My final day working for Kirklees Council on their market as Father Christmas. I once again got the 9am train to Dewsbury, and was pleased to see my old Credit Union colleague Simon Brereton and headed towards the market and it's little building with the office upstairs and the grotto downstairs. The temperature sign on the nearby building said -8 C when I arrived, but during the day it got the sun on it and slowly went up, to -6, -3, -1, then -0 which surprised me, and then 0 and for a short time, up to 8 C, but it soon fell again when the sun went away, and by 3.30 pm it was below zero again. In reality, where we were, it never rose above freezing.
However, despite it being cold, I enjoyed my day... it was quiet enough to be almost boring, but the occasional visitor made it just worthwhile. I got on well with my 'Santa's Little Helper' or 'Mrs. Claus', Trish, and we had some good conversations. At the end of the day, at 3.30, I gave her some pea beans I happened to have with me.
An uneventful ride home, had to change trains in Leeds though. I cycled home as quickly as possible.
Gill had made tomato soup for tea and this was delicious, really delicious!
A quiet evening.
Showing posts with label Dewsbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dewsbury. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Saturday 18th December 10
Another early start for me, as due to be in Dewsbury for 10ish, so I got the 8.58 train and chatted with a nice couple, students, heading back to her home village of Giggleswick for a few days over Christmas.
Dewsbury was quite snowy and very cold... there is a big building near the market with a digital display and as well as the time and date, it shows the temperature, which was -7 Celsius, and during the day it got no warmer than -5 C. However, I was in a grotto which had a little electrical fan heater, which kept it slightly warmer, but the grotto was open to the elements and was I think at or below freezing all day. A local animal petting place called Ponderosa supplied two Reindeer, which attracted a bit of attention.
But I did 10.30 til 12.30, and was due to restart at 1pm but was called down as a queue had developed. And I worked on through the afternoon, coming to the doorway when the place was quiet, to wave at passers by and try to attract family groups over to hand their £2.50 per child to have an audience with Santa and be given a pre-wrapped present. Towards the end of the day we had two incidents. Firstly, a woman appeared who had brought an 18 month old girl and a 3 year old boy in, either last week or earlier today, and she had both their presents. The boy had got a board game based on bingo, and the girl a pottery VW campervan moneybox. She was complaining that these weren't appropriate. The woman in charge of me, Trish, dealt with the complaint and gave the complainer her money back. Then at about 3pm, half an hour before our finish time, the rickety fan heater got knocked by my flowing robes and fell on it's front, and burst into flames! The grotto filled with smoke, Trish unplugged it and put the fire out (not sure how) and went to get one of the bosses. This person said that we should finish early as the room was stinking of burnt plastic and kids shouldn't go in there. So I went to get changed and set off for the station at about 3.20.
I dozed on the train as I was very cold, and got into York at about 4.30. My bike chain had been jumping so I decided to pop in to Cycle Heaven to book my bike in for some work... but amazingly, they said I could leave it there and pick it up at 6pm if I wanted. So I borrowed a shop bike and sped round to Peter and Jenny's house, where they were having a party. I explained to them that I'd have to go in less than an hour... but was very grateful of the warm 'port in a storm' which I needed, as I was still cold from the day working in sub-zero temperatures. I had a couple of mugs of home-made mulled cider, the cider was home made from apple concentrate apparently, and two delicious mince pies. This, plus the conversation, all worked to elevate my mood.
At 5.50 I got the bike and cycled back to Cycle Heaven. They'd found that the jumping chain was due to a stiff link in the chain, but whilst finding this, they'd found my pannier rack was not fixed properly, it had broken, and needed replacing. However, this would take another half hour, and the shop was shutting, so could I pick it up tomorrow? I explained that I was going up to Masham tomorrow but should be able to pick it up on Monday, on the way to Huddersfield.
So I cycled home on the shop bike. There was a parcel waiting for me, from Rory in Canada.... he'd found a jester hat, a stripy cap, stripy socks, stripy jumper thing and stripy waistcoat. Oh Wow! A costume rejuvenation! Not sure how I'll use the cap, but all the other things either will or could come in useful, and I love the socks and waistcoat. I have no idea what I've done to deserve this from Rory, but it moves me that he has sent this, and several other gifts.
I had a quiet evening as the rest of the family were watching some dance thing in the other room, and I couldn't get Tracey Smith's radio show to play on Apple am. Never mind, I kept myself occupied and had a reasonable evening.
Dewsbury was quite snowy and very cold... there is a big building near the market with a digital display and as well as the time and date, it shows the temperature, which was -7 Celsius, and during the day it got no warmer than -5 C. However, I was in a grotto which had a little electrical fan heater, which kept it slightly warmer, but the grotto was open to the elements and was I think at or below freezing all day. A local animal petting place called Ponderosa supplied two Reindeer, which attracted a bit of attention.
But I did 10.30 til 12.30, and was due to restart at 1pm but was called down as a queue had developed. And I worked on through the afternoon, coming to the doorway when the place was quiet, to wave at passers by and try to attract family groups over to hand their £2.50 per child to have an audience with Santa and be given a pre-wrapped present. Towards the end of the day we had two incidents. Firstly, a woman appeared who had brought an 18 month old girl and a 3 year old boy in, either last week or earlier today, and she had both their presents. The boy had got a board game based on bingo, and the girl a pottery VW campervan moneybox. She was complaining that these weren't appropriate. The woman in charge of me, Trish, dealt with the complaint and gave the complainer her money back. Then at about 3pm, half an hour before our finish time, the rickety fan heater got knocked by my flowing robes and fell on it's front, and burst into flames! The grotto filled with smoke, Trish unplugged it and put the fire out (not sure how) and went to get one of the bosses. This person said that we should finish early as the room was stinking of burnt plastic and kids shouldn't go in there. So I went to get changed and set off for the station at about 3.20.
I dozed on the train as I was very cold, and got into York at about 4.30. My bike chain had been jumping so I decided to pop in to Cycle Heaven to book my bike in for some work... but amazingly, they said I could leave it there and pick it up at 6pm if I wanted. So I borrowed a shop bike and sped round to Peter and Jenny's house, where they were having a party. I explained to them that I'd have to go in less than an hour... but was very grateful of the warm 'port in a storm' which I needed, as I was still cold from the day working in sub-zero temperatures. I had a couple of mugs of home-made mulled cider, the cider was home made from apple concentrate apparently, and two delicious mince pies. This, plus the conversation, all worked to elevate my mood.
At 5.50 I got the bike and cycled back to Cycle Heaven. They'd found that the jumping chain was due to a stiff link in the chain, but whilst finding this, they'd found my pannier rack was not fixed properly, it had broken, and needed replacing. However, this would take another half hour, and the shop was shutting, so could I pick it up tomorrow? I explained that I was going up to Masham tomorrow but should be able to pick it up on Monday, on the way to Huddersfield.
So I cycled home on the shop bike. There was a parcel waiting for me, from Rory in Canada.... he'd found a jester hat, a stripy cap, stripy socks, stripy jumper thing and stripy waistcoat. Oh Wow! A costume rejuvenation! Not sure how I'll use the cap, but all the other things either will or could come in useful, and I love the socks and waistcoat. I have no idea what I've done to deserve this from Rory, but it moves me that he has sent this, and several other gifts.
I had a quiet evening as the rest of the family were watching some dance thing in the other room, and I couldn't get Tracey Smith's radio show to play on Apple am. Never mind, I kept myself occupied and had a reasonable evening.
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Saturday 11th December 10
A disturbed night. Gill discovered that she was losing a lot of blood in the night and rang the out of hours GP service; they said go to Accident and Emergency. So she got a taxi and went in, but was back by 4am and I'm not sure what they did, if anything.
I got up at 7.30, to be heading off out of the house at 8.30 to go to Dewsbury. Gill had got up at 7am and made sandwiches for me, and plaited my hair which I can't do for myself... I got off in enough time to get the 8.58. The carriage I got on had a party of 9 Geordie women, all related, off to Manchester for their annual Christmas bash... shopping, a night out, good times. They were drinking Champaigne and eating fancy chocolates and biscuits... the party had already started. One of the women, Pink, chatted with me and expressed her desire to be less acquisitive, less materialistic. At one stage of the journey she suggested to the group that they ought to only give each other Christmas presents every 5 years. I enjoyed this 'people-watching' time.
I dragged myself away at Dewsbury and the Market Office was quite close to the station, about 5 minutes walk... I'd memorised the route last night on Googlemaps. The grotto was right next to the office, and the Kirklees Council team had brought the Santa Claus costume, so at 10.30 I got started... sitting in the grotto, with kiddies and their families being ushered in, for £2.50 per child, to have an audience with Santa, and a wrapped present.
It was fairly constant, with not many gaps, and I enjoyed it almost as much as the walkabout next week. The most interesting thing this time was the number of Asian customers, many obviously Muslim. This was curious, and my questions like 'are you all ready for Christmas?' were quite often met with a 'no', as they don't celebrate it. But the children are growing up in a culture with images of Father Christmas, so of course they want to experience it. I love our multicultural society. On a couple of occasions when talking with these people, I said I enjoyed Eid, which seemed to go down well.
There was one incident which was a bit disturbing. A pair of women came in right at the end of the day, with a 3 or 4 year old daughter, and one of the women's Dads. He was either drunk, or unwell in some way, and was very controlling, verging on the aggressive. At one stage he tried to sit or crouch down next to my chair, and fell backwards. He said he hadn't been out for 11 days and mentioned that he had diabetes. He also tried to grab and move the child but the mother wasn't having it and stopped him, told him off. It was by far the most difficult visit.
But this was quite close to 3.30, my finish time. I actually worked til 3.40, as the Harry Potter RoadShow finished at 3.30 and I got a few visitors after that.
But I got changed and away to the station for the 4.07 train, and I switched my phone back on and dozed. I tried to send Gill a text but for some reason it wouldn't send. Then I got a phone call from Ashley, one of our friends from primary school days. She'd taken Gill into hospital at midday and the boys were with her. She suggested that I might go to Ward 22 to see Gill, and then come to collect the boys.
So I cycled to the hospital and found Gill, who was in good humour, on her feet, and helping to look after another admission who kept threatening to get out of her bed. Gill told me the doctors didn't know what to do with her, whether to endoscope her to find the source of the bleeding, or something else. Gill told me to get back to the kids and to put £10 on her phone using a card in the hospital shop.
So I did that, and then cycled all the way along the Route 66 cycle path which was mega slippy along to Melrosegate, up Green Dykes Lane, down into Heslington, picked up a good load of logs, and then up Windmill Lane to Ashley and Paul's. The boys were pleased to see me, and had been impeccably behaved, even helping to break up ice on the path outside the house.
I thanked Ashley for all her help, and walked back with the boys. They went onto the computers and I lit the stoves, heated water for pasta, washed up, cooked squash, onion and tomato with herbs, and then boiled carrot, celery and pasta, and those two dishes were adequate for tea, eating at 8pm.
Before bed, we had 2 games of consequences, one a picture game with the theme of robots (good suggestion from our youngest) and then a story consequences which filled 3 sides of A4... meaning that each of us wrote 3 chunks of fiction making 3 funny stories.
Wheat sacks were warmed, hot water bottles filled, hot drinks downed, and they went to bed with no problems whatsoever. Magic!
I then washed up, put the logs in the front and bike away, watched a programme on body language and went to bed at my normal time.
I look forward to finding out what is happening to Gill tomorrow, and if she's in hospital all day, we might go in and see her...
I got up at 7.30, to be heading off out of the house at 8.30 to go to Dewsbury. Gill had got up at 7am and made sandwiches for me, and plaited my hair which I can't do for myself... I got off in enough time to get the 8.58. The carriage I got on had a party of 9 Geordie women, all related, off to Manchester for their annual Christmas bash... shopping, a night out, good times. They were drinking Champaigne and eating fancy chocolates and biscuits... the party had already started. One of the women, Pink, chatted with me and expressed her desire to be less acquisitive, less materialistic. At one stage of the journey she suggested to the group that they ought to only give each other Christmas presents every 5 years. I enjoyed this 'people-watching' time.
I dragged myself away at Dewsbury and the Market Office was quite close to the station, about 5 minutes walk... I'd memorised the route last night on Googlemaps. The grotto was right next to the office, and the Kirklees Council team had brought the Santa Claus costume, so at 10.30 I got started... sitting in the grotto, with kiddies and their families being ushered in, for £2.50 per child, to have an audience with Santa, and a wrapped present.
It was fairly constant, with not many gaps, and I enjoyed it almost as much as the walkabout next week. The most interesting thing this time was the number of Asian customers, many obviously Muslim. This was curious, and my questions like 'are you all ready for Christmas?' were quite often met with a 'no', as they don't celebrate it. But the children are growing up in a culture with images of Father Christmas, so of course they want to experience it. I love our multicultural society. On a couple of occasions when talking with these people, I said I enjoyed Eid, which seemed to go down well.
There was one incident which was a bit disturbing. A pair of women came in right at the end of the day, with a 3 or 4 year old daughter, and one of the women's Dads. He was either drunk, or unwell in some way, and was very controlling, verging on the aggressive. At one stage he tried to sit or crouch down next to my chair, and fell backwards. He said he hadn't been out for 11 days and mentioned that he had diabetes. He also tried to grab and move the child but the mother wasn't having it and stopped him, told him off. It was by far the most difficult visit.
But this was quite close to 3.30, my finish time. I actually worked til 3.40, as the Harry Potter RoadShow finished at 3.30 and I got a few visitors after that.
But I got changed and away to the station for the 4.07 train, and I switched my phone back on and dozed. I tried to send Gill a text but for some reason it wouldn't send. Then I got a phone call from Ashley, one of our friends from primary school days. She'd taken Gill into hospital at midday and the boys were with her. She suggested that I might go to Ward 22 to see Gill, and then come to collect the boys.
So I cycled to the hospital and found Gill, who was in good humour, on her feet, and helping to look after another admission who kept threatening to get out of her bed. Gill told me the doctors didn't know what to do with her, whether to endoscope her to find the source of the bleeding, or something else. Gill told me to get back to the kids and to put £10 on her phone using a card in the hospital shop.
So I did that, and then cycled all the way along the Route 66 cycle path which was mega slippy along to Melrosegate, up Green Dykes Lane, down into Heslington, picked up a good load of logs, and then up Windmill Lane to Ashley and Paul's. The boys were pleased to see me, and had been impeccably behaved, even helping to break up ice on the path outside the house.
I thanked Ashley for all her help, and walked back with the boys. They went onto the computers and I lit the stoves, heated water for pasta, washed up, cooked squash, onion and tomato with herbs, and then boiled carrot, celery and pasta, and those two dishes were adequate for tea, eating at 8pm.
Before bed, we had 2 games of consequences, one a picture game with the theme of robots (good suggestion from our youngest) and then a story consequences which filled 3 sides of A4... meaning that each of us wrote 3 chunks of fiction making 3 funny stories.
Wheat sacks were warmed, hot water bottles filled, hot drinks downed, and they went to bed with no problems whatsoever. Magic!
I then washed up, put the logs in the front and bike away, watched a programme on body language and went to bed at my normal time.
I look forward to finding out what is happening to Gill tomorrow, and if she's in hospital all day, we might go in and see her...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
