Confessions of a Hostie 3 Read Online Free Page A

in the fridge, including
seafood. A girl still needs to eat. I had not been called for
several days, being on standby all that day, without a call. I had
less than an hour to go.
    'They won't need me' I rationalized, so I
bought a nice piece of fish to have for dinner. Just as I turned
the oven on, the phone rang. I turned the oven off, rushing to get
ready. The fish was still in the fridge, yet it was the last thing
on my mind.
    When I returned home, after more than two
weeks away, I was unaware that the building's power was shut off
for some of the time I was away. I opened the fridge door... I wish
I hadn't.
     
    One other standby story I'll share is from
some years ago: I was on a 12 hour standby arrangement, from 10.00
a.m. until 10.00 p.m. This means the phone could ring at 10.01 in
the morning and I could be off somewhere or it could ring at 9.59
at night. I'd had two days of this procedure, not being called to
go anywhere. On day three at 9.57 p.m. I opened the fridge door to
remove a bottle of wine, singing 'Just three more minutes to go,
just three more minutes to go.' The inevitable occurred. As I
reached up to the cupboard to remove a wine glass, the phone
rang.
    I was to operate a 13 hour flight. I do this
all the time, but, in this instance, I had been awake since early
in the morning. How can you sleep throughout the day on the
off-chance of being called in to work? I can't take a sleeping
tablet - and without it I can't sleep in the daytime anyway,
besides, I could be called in the morning or at night or not at
all. This standby arrangement is a lottery - and I was screwed.
    I later explained to Helen about how unfair
the system is. Helen is a (part time) school teacher, so I put it
in terms she could relate to: Imagine you have been awake all day,
doing your normal chores and routines, you've put the kids to
sleep, and you are about to have one glass of wine before going to
sleep when the school rings. They want you to race into work to
teach a classroom of children until two o'clock the next afternoon.
Add a lack of oxygen in a pressurized tube and 400 passengers to
the mix and you get some sort of idea how I felt. By the end of the
flight I had been awake for over 30 hours - and I'd had a good
night's sleep the night before. Often I don't.
    I must say that this scenario is rare, yet it
does highlight some of the unique and incredibly taxing situations
we face in this job.
     
    I am thankful for having a roster at present.
I'm looking forward to going to Singapore. The first 28 times I
went to Singapore I would say to myself 'Yah - I'm off to
Singapore.' I still love Singapore, but I have been so many times
there is a certain familiarity which prevents me from doing
cartwheels. I still get out and explore from time-to-time, however
what was once greeted with unrestrained excitement is now dulled to
a smile of complacency. I really haven't done anything exciting in
Singapore (apart from shopping) for such a long time. I make a
conscious effort to do something worthwhile on this trip.
    Maybe I'll catch the cable car over to
Sentosa Island (again)?
    I could do a river boat cruise (again)?
    I could catch a ferry to Bintan or Batam
(Indonesian islands about an hour by ferry from Singapore), but
once again I have been a number of times.
    Maybe I'll go to the top of the new Marina
Sands hotel to have a cocktail by the infinity pool, 57 stories
above the ground (again)?
    I might even go to Universal Studios
(again).
    I think of more options. It's been years
since I've been to the zoo and had breakfast with the orangutans.
That was so much fun last time, which was, gee, nearly ten years
ago.
    That's what I'll do - I'll go to the zoo.
     
    The day before a trip I usually put some
thought and effort into packing for the trip. After years of
practice I am an extremely quick packer, yet I still plan ahead. I
normally jump on the Internet to check the weather forecast for the
country I am going to, although I am going to