Some time ago I wrote a blog about Owls the forum I had joined on SagaZone, since then a small group of us created a new daytime and evening forum, Cuckoos Arms, which basically is a fantasy pub, run by ICE the manager, with a mixture of the strangest staff & customers you could ever meet in life.
Well for example I am the waiter, not very good & keep disappearing but, totally in love with Debbie who also works at the pub.
Well what can I say about “My Debbie” she is the lovely person who calls in each morning to make sure the heat is on, do the cleaning, serving as well as help to test the quality of the gin by drinking pints of it, at a time.
There do seem to be one or two strange things about this sweet innocent person, like why did she not mention these 3 sisters, who by mistake she said were her daughters, on more than one occasion and why does she have the need to tell everyone when she has been drinking that she does not wear underclothes & why does she keep telling people about some of the things I would prefer to remain quiet about the two of us.
But after all she is such a lovely person to me & all the others in the pub & is very tolerant to that Sue.
Yes now what about Sue, a flirtatious person, who is constantly looking for the next man, I feel really she is just looking for that special person, but the constantly going fishing for the person, I feel must be a little off putting to the men, whop come to the pub.
I also think her constant change of allegiance to various men is also confusing for everyone, including the days target, but I also feel sadly there is a degree of jealousy in relation to me & my Debbie which brings out all sorts of negative statements to us both
Now what does Sue do in the pub, well she goes “fishing” but what about serving cooking or cleaning in the pub I am still waiting to see her pour a pint other than maybe one for herself or the man of the day.
What to say about ICE our manager, well first I have to remember she is the boss & I need the job, so that will affect the things I say ever so slightly (well actually a lot but don’t tell her), she doesn’t seem to spend very much time at the pub, but often I do wonder why not given the quality of the staff & the behaviour of the customers, she seems to be particularly drawn to the male customers for some reason & frequently wants quiet chats with them in her office whilst they drink large quantities of alcohol.
She also keeps recruiting new members of staff, again a lot of men but they only seem to last a day or two after she has had them in her office to help her with her spreadsheet, which seems strange because she never asks me to help out with it & she doesn’t seem to look to deeply into their backgrounds before employing them.
If ever there was someone who flirts well ICE deserves medals for it, as she wanders round the men in the pub, but there again in the nicest possible way she also seems to do the same with the lady customers also, which I suppose helps the staff customer relations, I am very happy that she does not flirt with me because what would my Debbie think.
What I cannot understand is that we appear to be constantly running out of staff, food & at times alcohol, plus many of the people do not seem to pay for their drink, in particular if they are invited into ICE’s office, I do worry if she does not spend more time sorting out the pub we will be closed down.
Now how many of the other staff should I mention, in the short time we have been open I have been so confused at the number that have come & gone so I must apologise at not mentioning you all.
I do remember EMLM who actually seemed to be very conscientious, but one day just disappeared, there is Violet who I think is some sort of bar person, or customer, I do worry about the lack of clothes & her suggestive remarks to the male customers, but she seems a nice person, now I think Chukkie was employed as entertainments manager, but where has she got to & what about organising some entertainment other than the fact that the male customers seemed to like her pole dancing.
Now is my friend phizz a customer or a member of staff, we do know she will do anything apparently for a pork pie whether it is cooking serving or spending time entertaining the male customers, but she is a lovely friend to everybody if only she could find someone of her own to share a pork pie with.
What about John at 105, I am still unsure if its his age address or some other link he has not told us, what the relevance is of the 105, again not sure which category he fits in with, seems very nice until he has had, well a “few” drinks then stand back if there are any women about in the pub, I don’t know where he gets the energy from.
Now I have to say I feel very let down by David From Scotland, when we first met he seemed such a nice sort of person & I am sure he will not mind me saying a fellow TOGG, but what has happened now, between the drinking, womanising & abusive remarks to me well I don’t know at all what to say without being sued for libel.
GUC or My Pauly, well the handyman I believe, well he does live round the corner & he is good with provision of our music but most the time he is off flirting with any women or is doing the same at the pub with any of our female customers, though they do seem to like it, when it spends time chatting them up
Now the mysterious Dan, yesterday there was a hint of who he really is, I have always wondered how he could find a plane for a trip at short notice for us to go on holiday & so smooth & debonair, but so nice & kind to us all, but he seems to just drift in & out, with a fairly low profile, maybe the only normal person that comes to the pub, but I have noticed a slight flirtation with the beautiful ICE on occasions & wonder is there something there or is it all part of the illusion, they seem to speak when most of us are gone, maybe I should stay late one night & check it out
There are the customers as well, who seem to spend, so much time chasing each other or drinking huge quantities of alcohol & often not paying for it, I wouldn’t mind if Ididn’t have to clean up after them every day
There are some interesting people who have recently joined like Shoney who is lovely & seems to have something like Debbie’s magic bag (I wonder what it is) must ask some time, then there is JR, Blondie or whatever her real name is, now again, she has like Dan inferred that she is linked to the secret service, how exciting, but what an actress, she seemed a really nice person when she first appeared, but quickly seemed to spend all her time getting drunk apparently & chasing any man who dared to appear in the pub, as I have said to her what an actress she must be, but how does she cope with all the alcohol, when hiding her personality & is something going on in the pub that we don’t know about.
Well folks where do we go from here, we must be doing something right it has already had over 9000 hits from people in the short time it has been running, it seems to have a following of people who watch our antics I am told & a mixture of strange & wonderful people popping in on an occasional basis, Hi Clabby & FF, & all the others I have missed, in the blog
24 Mar 2008
Trip To Spain
Well I have now been back from holiday for a few days, so thought I would just let you know a little back bit about the trip, we went back to the same hotel in the same resort as last March, so it was much easier to 
settle in and sort ourselves out.
One of the dilemmas was because we've taken so many photos last year of all the local sites, apart from some beautiful sunsets and some of Malaga and Nerja there was going to be nothing out of the normal I felt for me to take, I will mention at this point that Brian spent much more time out taking lots of photos, but sadly when he came to download the photos his memory card was corrupted he will have are my boring ones to show to other people.
When I went on holiday when the main things I wanted to do was to chill out and take stock of my life and to try to plan some things for the future, which I suppose I have done although I accept things don't necessarily work out in the way that we choose and fate goes along its own path, so who knows.
Because of our past experience we had the shopping off to a fine art, I knew this time the supermarket was less than five minutes walk away and we had no problems in relation to food in the apartment, Brian had been kind enough to bring me a packet of porridge which was very kind, also we knew of restaurants that we could eat out at with no problem.
For most of the holiday the weather was really good bright and sunny and I spent some time just lazing in the Sun whilst Brian went on his walking trips, I took a good supply of reading material and music which lasted me for the duration of the holiday.
I think it's worthwhile mentioning, bearing in mind the object of the holiday was to chill out, that Brian and I managed to lose each other at the airport when we started out, and also managed to lose Brian's passport on way home which are still not turned up, which was sort of stressful, but also interesting to find how easy or difficult it is to leave one country and return to another one.
We had a day in Malaga which was pleasant but seemed to be a lot of walking, but also went to Nerja which took nearly 6 hours travelling there and back, but in reality without transport there was little that we could see in our short stay there, but I had to admit that the meal there was one of the best, especially the gateau which was a strawberry one with cream that I had whilst I was on holiday.
On our last morning we had an early start, and it was quite ironic that the temperature dropped and it was warmer in England than it was there and the rain they had was much worse than that we normally have, so for a change coming home was quite positive, we realised because of the timing that we could have stayed for another week there because the Easter holidays, but at least it has given a time to rest and recuperate before going back to work.
settle in and sort ourselves out.One of the dilemmas was because we've taken so many photos last year of all the local sites, apart from some beautiful sunsets and some of Malaga and Nerja there was going to be nothing out of the normal I felt for me to take, I will mention at this point that Brian spent much more time out taking lots of photos, but sadly when he came to download the photos his memory card was corrupted he will have are my boring ones to show to other people.
When I went on holiday when the main things I wanted to do was to chill out and take stock of my life and to try to plan some things for the future, which I suppose I have done although I accept things don't necessarily work out in the way that we choose and fate goes along its own path, so who knows.
Because of our past experience we had the shopping off to a fine art, I knew this time the supermarket was less than five minutes walk away and we had no problems in relation to food in the apartment, Brian had been kind enough to bring me a packet of porridge which was very kind, also we knew of restaurants that we could eat out at with no problem.
For most of the holiday the weather was really good bright and sunny and I spent some time just lazing in the Sun whilst Brian went on his walking trips, I took a good supply of reading material and music which lasted me for the duration of the holiday.
I think it's worthwhile mentioning, bearing in mind the object of the holiday was to chill out, that Brian and I managed to lose each other at the airport when we started out, and also managed to lose Brian's passport on way home which are still not turned up, which was sort of stressful, but also interesting to find how easy or difficult it is to leave one country and return to another one.
We had a day in Malaga which was pleasant but seemed to be a lot of walking, but also went to Nerja which took nearly 6 hours travelling there and back, but in reality without transport there was little that we could see in our short stay there, but I had to admit that the meal there was one of the best, especially the gateau which was a strawberry one with cream that I had whilst I was on holiday.
On our last morning we had an early start, and it was quite ironic that the temperature dropped and it was warmer in England than it was there and the rain they had was much worse than that we normally have, so for a change coming home was quite positive, we realised because of the timing that we could have stayed for another week there because the Easter holidays, but at least it has given a time to rest and recuperate before going back to work.
2 Mar 2008
How Not To Organise A Concert Part 2
Well good evening readers, as promised this is the outcome of the concert that I was involved in organising earlier today, was it a total disaster, I leave it to you to decide, on the other hand I suppose there were some very good positives, so here we go, I may want off a little, but I had been on the go since early this morning.
Should I mention the good bits first or last, will start with the bad debts and build up, the first was as I was getting ready to go to the concert and set things up this morning, my phone went and it was a friend of mine I was going to see later, who decided to come and visit, well time passed and eventually I had to remind him that I had things to do, at that point he put it on mini disc decided to buy a ticket which was very kind, but he never turned up at the show, plus I was now starting to run late.
The other thing that will matter as I tell the story was that I had problems transferring the music for the dances, of which there were from cassette to disc, so had put it on mini disc and took along all sorts of connections to fit the sound system.
But when I got there nobody else had arrived, but I met Brian, the manager a kindly set everything up for us just where we asked for it, just then the dancers arrived they were all female young & not called Sever but Fever, I had a feeling it was the first of a long set of problems today, well next the pianist arrived, she wanted the piano moving in front of the curtain, well that was okay but what about the 2 young people who were playing, set pieces, well we reached a compromise.
Now what else could go wrong well our intrepid sound person had got stuck in road works, so I could not try out the music, nor could the dancers, so with heavy heart I went to se how many people were outside queuing up for tickets, you have guessed it none, there were now about 20 performers & no audience, uumm.
Well eventually we set up the sound system & everything worked as it should , but then the 2 principal singers from the operatic society explained they both needed microphones, well you would be impressed with me I managed to sort that one out without to much of a problem.
Well now to the running order I wrote down the various things as instructed by Jackie & we seemed to be on our way, I was on a run I met our two talented young people Matthew & Johanna, & their mum & they seemed very organised. So over to Jackie & let the show begin, Alison & John had very good voices, next was Matthew & Johanna, playing the piano violin then Johanna, dancing, I just wish I was so talented or my children were, we finished the first half with Affetside choir doing their usual beautiful singing.
I forgot to say through all of this Fever dancers were watching & dancing along to the music, in the wings which for me was just as well because I was unable to see the show, due to being curtain person & assistant sound person.
Well in the interval I went to have a look at how things had gone on with ticket sales, well I think the volunteers & entertainers outnumbered the customers 2 to 1, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves & talking to people the various acts had enjoyed the others,
Well all seemed to of settled down we were on a roll, “oh no we were not” we should of started with Johanna doing a dance, well guess who messed up the music & the curtain not once not twice but three times, but I do have to say Johanna was a total professional putting up with me & my deliberate(if only) mistakes, her performance once she started was well worth the wait though.
Now just looking at the timetable I have spotted my next deliberate mistake, now how could anyone forget a choir of 30 people, well I did, then they started & sang & sang, I went out front & really enjoyed the whole set, but I had decided that Jackie was doing her piece & had set the stage for this, but the cue never came, why not, because I had made another minor mistake.
Finally they finished & now back to Johanna & her last set of dancing, well how could I possibly get it wrong after the last time, well opening the curtain may of helped, playing the right piece of music also, who could I blame, well me, but again what a pleasure she was again.
Now you & I would think Jeff you have had a bad run of luck but we are alright now, wrong again, it was finally Jackie’s piece, which she needed a music stand & a microphone on a stand, as well as the radio mike she already had, well what could go wrong well the mike would not work the stand would not take the wider mike so guess who was summoned to stand looking stupid holding the microphone for Jackie for the duration of her song.
Well at long last the lovely young female dancers time came, they were dancing initially to very upbeat music, then a whole range of music in different styles, but the most worrying for me & maybe our sound person was when they wore very! Short skirts for one of the numbers, I have to say at this time my back was aching with all the standing & I thought how wonderful to be so fit & capable as they & Johanna were, in fact I shut my eyes when she & one of the dancers at separate times did the splits.
Finally that was the end, I missed asking people in the audience how it had gone on but felt the applause was a true indication that people had enjoyed themselves.
When I checked we had about broken even with ticket sales against expenses, therefore was it all worthwhile yes of course it was we all enjoyed ourselves
Now for the future, never ever ever have an event on mothers or any other day like that, because this was I feel why we struggled for the acts & audience.
Make sure who is going to perform & get the publicity sorted out very early on.
Make sure that any music or other items are sorted out well before the day
Remember to check the running order & get someone else to assist where their brain works better than mine
Get people to buy tickets well in advance, so that we make a profit at least.
Should I mention the good bits first or last, will start with the bad debts and build up, the first was as I was getting ready to go to the concert and set things up this morning, my phone went and it was a friend of mine I was going to see later, who decided to come and visit, well time passed and eventually I had to remind him that I had things to do, at that point he put it on mini disc decided to buy a ticket which was very kind, but he never turned up at the show, plus I was now starting to run late.
The other thing that will matter as I tell the story was that I had problems transferring the music for the dances, of which there were from cassette to disc, so had put it on mini disc and took along all sorts of connections to fit the sound system.
But when I got there nobody else had arrived, but I met Brian, the manager a kindly set everything up for us just where we asked for it, just then the dancers arrived they were all female young & not called Sever but Fever, I had a feeling it was the first of a long set of problems today, well next the pianist arrived, she wanted the piano moving in front of the curtain, well that was okay but what about the 2 young people who were playing, set pieces, well we reached a compromise.
Now what else could go wrong well our intrepid sound person had got stuck in road works, so I could not try out the music, nor could the dancers, so with heavy heart I went to se how many people were outside queuing up for tickets, you have guessed it none, there were now about 20 performers & no audience, uumm.
Well eventually we set up the sound system & everything worked as it should , but then the 2 principal singers from the operatic society explained they both needed microphones, well you would be impressed with me I managed to sort that one out without to much of a problem.
Well now to the running order I wrote down the various things as instructed by Jackie & we seemed to be on our way, I was on a run I met our two talented young people Matthew & Johanna, & their mum & they seemed very organised. So over to Jackie & let the show begin, Alison & John had very good voices, next was Matthew & Johanna, playing the piano violin then Johanna, dancing, I just wish I was so talented or my children were, we finished the first half with Affetside choir doing their usual beautiful singing.
I forgot to say through all of this Fever dancers were watching & dancing along to the music, in the wings which for me was just as well because I was unable to see the show, due to being curtain person & assistant sound person.
Well in the interval I went to have a look at how things had gone on with ticket sales, well I think the volunteers & entertainers outnumbered the customers 2 to 1, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves & talking to people the various acts had enjoyed the others,
Well all seemed to of settled down we were on a roll, “oh no we were not” we should of started with Johanna doing a dance, well guess who messed up the music & the curtain not once not twice but three times, but I do have to say Johanna was a total professional putting up with me & my deliberate(if only) mistakes, her performance once she started was well worth the wait though.
Now just looking at the timetable I have spotted my next deliberate mistake, now how could anyone forget a choir of 30 people, well I did, then they started & sang & sang, I went out front & really enjoyed the whole set, but I had decided that Jackie was doing her piece & had set the stage for this, but the cue never came, why not, because I had made another minor mistake.
Finally they finished & now back to Johanna & her last set of dancing, well how could I possibly get it wrong after the last time, well opening the curtain may of helped, playing the right piece of music also, who could I blame, well me, but again what a pleasure she was again.
Now you & I would think Jeff you have had a bad run of luck but we are alright now, wrong again, it was finally Jackie’s piece, which she needed a music stand & a microphone on a stand, as well as the radio mike she already had, well what could go wrong well the mike would not work the stand would not take the wider mike so guess who was summoned to stand looking stupid holding the microphone for Jackie for the duration of her song.
Well at long last the lovely young female dancers time came, they were dancing initially to very upbeat music, then a whole range of music in different styles, but the most worrying for me & maybe our sound person was when they wore very! Short skirts for one of the numbers, I have to say at this time my back was aching with all the standing & I thought how wonderful to be so fit & capable as they & Johanna were, in fact I shut my eyes when she & one of the dancers at separate times did the splits.
Finally that was the end, I missed asking people in the audience how it had gone on but felt the applause was a true indication that people had enjoyed themselves.
When I checked we had about broken even with ticket sales against expenses, therefore was it all worthwhile yes of course it was we all enjoyed ourselves
Now for the future, never ever ever have an event on mothers or any other day like that, because this was I feel why we struggled for the acts & audience.
Make sure who is going to perform & get the publicity sorted out very early on.
Make sure that any music or other items are sorted out well before the day
Remember to check the running order & get someone else to assist where their brain works better than mine
Get people to buy tickets well in advance, so that we make a profit at least.
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