Singing at a lights switch on

Posted on November 16, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Christmas, Christmas lights switch on, Fun, Music, Queue, Singing, traffic chaos4 Comments

Our choir sang at the switch on of Christmas lights tonight. We sang for about twenty minutes and included traditional carols and other seasonal songs.

The only problem though was the traffic! It felt like hundreds of cars were on the way to the venue. Everyone was driving in the right hand lane as we had to turn right at a roundabout onto the venue. Our choir leader had a asked for designated parking, but was told there would be plenty of spaces. Unfortunately half the city seemed to be fighting for them!

We were dropped off while my friend went to find somewhere to park the car. We had to fight our way through a packed crowd to get to the stage, so when we had finished our set we decided to listen to a couple of songs from the next act, then get going. Unfortunately this meant walking to the far end of the site and climbing over a low fence. When we finally made it to the car all the vehicles around us were in a stationary queue. The cars were moving a foot or two every few minutes. I think we would still be there if a man controlling the traffic explained there was a back road off the site! It took us one and a quarter hours to drive 400 yards!

Despite the traffic chaos, I think we did a great job, we were well appreciated and I’m glad we did it.

Phone numbers

Posted on August 21, 2023August 21, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged call centre, Life, options, organising, Phone, Queue, ring, telephone, Waiting4 Comments

How do I arrange transport to a hospital appointment?

Rang the doctors.. Ring 01……..

I rang 01…….this is not the right number, we don’t cover that area. Ring 02……

So I rang 02….for A dial 1, for B dial 2 for C dial 3 etc…

Selected 3…..yes we can help but we don’t transport people in the afternoon. Please try and rearrange your appointment.

What number do I ring? 04……

Rang 04……..for blah you need to ring 05……

Patience running out…

Rang 05……for blah press 1, for blah blah press 2….

Pressed 2, you are number 6 in the queue. We are extremely busy and it may take up to 45 minutes to answer your call, if you are on hold for longer than that you may be cut off….

You are number 3 in the queue…. You are number 1 in the queue.

Good afternoon, how can I help? My appointment is on Wednesday afternoon but transport don’t do late afternoon appointments as they might not be able to take me home.

OK let’s rearrange that. I have an appointment for eight weeks time?

I might be better by then.

I can offer you one tomorrow but transport might not be able to arrange things at short notice.

I’ll have the eight week one but I might not need transport by then.

Tried ringing transport 05…….

Ten minutes later… I’ll try in the morning!

The Queue for the Queen

Posted on September 17, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Black ink fine line pen, Death, Drawing, funeral, Life, public, Queen, Queue, Sadness, Sketching, Sorrow, state funeralLeave a comment

The Queen is lying in state in Westminster Hall with Guards at each corner of the dias where her coffin sits draped in the Royal standard. She has been there since Thursday and the public are filing past in solemn mourning. A queue up to five miles long as been moving slowly through London while people wait to view the Monarch. The start of the queue was suspended for a while as there were too many people joining it. At one stage they were saying it would take twenty two hours to reach Westminster Hall. It is continuing to move night and day, and will run until the last people are allowed to view the lying in state at six thirty am on Monday 19th September. After that the queue will be closed and will have to disperse because the State Funeral will take place. Such a sad and solemn occasion.

Quiet, like a Sunday….

Posted on March 24, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1960's, 1970's, Birdsong, Cars, Memories, Park, Queue, Quiet, Rush hour, Silence, Street, Sunday, TrafficLeave a comment

DSC_2461_optimized (2)

I wrote a long piece about this, then I fell asleep, my finger hit the screen and I’ve lost it! I will try and remember what I was saying.

I was bought up in the 60’s and 70’s, when shops closed on a Sunday, people bought enough food to last and put it in the pantry (a small room lined with shelves which was stacked with tins and dry goods).

It was quiet, no one had cars so we would play in the back garden or go to the local park which was a few hundred yards away over the main road. But the road was easy to cross because it wasn’t that busy.

Back to today. I sat in the garden and was surprised to hear birds singing. I think I could recognise about three different songs. They were up a tree at the other end of the garden, normally they would have been drowned out by the road.

Even the rush hour failed to happen. Normally the cars queue on the street waiting to turn into the traffic. Today, one car every few minutes.

The only thing I saw which was wrong was three young men, full of energy, walking together laughing, making fun, striding out. We have been told not to be in groups of more than two. I just worry…

Still, it’s quiet, like an old fashioned Sunday.

Automated tills

Posted on January 15, 2020January 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Automated tills, Cashier, No rush, Queue, Slow, Supermarket, Tills, Time, Unexpected item2 Comments

sketch-1579130933324

Unexpected item in the bagging area…

I’ve been thinking about using automated tills. I decided if there are cashiers at checkouts I queue. If there are none and you can only use an automated one I just take my time. It is after all my time that I am using. If it takes ten minutes to scan three things that’s how long it takes. I used to try and do it quickly but now, I don’t see why I should. For instance I can take a minute finding the bar code, and another bit of time picking up my groceries after I have scanned everything.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Queue