A headline I read in the local paper related to the
facility where we saw the pantomime last night – kind of sad: Weymouth
Pavilion in Crisis. According to the Weymouth and Portland Borough Council,
with grants and funding being cut, the city is facing somewhat of a financial
crisis. Their plea is for people to make
use of the authority-owned theatre, which faces closure and demolition because
of increasing maintenance costs, or drastic measures will need to be taken.
‘Use it or lose it’ is the message for supporters of the WP. Jack and the
Beanstalk could be the last panto to be staged there is the theare doesn’t
receive more support. A spokesperson reported that if the populace got behind
the holiday entertainment, which looked to be wonderful, it would give a boost
for any thought that the council could continue to run it. He encouraged people
to go and see this year’s production, showing by the number of tickets sold just
how important the facility is to all the communities in the area.
In my comings and goings today I came upon another
character to populate my world here at the hotel – in fact, saw him first under
the desk in the office. Tony is another handy-type man, just as adept as Jez, I
am learning (whom I called Jazz again last night by accident; I have decided I
am going to think of him in terms of ‘Jez’ebel! –though of course that would be
a woman! But tit for tat, how do you get ‘Jez’ out of 'Jeremiah' anyway?!) Since
Tony was working on computer stuff I brought up the question about my internet conundrum.
How refreshing for someone to finally confirm my suspicions by saying, ‘well,
of course you can’t pick it up – the system is only hooked up to a limited
number of connections. (Loraine at one point had said probably the problem is
in YOUR computer, and I had thought,’ no, that can’t be it’ – though that had
put doubts in my mind.) So nice to know it’s not me – that I am NOT imagining
things..
Which leads me to this next revelation: Way to have your cake and eat it, too! I now
have the room I wanted, to live and sleep in; a second that gets the internet –
the ONLY one that does so consistently- pretty sure it’s located just above the
router); PLUS access to the sole room in the hotel with a bathtub – whenever I
want it. Cheeky, huh?! Or, in another way of looking at it, you could say – am
I loved, or what?! (It’s interesting: I find I keep ‘my office’ at a nice moderate
temperature – not cold, not hot. While, as for my bedroom, I like it fairly
tepid – perfect climate for sleeping, snuggled up cozily in my lovely white
duvet!)
Saw the bump of bumps today – that would be
grandchild number ten, still in utero,
as I had a nice long Skype chat with, and side view of, his mother, Ashley. (He
will be versed in French before he ever comes out!)
Man, did I
have wild plans for my Friday night – to check out the day-old, reduced price
food bargains at M & S (Marks and Spencers to you) – just under a ten
minute walk down the promenade. Oh, boy, was I excited to get out of the house AND
see what little treasures I would come discover! (It was about 645 in the
evening.) Strolled up to the door and .
. . WHAT?! Closed? I had forgotten all
about this crazy English habit of a ridiculously early closing time I had first
encountered in Grimsby. (In Birmingham the major markets I frequented after
dark (that would be approximately the ungodly hour of 445) had incorporated the
big city thing – meaning the usual 9pm closing time we’re used to.) Phooey – that’s
ridiculous! There was only one thing that could ease the pain of my bitter disappointment
– go to see my old friend, Aldi! And that’s just where my little feet took me –
and I KNEW it would be open because I had seen a nice large sign proclaiming this
to all the world the very first day I found it. THEY wanted my business – and
so they GOT it!
Later in the early evening (when I had finally completed
my self-appointed task of making certain that every single room had been inspected
and raised to the proper qualifications, up to snuff and ready to let), I was describing
this and that to Loraine (breathtaking things like, all in all, taking
everything into account, we were all of NINE hand towels short, or that I had
cleaned this major wad of gummy stuff off one of the bathroom floors, which had
to have been there for years, for instance), when I saw her eyes light up. She exclaimed, ‘I know - that’s what you
can do – be the one who makes sure everything is the way it's supposed to be!’
You mean, as in quality control?
‘Yes - that’s it!’ So, in case anybody ever wonders what I’m doing here, just say I am the VP of Quality Control at the Richmoor Hotel – or QC for short! (Because, as Bob Moawad said – and we all know it’s true – ‘Quality begins on the inside...and then works its way out.’)
[Today marks exactly one half of 362 days in paradise . . . and counting!]
You mean, as in quality control?
‘Yes - that’s it!’ So, in case anybody ever wonders what I’m doing here, just say I am the VP of Quality Control at the Richmoor Hotel – or QC for short! (Because, as Bob Moawad said – and we all know it’s true – ‘Quality begins on the inside...and then works its way out.’)
[Today marks exactly one half of 362 days in paradise . . . and counting!]
Photos_
1- headline
from the Dorset Echo: Weymouth Panto
Stars Shocked with Possible Plan to Bulldoze Pavilion
2- le bump
3- will it
be this OR this?
4- QC from
the inside out (you can tell by the angle that the person who took this photo - whose jacket I am wearing - is taller than I am)
5- (Of course, inherent in the notion of quality
control comes the potential for bureaucracy, right?!)
6- simple schematic of our operations – here at the Richmoor we’ve got it down
to an exacting science!
this or . . . this?
