always keep their birds in the outhouse with wetted teatowels-rewetted each day for a week before Christmas and that the frsh birds in the big stores will be at least a week old by the time they hit the shelves.
They also said to watch cooking times as the traditional bird cooks alot faster than the modern one, in fact they said almost half the time.
Also got all the giblets, not sure about the liver, which is quite big, But OH quite likes liver, or the cats will get a crimbo treat. The other bits will go in the baking tray with some veg and the bird to make some tasty juices for the gravy.
DD1 wanted to do the last of the food shop with me and said about going christmas eve, but think with the storm and the last min hussle I will talk her into going tomorrow or Monday (prob Mon as farm shop shut Sun).
Almost fell for last min crimbo hype as felt perhaps the present piles might not be too big this year, but they are getting a "big" pressie each they asked for, plus a few smallies and I will fill a stocking with the various bits and chocs I have stashed away. Decided what with both sets of grandparent pressies, plus aunties and uncles they will have enough.
Also have rationalised the shopping list and with being ill haven't been able to pick up extra treats when out shopping lol.
Feeling a bit better, but not right yet lol.
Ali x"Overthinking every little thing
Acknowledge the bell you cant unring"0
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