Tuesday 22nd September

This morning I left the two lightweights  in bed and went off to the village for Nickolodean Character  Photos, today's guest was Gill, now not sure who this actually was but the children and some Mums seemed to like him. It was a fairly short shift, only about and hour so as I signed out they asked me if I could do another shift this afternoon, in fact they asked if the three of us could so I said I would pop back and ask , both ladies were enjoying the pool and sunshine so they declined, we do have a shift this evening though, starting at 630. I will be chauffeured by Jill to the village for an earlier shift in the Ice Cream Parlour and then the two will join me for the evening shift.

The answer before anyone asked is no, I haven't packed yet, got all morning tomorrow to do that!

Allan is now the problem, seems his flight has been delayed for 24 hours because of the weather, that is all I know, trying to message him but he doesn't seem to have a signal at the moment, they were supposed to be flying to Ulla Bataar today and catching the International flight home tomorrow, he my not get home now until after me... he was supposed to be clean, and shaven by the time I got home with his filthy washing done, now the probability is we will travel together back from Heathrow or Twickenham, depending on who gets where first.

Just got back from 3rd shift to get a reply from the travel company that I contacted to try and get more information from re Allan's flights etc and its seems they arrived with 30 minutes to spare to catch their original international flight and were then fast tracked through so all is good and my mind is at rest. I don't have to travel back with a smelly, ageing hippy!

Right back to the village, Ice Cream Parlour was fairly quiet , a few guests came in but one guy spent some time chatting to Peggy, my fellow volunteer, and myself. He came in for a milkshake as in his words he wasn't hungry so left his family to go and get their lunch in the Towne Hall. I was the milkshake maker and he so enjoyed the first one, pecan butter that he tried a second one, chocolate Oreo and cream, that's was obviously good too so I made him his third of chocolate and vanilla so he could be absolutely sure he liked my milkshakes!  For someone who wasn't hungry he managed 9 scoops of ice cream, normally 2 per shake but he liked his thick! But he did decline the cream on top as he was watching his figure! He told us of his grandson, he was there on his wish and how that the village had found out he was obsessed with Herbie, the car so they had arranged for three Herbies to drive to the village yesterday, his grandson was not only delighted but was amazed - Debbie, my eyeballs are getting washed!

Jill and Geraldine arrived to pick me up to go to shift number 3, Mayor Clayton's surprise birthday party, it was quite a fun evening, fairly short but the children had fun as did there parents. I was giving out ice cream tubs and Popsicles , ice lollies to us English!  My role was to give out as many as possible as they needed to defrost the freezer so I could heard shouting out ' ice cream, ice cream, I scream for ice cream. I love it. Jill and Geraldine were on cup cakes, miniature ones that the children could decorate with orange icing a top with various sweets. I seriously wonder how these children sleep at night because they must all be on a sugar overload with the amount of sweets/candy they are given each day!

Tonight's highlight for me was when a grandparent went up to the photographer and asked him to take a picture of me holding his granddaughter because he said I was such a lovely lady. This baby was only about 6 months old, very petite but she never stopped smiling. Last night they bought her to
Halloween and she was dressed as a bumble bee, I could have quite easily have stolen her then. Absolutely adorable. Now we are not allowed to take pictures of the children but if they ask for you to be in the picture that is an honour and we are allowed to accept. Very special.


Second highlight today was being presented with a  " Caught you Caring" certificate from a lovely young lady in volunteer services which said " Thank you so much for your dedication and volunteer work, you are wonderful"  Wretched eye balls are getting washed again!

Well, that is it for another year:-
Great fun
Great company
Wonderful experiences
New friends
Old friends
New skills added, including driving a Tug
Meeting amazing children and their families
Driving new and different cars
Being likened to Mary Poppins, even singing Supercalifrachalistic etc in unison with a group of black, church volunteers tonight
So many memories made.
115.38 hours of volunteering done in 3 weeks, making a total of 264.34 hours in three years.

I am so fortunate to be able to do this,

Thank you GKTW and all the fabulous people I have met.

Monday 21st  September

Well a mixture of jobs for the three of us this morning - Jill was down to do the Breakfast Cart Delivery, Geraldine was down for Concierge and I was in the Ice Cream Parlour, we all had different finishing times too. Jill was a little nervous of finding the villas when the orders came through so I offered to do that instead and she did the Ice Cream Parlour  until 10.15 when I finished. The plan was then for the two to have a walk around the village taking what photographs they needed and to visit the memory shop to purchase a few items.

My Breakfast Cart shift  did not start off too well as when I arrived the lovely Hector decided to train me, he, from the train the other evening. Now the cart was not so much of a problem, one side had a huge pump flask of coffee, cartons of milk, and a choice of fruit juices, apple and orange. The other side had donuts, English muffins, bagels, cream cheese, jello, and fruit, that I could recognise and cope with. My problem was Hectors tuition of the Walkie Talkie which I was to need to receive the villa numbers who had requested food, he showed me the wrong button to press to receive and make the calls! I went back to the Towne Hall to request a new communication gadget but they had none so I decided to drive round in my golf type buggy to all the villas for the following 2 hours to see who might flag me down for their breakfast, that worked but then so did the Walkie Talkie, he had told me to press the wrong button!! I served quite a few villas and enjoyed my riding around waving at people and saying good morning to all. Suspect might get a few odd looks when I get home but here this is what you do, really think it should be compulsory everywhere as a smile and hello really makes people respond in the same way.... well maybe not Hector!

After clearing the cart of the remaining  food I went to the Ice Cream Parlour to take over from Jill for the remaining 11/2 hours of the shift, was pretty quiet today but I did chat to a couple of the guest families and Robert came over to say his farewells, probably will see him at some point at home with our roles with Make A Wish.

The decision had been made to return to Celebration for that meal we didn't get yesterday and to purchase a hat or two - Jill and I have hatched a plan to wow Stamford this Friday when we are back on Red Lion Square for our final Artisans on Friday of this year. Come see us, you know you want to.

This evening was Halloween, a fair few new families in the village tonight, all of whom had a great time. I was a Greeter and my artistic friends were busy making wands and using lots of glitter. I wonder if there is a word for glitter addicts, other than Jill and Geraldine?

Right I am off early again in the morning but lazy bones are taking the morning off. I am a little sad it is coming to an end again especially as there has been a lot of au revoirs today.

Night xx

Sunday 20th September

No morning shift today as we had decided to have a more relaxed start to the day with the intention of having a bit of a lie in, bother and blast I was awake at 4 am! It was a beautiful morning, clear blue sky and not as humid as it has been, we ate outside which is always lovely to do.

The reason for our not doing a shift this morning was because I wanted to take Jill and Geraldine to Celebration and visit the Farmer's Market there and to have lunch at the restaurant I found when Debbie was here, the Columbia. I used my sat nav today and typed in an address of a shop we visited before, Woof Gangs  so had no trouble getting there. We looked in Woof Gangs and then I went to show them the restaurant menu board to make sure it was to their taste, there were a lot of people in a line going completely around the corner, about a hundred or so, I thought they were waiting for a bus trip or something. I was wrong! As I approached a waiter who was setting up tables I asked it it was possible to book a table for later and he said not today Ma'am as today is a special day where we have a limited menu of 4 items and everything is priced at 1905 prices,- the penny dropped, those people in line were waiting for a cheap dinner not a bus trip! Oh and there would have been a three or four hours wait. We declined but have decided to go tomorrow after our morning shift instead.
Every Sunday in Celebration there is a Farmer's Market and seeing as how that I know
Jill because of the Artisans on Friday Market we hold in Stamford during the summer months we thought it appropriate to go see the competition and maybe steal some ideas. It was very nice and there were more crafts than foodstuffs, I asked a stall holder how much they paid for a pitch and she thought it was about $30 for a 4 hour slot...... we are only a fiver for 6 hours, good value. We visited a few shops, told people about GKTW and bumped into Papa Bear and Momma Bear, two volunteers  we met yesterday at the village. This couple were grandparents of a young girl who had a wish there some 11 years ago, they have lost her but return to the village twice a year to volunteer using their vacation time, we liked them.

Having missed our opportunity to eat lunch out we decide to just stop off at Walmarts to get something to eat there. Getting out of the car I saw a guy I recognised and who obviously recognised me, he was wearing a GKTW T-shirt  with a name badge on that said Tim, so thought it was someone we had worked with recently until he asked me if I had found my passport last year! I was not in anything village related, in civvies in fact so he had obviously remembered me from last year- pretty neat! ( started talking American again)

Okay now to tonight's shift, this time we were on Candyland and I managed to persuade Megan, the entertainment person for tonight that we would be perfect as Riddlers - I have played this role a few times before and quite enjoyed it, the evening was delayed slightly as someone in a villa right where we were to set up the party had obviously needed 9911, the villages emergency number for a medical problem/emergency. These guys arrive very quickly and with no sirens blaring so as not to freak out all the other families, they are there pretty quickly too. Not sure what was wrong or what happened as we were gathered to get out the stuff needed after they left.

The evening was great fun and the children loved it which is what it is all about. There was quite a gang from Disney there tonight to volunteer, including a young girl from Manchester Metropole Uni who was with Disney on her Uni placement. We exchanged email addresses although I doubt I will hear from her.

On our return back to the Villa we were replaying last nights adventures on the train and must confess to a bit of hilarity going on! Lorna's train signing off for tonight as she is running out of steam. Goodnight.

Saturday 19th September.

Another restless night, I will be exhausted when I eventually get home from this 'holiday'!!

The first shift today was in Keaton's Corral, a husband and wife bring two of their horses twice a week to the village and every child has the opportunity to ride either a mare called  Ginger who was 14 or JoJo who was 28. Now JoJo had to wear a muzzle, not because he was likely to snap the children but because he was a rescue horse who had been starved of food by its previous owners and even now, although  well fed, if given the opportunity he will eat the wooden fences or his reins.
If a child was able to sit on the horse they did and were led around by a young lady who was training to be a  horse therapist. they also had a volunteer either side of the horse who had a hand up to steady the child if necessary, this was Jill's very important job this morning. Now every child was given a cowboy hat after their ride which was Geraldine's job, she also guided the children and a parent up a slope to where they mounted the horse, each child had two turns around the corral and some even came back for another go. Every child had many photographs taken of them on the horse and my job was to take down their villa number and the number of their photographs.... was a challenge again but no mistakes this time I hope.  It is very hot today and we all stripped off, got in our costumes and washed everything we had been wearing once we got home.

The replacement car was supposed to arrive about 2 pm but as there was no sign of it by 330 I gave Peter a call, he apologised but one of his customers had been involved  in an accident so he had to go help with a police report, fortunately they were okay and not their fault, a minor shunt from behind . The car arrived at about 5 just before we were due to leave for the village, a bit of a different  car for me to deal with at such short notice, a Toyota Prius, a hybrid to boot but it got us there and back tonight and was quite comfortable.

Now to the highlight of the day............... tonight I was a train driver, well not exactly a train but it was in fact a donated American Airlines Tug, once use to take passengers luggage to and from the terminal with an additional attached trailer with 5 rows of seats, enough to carry 20 - 25 people and at times it was full.
Geraldine and Jill  were both conductors, Geraldine on my train and Jill with the charming Hector (not) . We of course needed training as none of us had done this type of work before either here or in any previous existence, Hector began the training but was mystified when I asked if he had a map of the village that I could use as a guide, there are 144 villas after all and it is a 70 acre site, fortunately at this point Mike from engineering showed up and he came around with me for 2 loops of the circuit we were to do for the following 4 hours. He was great and the only thing really he said that I mustn't do was to reverse or go above 10 mph.... there was no speedometer so I had no idea what speed I was travelling at but guess it was about 5mph tops! Now I unfortunately did make one very major strategic error and that was to turn left at Paige's Way, yes it was a dead end and there were no turning points so had to radio for help as of course I couldn't reverse. Mike was there in moments,had he been stalking me? We, sorry, he, got me out of that tricky situation and I continued on my route with Geraldine talking to me over the walking talkie, saying Lorna's train , all clear to go now, Lorna's train to turn right here, not left again, in a beautifully cut glass accent, neither of my friends were characters from "On the Buses" to be sure. I seriously cannot convey my initial terror at this shift tonight, or fully describe the situation I got us in but believe you me we laughed and laughed and laughed. I also think we convinced the majority of our passengers we knew what we were doing. What an achievement though, I drove an American Airlines luggage tug ( Google that!) and safely delivered many weary guests back to their villas/pool/talking tree/ Towne Hall etc, etc At one point we passed Jill and Hector going in the opposite direction, they had no one on board, we had 20 plus! I had much the bigger train as a first timer while Hector, who drives this shift 3 times a week had a much smaller engine.

Be assured if any help is needed with the luggage transportation when we get back to Gatwick, I am your woman!

Finally another funny moment on our way back to volunteer services to sign out of our shift, we were stopped by  the lovely Derek from the Entertainment staff, he asked me how I had got on and I told him that I had jumped off the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere with less trepidation than tonight, I suggested he looked on YouTube at Lorna's Leap. He replied , Lorna as is Lorna Doone, impressed at his knowledge of literature we said yes, but it seems there is a cookie out her called Lorna Doone, so maybe not as smart as he looks!!.

Really must say goodnight now as very, very tired xx

Friday 18th September

An minor addition to last nights blog, my role was to use the families phones/cameras to take photographs for them, a mother thanked me so much and gave me her phone ready switched on, I pointed and pressed only to find I had taken a selfie and couldn't find out how to turn the camera round. Good job the real photographer took loads, fortunately Mum laughed about it.

Spoke to Hanna this morning to see if she was feeling any better, she wasn't unfortunately so will try and catch her tomorrow again. Rang Lucy but no answer.

 Slight change of routine today as we we took the morning shift off and took ourselves off to Florida Premier Outlet Mall, got there for opening time so was really quite quiet. First stop was Vera Bradley, a bit like Kath Kidson with beautiful patterned bags, was really tempted with one of her 4 wheeled suitcases as it was so light and easy to push plus very distinctive. Might still go back for that. We had a reasonable shop and all got something to bring home, mostly for other people!  Got into the very hot car for our return to the villa , all seemed well but then the air conditioning cut out completely. Have rung Peter from Car on the Drive so may be getting a different car tomorrow ( forgot to say the car I have is not just a white one but is actually a Kia of some sort) had the windows open for air conditioning but it played havoc with my hair!!

Tonight was Pirates and Princess party again, my third this time but Jill and Geraldine's first. We were put on Princess makeovers, I offered to do the tattoos and Geraldine and Jill did the lipstick and eyeshadow.  A slightly buxom wench, a mother, not a child asked for a tattoo and I asked where she wanted it - on the bust was decided upon, so. I felt I should at least tell her my name first before dabbing water on her chest and pressing down for the count of 20. It worked so she was delighted, she did have rather a lot of tattoos already though, including one she had had done today on her ankle.

Lots of games are played including a cannon ball being shot and caught by a child in the audience, a dad told us that after she had caught it she immediately offered it to another child by saying here, would you like it.... what a kind little girl she was.

As were were clearing up the heavens opened and we got decidedly wet, a large group of volunteers who had been down all week were leaving tonight so had a few goodbyes to make and a new email friend made. They were a lovely bunch of people from the By Faith Fellowship, all ages too.

Tomorrow is a first for me as both our shifts, I have not done before. One of which is quite scary. Will reveal all tomorrow. Xx

Good new today s well, England beat Fiji in the opening game of the 2015 Rugby World Cup with a bonus point too. Already the Welsh and the Scots are supporting anyone but England, seems unnecessary to me, let the best teams win from whichever country they are from. It's a sport.

Thursday 17th September

Another early wake up, in fact had stripped my bed, washed the sheets and had a shower by 630 am, left the villa by 725 as it was an early shift. Today I was DPA or photographers assistant while Jill and Geraldine were in the Castle of Miracles doing the children's stars and pillows. They were also joined today by Goofy and Pluto which actually helps as more families come visit. Their shift didn't finish until 1145 whilst mine was actually over by a little after 10. I say a little after 10 but I did take a little longer as I was in charge of taking down each villa number and not only writing that on a form but also the wish child's name and the number of photographs taken by Marilyn, today's photographer . This is all cross referenced as at the end of the vacation each family are given a disc with every photograph taken through stay...... yes I botched, only slightly and realised straight away but we then had to go through and cross check at the end. It was sorted!

I chatted to a young volunteer Alexandra and her Mum. It was her birthday today so we gave her a hug and she told me she was desperate to come visit UK , yes Allan I did of course offer and they have my email address.

As it was lashing down with rain I fetched the car from the car park and parked it right next to the volunteer office so it was there when the other two finished their shift. Off we went to Tarjai for a few essentials, mostly liquid , including milk! Still raining when we got home so were unable to relax by the pool, not good.

A most important point to mention here is that I spoke to Hanna and Evie on FaceTime, both, unfortunately we're feeling a little under the weather, bit of a cold brewing Hanna thinks. Tried Lucy too but seems she was off gallivanting tonight. Spoke with my Mum too.

I have to make a comment here of the wonderful outfits worn by my two villa mates , they both seem to be dressed like models,not only once a day but, indeed, twice a day. I questioned Jill over lunch as to how many clothes she had bought with her........... 20, yes, 20 t-shirts, length of their stay, just 10 days. These tops are of course colour coordinated with skirts and trousers, oh and shoes. Geraldine is almost as good ( can't say bad) , her outfit for Halloween would have been fine for the front cover of Vogue. Jill just came out of her bedroom, took one look at me and laughed, practically hysterical. Reason, I am wearing a beautiful green reindeer ears Alice band and Mickey Mouse Christmas decoration from one ear and Minnie Mouse from the other ear, what is so wrong with that?

Arrived back at the village in time for Christmas, went to the Safari Theatre for our training and requested that we could be Elves, Santa arrived at that point, looked me and said hello are you with me again tonight, of course, I said Santa I would love too and that, as they say, was that! The three of us donned our elf hats and bibs and got into position, then the children and their families arrived, 60 plus families I guess. Far fewer children tonight were frightened of Santa but those that were, Santa had a plan that fooled the child and meant the family got their photograph with Santa, he told the Mum and Dad to take the children out to choose their present while Jim, the photographer went to where the presents were kept and Santa snuck up, unbeknown to the child  so that Jim could take the  photo - a success in every case.

Now because of this, Santa obviously had to leave his place,  and Geraldine thought he was nipping off to the loo all the time and said to me that it was a shame he had such a weak bladder. I told Santa this and he roared with laughter. He is an absolutely 1st class Santa with a wonderful rapport with the children and we told them at the volunteer services, we were offered a form to fill in, like a certificate which they would pass on to him. I filled it in with his name Santa, and his aka name of Tim. The quote from me waste love you Santa , love the Bladder Girls - hope he gets my sense of humour.

A young couple of men arrived, thought they could have only have been brother, but no, they were father and son and very dishy too, confirmed by Jill and myself.

A couple of very special moments for me tonight and two slightly disappointing ones - the bad first
1 An English guy from Nottingham showed no interest at all in anything about the village
2 Another guy from Yorkshire said it really would have been better if they had come for at least two weeks so he could have seen Florida
I was embarrassed that these two guys were not appreciating what was genourisly become provided for them

The good now, could write hundreds in fact but most special to me was a family who came through the curtain and Dad exclaiming in glee, not Santa but oh it's Lorna, our favourite volunteer! He hugged me too. How special was that, making  me wash my eyeballs just writing that.
.
Tomorrow a lay in as decide to hit the malls instead of working until the evening

Well as the say in all the best films, time to hit my pillow. Goodnight. X

Wednesday 16th September

A very relaxed start to the day after a reasonable nights sleep. Our shift wasn't until 11am and was in Cafe Clayton doing lunches, a much reduced volunteer presence as there are not really many families around during the day, some new arrivals and some falsies who are departing. There was however a very big meeting going on with over 100 employees, a monthly meeting which takes about an hour followed by a lunch, supplied today by The Olive Garden, a popular local restaurant.  I was helping Mary Ann who used to work in volunteer services but now has a different role she was getting numerous jugs filled with water, iced tea, sprite and lemonade, between us we were great but did have a few mishaps............... apparatus not Mary Ann thinks I am hilarious , not sure if that is a good or bad thing but we did giggle.a very elegant lady came to fill her cup up with ice and was extremely charming as I offered to do it for her. I had wondered if she might be the President of GKTW so decided to ask her and she was indeed Pamela Landwirth, a past wife of Henri, who founded the charity, she is still very heavily involved and is often seen around at the village, indeed her offices are there above the Towne Hall, I felt privileged to have met her today.

Jill, Geraldine and myself were bussers, tray carriers and drink operatives, at one point the nozzle came off my Mountain Berry dispenser, into a guests drink. I laughed and told him I wouldn't be charging him any extra before repairing said nozzle and making a fresh drink. Jill and Geraldine were at this point responding to another lady volunteers question about me..... is she always so hyper, Jill said yes, I think so!

After our shift we drove off for our treat, back to Longhorn Steakhouse, excellent again!  While we were there I noticed that all of us kept forgetting things, names , times, occasions etc. I said I think it must be catching as I am doing it now too, Jill said had I thought they might have caught it from me., so cheeky.

Tonight was one of my favourite shifts, Village Idol. Only one Let it Go sang tonight, and danced to once.we had hula hoop performers, comedians, jump ropes aka skipping and a pianist. We whooped and hollered, clapped, gave standing ovations and had a thoroughly wonderful time.

There have been two large church groups volunteering this week so are really getting to know them as we come across them a lot, often you can volunteer with different people every time.

My funny moment today, sorry Jill, it was you! Jill obviously had some thing important to say but unfortunately what came out of her mouth was completely unintelligible, could have been in Swahili - the reason for this, you wonder, well Jill have just placed a Lindt chocolate into her mouth and not one word was understood.

Well another early start tomorrow so goodnight.

Haven't spoken to Hanna, Lucy or Allan today ( that bit was for Hanna)