Life as a hostess

When I was studying tourism - I know that sounds funny - I lived in Blankenberge and had to take the train to Bruges every day.  A short trip, less than 15 minutes.  But even then we played at cards for the short trip.  You were still allowed to smoke on trains back then, so we did that too.  Arriving in Bruges, I often noticed a couple of girls in navy blue uniforms waiting on the platform to catch the train to Zeebrugge.  They were hostesses working for a ferry company, but I didn't know that.  In winter they wore a cape.  I was only 17 and for some reason or other I loved the uniform and often saw myself wearing one.  That was a bit odd for me because I hardly ever wore a skirt or dress, jeans being the 'uniform' of the day. When a Lufthansa stewardess came for a talk about her work I was at first very disappointed to learn that I wasn't tall enough to qualify as a stewardess. So when I graduated and had to work at the ferry as a trainee for 2 months, I  was over the moon.  But to my grave disappointment, I didn't have to wear a uniform because I would not be working at the check in desk, but on the reservation department.  I still remember my first call with my boss to be.  I had to make an appointment with him to introduce myself and to learn what the job would be like and what would be expected of me.  At the end of the phone conversation he said : 'I will see you then, okidoki'.  I thought it very funny that my future boss used such a funny word "okidoki" and told everybody what a weird person he must be.  Rememeber this is 35 years ago when working relationships were a lot more formal than is the case now.  Fortunately for me, it was a very informal company.  All the staff on the passenger department were in their early twenties, like me, and some were married but none of them had children yet.  The Manager was just 10 years my senior and his assistant 6 years older than me.  I enjoyed my 2 months there very much and was a bit sad to have to leave.  I found a job doing secretarial work at the casino in Blankenberge.  Some people may think that would have been rather more glamourous, but it wasn't.   Blankenberge isn't Vegas by a far stretch, and my boss there was a 60 year old, very formal and very conservative frenchspeaking man.  The only thing good about the job was that I got to know some nice people and my closest colleague became a close friend.  7 months on, my trainee boss called with a job offer, again on the reservation department (still no uniform) and that was that.  I hoped to be in that uniform sooner or later anyway.  At the time the company did not only operate a ferry service from Zeebrugge and Rotterdam to Hull (Kingston upon Hull), but also a jetfoil, between Zeebrugge and London.  The Jetfoils were something special, new and exciting because they were built by Boeing and they sailed up the Thames and moored at Tower Bridge. The crossing took about 4 hours whereas you already needed the same amount of time for the normal ferry crossing from Zeebrugge to Dover alone and you still had a long  train ride from Dover to London.  Many people wanted to travel on the jetfoil instead of  travelling to London by plane.  The crew 'flying'  the jetfoils and the maintenance staff were american and we spent a lot of time with them.  The only disadvantage of this new exciting way of crossing the channel was that they often broke down and then we had to transfer the passengers to fly from Ostend on British Air Ferries, who were very happy with the business we gave them.  Now and again we also had some celebrity passengers like the now Sir Cliff Richard and Golden Earring.  They were exciting times and oftenwe joked about how we would tell our children and grandchildre all our funny stories, or even write a book, changing all the names.  Perhaps I could tell some of those "fairy tales' here.

Change

This year seems to be starting off with a lot of changes for me.  It is a cliché that everything changes sometime, but at the same time a Greek philosopher once said that nothing is new under the sun.  I am not worried for things to come, whatever this year still has in store for me, although at 55 I was expecting some stability.  I have always embraced new experiences so I know I can deal with a lot. Will all this change be for the better or worse ?  I don't know yet.  For now, things seem to be going fine.  Our 6th grandchild was born on the first day of spring and everybody in the family is fine. I like my job and don't mind being alone in an office most of time as much as I had expected.  In fact I am getting used to it.  When I worked for the ferry, I could never work undisturbed on a weekday.  I shouldn't say undisturbed because I never felt disturbed.  I just happened to be person that was good at solving problems and it was my responsability, and I loved doing it.  It's just that sometimes at the end of the day I felt I hadn't gotten anything done except putting out small fires all day.  Sometimes I had to go in on the weekend and before helping out the hostesses at the busiest time at check-in, I would get some work done, all alone in a very large office.  Sometimes one of the hostesses at reception would call me with a question or other and than  would jump up at the sudden ringing of the phone in the quiet office.  And always I was so amazed at how much work I could do without interruptions.  So now in my new job it is the other end of the scale and I am actually enjoying it.  I have to get to grips with all aspects of my job on my own.  I have to figure out how the computer programs work, what's important and how things can be done efficiently, on my own. I don't mind that., It just means that I need some more time to learn it all.  But the advantage is, it's easier  to remember something you have had to figure out on your own then something that you'v been told.  So all is well on the job front.  There is some more change to come there : my boss is retiring in 2 years and in autumn he would like to start working part time.  Hopefully by that time there will be someone to replace him.  But as I said : that's fine with me.  I would almost say : bring on the changes, but that might sound a bit overconfident and  I dont want to taunt faith too much. So I will leave it at that and deal wth what's on my plate for now, just to be on the safe side.

Wordt alles anders ?

Al 2 maand verder of moet ik zeggen amper 2 maand verder en er is al zoveel gebeurd.  Mijn nieuwe job valt heel erg mee.  Aanvankelijk had ik eigenlijk een beetje reserves.  Nog nooit heb ik een job gehad waar ik gewoon zelf mijn werk doe en er niemand is die tussendoor een beroep op mij doet.  Ik heb er geen probleem mee om met verschillende zaken tegelijk bezig te zijn.  Maar nu word ik maar af en toe onderbroken door een telefoontje of m'n baas die iets komt brengen of de postbode.  Het grootste deel van de tijd zit ik dus echt helemaal alleen m'n ding te doen.  Vroeger ging ik bij de ferry wel vaker in het weekend werken en dan genoot ik er eigenlijk van om eindelijk eens door te kunnen werken.  Ik schrok me dan telkens een bult als één van de hostesses vanuit de receptie dan al eens belde met een probleem aan de check-in.  Ik moet zeggen dat ik het na 2 maand toch wel leuk vind.  Ik moet alles een beetje zelf uitzoeken, ook iets dat mij wel ligt en mijn nieuwe werkgever vertrouwt daar ook wel op, wat ik wel fijn vind.  Ik werd er zelfs al op uitgestuurd om een vergadering bij de wonen en al gelijk de vergadering te notuleren.  Dat is allemaal goed verlopen en dus zie ik het wel zitten daar in de Polder.  Anders maar misschien ook wel beter.  Maar daarnaast is er ook heel wat gebeurd.  De laatste maanden ging het niet zo goed met mijn moeder.  Sinds ze in september gehospitaliseerd was, ging het niet zo goed meer : ze zag almaar slechter en de oogarts bevestigde dat dit niet kon verholpen worden. Dat maakte dat m'n moeder meer moeite had om TV te kijken en te lezen, zowat het enige wat zij nog kon doen als ze alleen was. Ze klaagde ook steeds vaker over het feit dat ze veel alleen was en op het laatst zei ze zelf dat het misschien tijd was om naar een rusthuis te gaan, iets wat tevoren voor haar echt geen optie was.  Ze at ook heel weinig, volgens haar omdat niets nog smaakte.  De huisarts maakte zich op een gegeven moment zorgen over haar algemene gezondheidstoestand en vond het nodig haar te laten opnemen in het ziekenhuis.  Maar op dat moment was er geen reden tot paniek want ons tripje naar Hull konden we gewoon laten doorgaan.  Toen we terugkwamen was haar toestand zo verslechterd dat ik ongerust werd en een paar dagen later overleed ze 's nachts.  Haar hart had het begeven, dan toch nog een beetje onverwacht, want de dag ervoor leek het weer wat beter met haar te gaan.  En zo werden we ineens geconfronteerd met hoe eindig alles is.  Ons reisje naar Hull had ons daar ook al aan herinnerd.   Onze dierbare vriendin, de echtgenote van een collega, was vorig jaar overleden na een strijd tegen kanker van een paar jaar, en het was voor het eerst dat we onze vriend weer terug zagen. Hij liet ons haar afscheidsbrief lezen en er waren dus ook wel een paar emotionele momenten, naast het blije weerzien met hem en nog een paar andere vroegere collega's. Het was heel leuk om herinneringen op te halen van de goeie ouwe tijd en we hebben er dan ook van genoten en beloofd dit keer geen 4 jaar te wachten om nog eens terug te gaan.  En dan, nog geen 2 weken geleden, kwam ons zesde kleinkind Emilia ter wereld.  Goed gezond en alles goed met moeder en kind.  Grootmoeder zijn is iets wat veel vreugde brengt.  Vorige week kon ik dat nog eens ten volle ervaren toen Ophelia een dagje bij ons was terwijl de papa bij de mama en Emilia in het ziekenhuis was.  Ze mogen dat kind ieder weekend naar mij brengen.  En verder.  Een drukke week gehad 2 weken geleden met de laatste repetities en de voorstelling van de Revue van de toneelkring waarbij ik souffleer en dat was een groot succes. Nu wordt het dus weer even rustiger en ga ik dus vanaf volgende week weer iets aan mijn conditie doen en m'n voornemen voor een grote reünie eens in daden omzetten. Daarnaast moet er natuurlijk ook heel veel geregeld worden na het overlijden van m'n mama.  Ons ouderlijk huis zullen we allicht verkopen en dus zullen we het ook nog moeten leegmaken.  Genoeg om niet in een zwart gat te vallen zou ik zo zeggen.

A new year a new beginning ?

Although the year is already 2 months old, I am still having mixed feelings about my prospects this year.  Recently I had to explain to a dear friend on facebook, why I would consider a headstone predicting my death this year saying that I died 'for preventing the end of the world' to be funny.  To her it was a very morbid kind of joke.  In May last year while we were spending a very nice holiday in Italy, the world was supposed to end according to an American sect leader. I decided that the world shouldn't end during my splendid vacation so as a joke I 'forbade'  it.  The same funny guy then said that the end of the world would occur in October.  By that time my American friend and I had decided that if the world was going to end, it could only be on December 21st 2012 (12-21-12) as according to some the Maya calendar predicts.  As 21 December happens to be my birthday and I was born in 1956 and I am turning 56 this year, the prediction kind of appeals to me, and my friend and I are still debating wether I should forbid it or not and how much time I have to forbid it. So now I am wondering what this year will bring.  The year started out badly for me.  2011 did end with a positive financial note : I was paid out my unemployment benefit on December 31st, 3 months late but never mind that. So January started and I was still unemployed and with the economic crisis I did not think it would be an easy task to find a job I liked soon.  I did have 1good prospect : the birth of our 6th grandchild was coming nearer, always a happy occasion and I was, stll am,  looking forward to a new addition to our family.  But otherwise I had nothing to be very happy about.  So I got busy again going round employment agencies looking for a job and sending emails applying for whatever I felt would suit me.  At the end of January  I did find a new employer and so I started in a new job on February 1st.  It' a whole new world for me.  I have to send out tax bills to whoever owns property in an area called 'De Nieuwe Polder van Blankenberge'. The organisation I work for has to maintain all waterways in this area, vulnerable to flooding because it's just behind the coastline and below sea level.  Their budget is partly from the tax I have to make sure is collected and partly from local and federal government.  I am in an office on my own and the only other person in the same building, the size of a normal house, is my boss in his own office next to mine.  The location is a small village called Houtave. A challenge to say the least.  At first I didn't really know wether or not to accept this job.  I had never really worked alone. But it has been a month now and I would never have thought it but I am actually enjoying it.  Before starting in my new job, we helped our son and daughter in law with some decorating, getting everything ready for the baby due around March 15th. They were turning the attic into an extra bedroom and fortunately I don't have fear of height. We booked our holiday : we are going to Rhodes (again) at the end of September and our friends from Antwerp will be there.  We also did some shopping around to do some small changes to our home, a new front door, a new railing for our balcony.  February has however been an emotional month otherwise.  We visited some dear long time friends in Hull. We hadn't seen them for 4 years and it felt good to spend some time with them.  One of them had lost his wife last year, and it felt good to be able to show him our sympathy in person and talk about her while we were staying at his house. An then, my mother had to go into hospital. She had been a bit poorly and wasn't feeling very well, nothing dramatic.  But in the hospital, after about a week, she seemed to get worse and then suddenly she passed away two weeks ago.  It was sad but at the same time a happy moment.  She was 86, had a good life, didn't have to suffer and passed away quietly. And now a lot still has to be done.  Our parents' house will have to be sold.  We will have to empty the house and I'm sure a lot of memories will grab me by the throat or bring me and my brother and sister some smiles.  And the baby that will fill us with tenderness to come into this world in the next fortnight.  I guess you can see why I have mixed feelings about 2012, at least about the coming months. I am still new at my new work place so a lot is still unknown and therefore uncertain for me, but such is life I suppose.  I'll give it some time and when I'm back on track, I want to get all my old North Sea Ferries colleagues together.  That is my this year's project.

2012 een nieuw begin ?

Op facebook moest ik onlangs aan een vriendin uitleggen waarom de foto van een grafsteen van mezelf die voorspelt dat ik het einde van 2012 niet haal "om het vermijden van het einde van de wereld" eigenlijk grappig is.  Sinds mei vorig jaar, toen volgens één of andere Amerikaan de wereld zou vergaan en dat toen niet gebeurde omdat ik dat  "verboden" had omdat we op vakantie waren in Italië, maken een Amerikaanse vriend, die er toen bij was, en ikzelf voortdurend grapjes over het einde van de wereld op mijn verjaardag 21 december 2012.  Die datum zou volgens verschillende voorspelling, o.a. van de Maja's, cruciaal zijn voor de mensheid. Dat ik geboren ben in 1956 en dit jaar op die datum, voor de Amerikanen 12-21-12, 56 jaar wordt maakt het extra mysterieus.  En nu is de grap of ik het dit keer weer ga verbieden of niet.  Het zal ervan afhangen wat dit jaar mij brengt.  Het nieuwe jaar was voor mij niet zo goed begonnen.  Hoewel het oude jaar nog net goed op zijn einde gekomen was.  Ik kreeg op 31 december uiteindelijk toch het stempelgeld waar ik sinds 24 oktober recht op had. Ik ontdekte ook dat ik nog recht had op een extra uitkering van de RVA voor mijn 4 maanden in de chocolaatjesfabriek en ook als ik nog elders weer aan de slag kan.  Maar begin januari had ik dus nog steeds geen nieuwe job.  De rest van de vooruitzichten ? De geboorte van het zesde kleinkind komt steeds dichterbij en daar kijk ik wel naar uit.  En verder brengt de toekomst mij niet veel om vrolijk te zijn.  Ik ging dus door met het afschuimen van alle jobsites en het solliciteren.  Nog steeds leek er weinig beweging in het aanbod te zitten.  Maar uiteindelijk werd ik op 2 plaatsen uitgenodigd voor een gesprek en wonder boven wonder 1 van de 2 wilde mij aanwerven ! Vandaag ben ik aan de vooravond van mijn eerste werkdag bij de Nieuwe Polder van Blankenberge, als administratief medewerkster.  Iets helemaal anders dan ik gewoon ben, maar dat zie ik dan maar als een "uitdaging" om het met een cliché te zeggen.  Tussendoor heb ik de draad en het contact weer opgenomen met een paar oud collega's, vrienden eigenlijk van bij de ferry en het resultaat is een reisje naar Hull waar ik echt naar uitkijk.  Waterstones, voor wie het niet weet : neen het is geen schoenwinkel maar een boekenwinkel, Hull zal het geweten hebben ! We blijven er ook overnachten bij een vriend die we al jaren niet meer gezien hebben. We gingen ook helpen bij de oudste zoon die nog een extra kamer nodig heeft om plaats te hebben voor de baby half maart.  De zolder wordt een slaapkamer en die moest behangen worden, goed dat ik geen hoogtevrees heb, en er moest ook nog tapijt komen.  We hebben ook nog rond geshopt voor een nieuwe voordeur en balustrades voor onze balkons.  Dus jullie zien, ik heb niet stil gezeten.  En uiteindelijk hebben we ook al geboekt om eind september nog eens naar Rhodos te gaan.  Dus 2012 ziet er geleidelijk aan toch al wat beter uit.  En verder wil ik dit jaar nog maar eens een poging wagen om een grote NSF reünie te organiseren.  En morgen te midden van de Polder een nieuwe job onder de knie krijgen.  Hopelijk voor het laatst.

Chocolates and pigs

Animal feed additives.  I knew more about the subject than I had expected.  As I  am constantly battling to keep my weight in check, anything to do with food gets my attention.  When you're on a diet, you have to make sure that it is a balanced diet.  So I had already read a lot about what type of food contains all the vitamins and minerals and anything else a body needs.  Animal nutrition is an art.  The animals are destined for human consumption and food safety regulations are very strict.  Most of the 'premixes' as the mixes of feed additives were called, made at the plant were for pigs.  In no time I got the hang of my new job. I had to.  Within 2 weeks I had to be "operational" because  one of my colleagues to be had resigned leaving within two weeks and her replacement wasn't due to start in her new job untill 4 weeks later, another was going on a 2 week holiday coinciding with the departure of colleague nr 1 and the third only worked half time.  But I managed.  Many colleagues came and went during the 6 years I worked there and I should have realised that unavoidably my day to go would come.  As it was I didn't see it coming.  But before that time, I performed a great many tasks : the normal things like answering the phone, taking the orders, placing purchasing orders, but also making and serving coffee, doing the shopping,  and to top it of f organising fairs and a seminar and making flight and hotel reservations.  In the end I was fired.  I did not take it very well.  I felt betrayed as I knew they had been hiring my replacement behind my back and probably 3 of my office colleagues knew I was going to be fired.
There I was : 54 and back on the street.  I was so determined to get back at work that it only took me 2 and 1/2 months to find another job, taking a pay cut of about 600 € a month after taxes, but a job nevertheless.  And a good job it turned out to be; with great new very young colleagues, young enough to be my daughters.  They were, still are I'm sure, very dynamic, motivated and intelligent and even goodlooking !  I forgot to say that I started my new job in a chocolate factory ! Not really a chocolate factory but a Belgian chocolates factory.  So again I start from scratch.  But I enjoy it very much.  The girls are a litle crazy, but so am I.  They work hard but also laugh a lot.  It is very nice working with them and I really love it, even though it is hard work.  But it never rains but it pours.  It had not been a good year for me except for the new job, and now it turned out the company had financial problems and at the end of August a large dutch company did a bid and effectively took over the factory in Brugge.  Obviously they had to reorganize and some of my new colleagues and me had to be let go.  So sadly I had to leave my "daughters" and was out on the market again.  But I"m still in touch with  the girls and we meet up from time to time so my short passage in the world of chocolate has not left me empty handed, or rather empty hearted I should say.

Life goes on

I've continued my story, at least the story of my professional career, in Dutch but not in English.  I've decided to go on with the story in English for the fun of it and to keep up my English language skills.  It's for the readers, if any, to judge if my writing in English is passable. 
So I was fired in 2003, aged 46 with 25 years of professional experience.  I had always loved my job, even after the takeover.  The atmosphere was different afterwards and a lot of things had changed but our goals hadn't changed.  But now on to another job.  Me and most of my colleagues were jobless on May 1st.  By that time I had already found a new job : head receptionist and reponsible for group bookings and meetings and incentives at a hotel in Bruges; it was agreed I would take a month off before starting to work in this new environment.   Unfortunately it turned out my new employer was not as convinced of my intelectual and professional capabilities as the previous one.  As I was used to a great deal of autonomy, it was very hard for me to have someone constantly looking over my shoulder and criticising my every move.  After 3 months it was decided I was not the right person for the job.  I wasn't sorry.  I would have left anyway.  I was just sorry I had been working all summer and I think that was actually the warmest summer we had for the last 20 years.
After this debacle I took a couple of months for myself, doing lots of things round the house, for my mother, as she had been hospitalised for 3 months and was still recovering from that, and doing nice relaxing things like reading and going to the gym with a friend who had just lost her job.  After that I found another job near home : as a call center supervisor for a company with 4 holiday villages in Belgium.  Again this was not really what I had expected.  I lasted 6 months there and so in September 2004, I had to start looking for another new employment.  This time I didn't apply for jobs where I would have to manage or coach others, and so I found a job with a small company that produces additives for animal feed.  A somewhat controversial business at any time but just at that time, cyclists, even a very famous one,  in Belgium had been provided illegal drugs by a veterinary doctor.  Whenever I told my friends about my new job they always started making jokes.  And so a whole new world unraveled before me.  From tourism to the animal feed industry.  And this time it lasted more than 6 years.