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Mar. 15th, 2007 10:49 pmWas having my usual pre-shift rest and relaxation time in the break area when Sarah #1 and Vanessa appeared and began preparing cakes. They explained that they were setting up a Red Nose cake stall. They filled lots of pastry tart bases with cream and raspberries, and used more cream and raspberries to make meringue cakes. I ended up talking to them about Comic Relief most of the time until the shift started.
Not a good beginning. The very first person I spoke to, an old man who'd made an appointment earlier in the week for us to try him this morning, now told me rather brusquely that he wasn't going to do it, and my powers of persuasion were useless in the face of his tactic of just saying a flat "No" to everything I said.
Came off a call about an hour into the shift to see some of the ladies eating Sarah and Vanessa's cakes, but couldn't see the cakes on display anywhere. I asked Angela where the cake stall was, and she pointed down to the far end of the room, where Sarah works. I loped over there, and was invited to help myself in return for any donation - I put a quid in the box and took one of each cake. There were also a lot of shop-bought goodies on the stall - mini Bakewells, chocolate marshmallows, Clubs and packets of Hula Hoops - so on my next rest break just over an hour later I reasoned that my pound entitled me to seconds. I kept up my Lent chocolate abstinence, contenting myself with a mini Bakewell and a bag of Hula Hoops.
Just after 12.30 I had a second 'cracked appointment' :( This time it was an elderly lady who, despite having agreed on Tuesday to us calling her today, initially just said this wasn't a convenient time but, when I asked her when would be a good time, said "Not at all." I did my best to get her to agree to do it on Saturday or next week, reminding her that (as it does for non-working over-70s) it would only take five minutes - no use. So I asked her why she wanted to drop out; citing her age as the reason, she just wheeled out that old favourite, "I'm not interested."
From ten past two onwards, we were recycling the households we'd got no reply from earlier. Most of them we'd already tried in the last hour or so, so didn't have to be phoned again now, so I spent nearly all the last quarter-hour just typing 'NCTS' (no call, too soon) and hitting Enter. The monotony was broken up by my having to leave answerphone messages for a couple as they hadn't had one since early last week - and at least there was no danger of overrunning today :)
Trevor rang me at tea time, returning the message I'd left on his machine yesterday. I told him I'd be able to make it to Winchester on Sunday and he said "You'll have a wasted journey!" Winchester have scratched from the Invitation Cup, giving the girls a bye into the semis - where they're away to Red Star! With my tight finances, that was the best news possible for me - no game this Sunday and a nice short cheap trip to Hamble the week after. When Trev signed off with "See you Saturday" I broke it to him that I can't make it to the men's game with Newport, thanks to cash shortage and the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth's Ball - Trev said "But we need you!"
We were guests at the Lee Players' performance of Pygmalion this evening. As we neared the community centre, John said to me "It's girlfriend time tonight, isn't it?" - a reference to Amanda from my office, who wasn't in the cast this time but was doing front of house. Before the play and at interval, Rosabella, the producer, came over to us to say hello and bring us cups of coffee. When I mentioned that this would be the last production of theirs we'd be coming to as Mayor, she asked us to please carry on coming to their shows, so I said I'd buy a ticket for their summer production, and Rosabella said to me "Why don't you become a Patron? You get a free ticket to all the shows, and it works out cheaper than buying individual tickets if you come to all three." (They do three productions a year.) I promised to think about it and she said she'd send us the bumf on their Patrons scheme. When we talked again at the interval, she told us about their summer play, The Enquiry. It sounds really interesting, but a little thought had been nagging me - the dates of last year's summer production correspond to the time this year that I'll be in Åland. Checking the dates with Rosabella, sure enough, I'll be on holiday when The Enquiry is on :( so I promised to become a Patron in time for the production after that, in November.
I'd never seen Pygmalion itself before; the play was very good and the cast put it across well, even if we heard an awful lot of the prompter. The undoubted star of the show was Karen Duffy, who turned in a fine performance as Eliza Doolittle. I remarked to Rosabella at the interval how well Karen was doing, and she said Karen was a joy to work with - and that it was only the second play she'd done, and her first lead role. And the man sat behind my mother turned out to be Karen's dad.
The show ended a quarter of an hour later than John had been told; when we finally arrived at the Mayoral car, he said to me that he'd started to think I was having an assignation with Amanda...
Not a good beginning. The very first person I spoke to, an old man who'd made an appointment earlier in the week for us to try him this morning, now told me rather brusquely that he wasn't going to do it, and my powers of persuasion were useless in the face of his tactic of just saying a flat "No" to everything I said.
Came off a call about an hour into the shift to see some of the ladies eating Sarah and Vanessa's cakes, but couldn't see the cakes on display anywhere. I asked Angela where the cake stall was, and she pointed down to the far end of the room, where Sarah works. I loped over there, and was invited to help myself in return for any donation - I put a quid in the box and took one of each cake. There were also a lot of shop-bought goodies on the stall - mini Bakewells, chocolate marshmallows, Clubs and packets of Hula Hoops - so on my next rest break just over an hour later I reasoned that my pound entitled me to seconds. I kept up my Lent chocolate abstinence, contenting myself with a mini Bakewell and a bag of Hula Hoops.
Just after 12.30 I had a second 'cracked appointment' :( This time it was an elderly lady who, despite having agreed on Tuesday to us calling her today, initially just said this wasn't a convenient time but, when I asked her when would be a good time, said "Not at all." I did my best to get her to agree to do it on Saturday or next week, reminding her that (as it does for non-working over-70s) it would only take five minutes - no use. So I asked her why she wanted to drop out; citing her age as the reason, she just wheeled out that old favourite, "I'm not interested."
From ten past two onwards, we were recycling the households we'd got no reply from earlier. Most of them we'd already tried in the last hour or so, so didn't have to be phoned again now, so I spent nearly all the last quarter-hour just typing 'NCTS' (no call, too soon) and hitting Enter. The monotony was broken up by my having to leave answerphone messages for a couple as they hadn't had one since early last week - and at least there was no danger of overrunning today :)
Trevor rang me at tea time, returning the message I'd left on his machine yesterday. I told him I'd be able to make it to Winchester on Sunday and he said "You'll have a wasted journey!" Winchester have scratched from the Invitation Cup, giving the girls a bye into the semis - where they're away to Red Star! With my tight finances, that was the best news possible for me - no game this Sunday and a nice short cheap trip to Hamble the week after. When Trev signed off with "See you Saturday" I broke it to him that I can't make it to the men's game with Newport, thanks to cash shortage and the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth's Ball - Trev said "But we need you!"
We were guests at the Lee Players' performance of Pygmalion this evening. As we neared the community centre, John said to me "It's girlfriend time tonight, isn't it?" - a reference to Amanda from my office, who wasn't in the cast this time but was doing front of house. Before the play and at interval, Rosabella, the producer, came over to us to say hello and bring us cups of coffee. When I mentioned that this would be the last production of theirs we'd be coming to as Mayor, she asked us to please carry on coming to their shows, so I said I'd buy a ticket for their summer production, and Rosabella said to me "Why don't you become a Patron? You get a free ticket to all the shows, and it works out cheaper than buying individual tickets if you come to all three." (They do three productions a year.) I promised to think about it and she said she'd send us the bumf on their Patrons scheme. When we talked again at the interval, she told us about their summer play, The Enquiry. It sounds really interesting, but a little thought had been nagging me - the dates of last year's summer production correspond to the time this year that I'll be in Åland. Checking the dates with Rosabella, sure enough, I'll be on holiday when The Enquiry is on :( so I promised to become a Patron in time for the production after that, in November.
I'd never seen Pygmalion itself before; the play was very good and the cast put it across well, even if we heard an awful lot of the prompter. The undoubted star of the show was Karen Duffy, who turned in a fine performance as Eliza Doolittle. I remarked to Rosabella at the interval how well Karen was doing, and she said Karen was a joy to work with - and that it was only the second play she'd done, and her first lead role. And the man sat behind my mother turned out to be Karen's dad.
The show ended a quarter of an hour later than John had been told; when we finally arrived at the Mayoral car, he said to me that he'd started to think I was having an assignation with Amanda...
