Tuesday 15th September

Well a very early start to my day as I lifted my iPad cover to see the time - 5am and to see if there were anymore messages like yesterday ie a picture of an ambulance outside Hanna's house, there wasn't but there was a message from Allan saying he had wifi signal for the next 90 minutes and that message had just been sent.! Naturally I called him and we chatted about all his adventures so far, sounds amazing for him, a hard 4 day trek, seeing only 2 other people in 4 days. Temperatures ranging from high degrees Fahrenheit on one day to 0 the following day trekking. The guide is amazed that a 66 year old is doing what Allan is doing, seems the expected life span of a Mongolian male is only 65 years and for a female a mere 60 years, the 24 year old guide's  father can't even walk down the street. The 3 of them have just had the best experience of the trip, yes, you guessed it, a shower!!!!  This is why I do what I do and don't join Allan on his adventures, I am much too much a 5* lady. He really sounded exhilarated so we may be competing with our stories for some time when we get home. They are currently traveling off road in an old Russian jeep, have been for the last 61/2 hours and have another 11/2 to go to meet their Eagle Hunter families. Was so good to hear from him but has meant that I am writing this at 530 am and have no chance of getting back to sleep. Never mind it was worth it.

Shift this morning was on Lori's Magical Flight, did this last week with ?Debbie and run the ride 5 times, today it was only 4 and I must confess one of those goes was with Jill. Geraldine and the other volunteer Christine,  I took the photos and operated the ride, we also had a go on the train by ourselves to pass the time. Christine started volunteering last week and hopes to do lots more while her son is in school, she came up with some great ideas for my proposed Star Wars day next year in Oakham. We also got a few pictures of a cheeky albino squirrel, these are relatively rare as they tend to stand out and are easy prey for predators but there a few at the village.

Also met Lou who arrived on his massive Honda bike with side car attached, I went over and asked him if he minded if I took a picture of him and his bike, he was delighted  and told me he only started riding a motor bikewhen he was in his early 70's. He has since done a road trip with his new 'Mol' of over 3,000 miles. He was great.

Toda I  had a chap come over while we were being trained and said hello Lorna, this was Robert, a Brit who is also a MAW volunteer, we have communicated on our MAW website but hadn't yet met, was good to have a brief chat with him too and seems we will all be on breakfast shift tomorrow, although I think now we are actually on the lunch shift so may have got that wrong.

Just had a phone call from Rene, a gentleman we met in Zimbabwe 3 years ago, he is a Philipino who lives and works as an anaesthetist  in Chicago, he has just returned from Iran so we were chatting about that as it is on our possible list to visit next year. One major problem for me is that I would have to not wear make up in some of the mosques, nobody but Allan sees me without make up and even then if is put on first thing in the morning !

Tonight we were on Cafe Clayton again, but it was Jill and Geraldine's first time there. They did not get their hands up quick enough so ended up as the bussers ie stacking the dirty plates and glasses and cleaning and sanitising the tables and chairs, I was on hot food servings with husband and wife team Linda and John, a great couple. I was admiring the way John served the food, like a real pro, beautifully positioned  on the plate and no sloppy mess either, I made a comment to this effect to Linda and she replied I should hope so, he was a chef and ran a diner for many years before working for Nestle. He was good though. Tonight's food was very Italian based, lots of pasta dishes and garlic bread. A bit of a worry tonight for the ladies as a young man started fitting and Jill manage to get someone to help, he quickly recovered bless him and returned for his dinner.

There were a group of young girls on tonight and I may be wrong but they were not really into it at all and stood around gossiping, I couldn't help myself but I did go and have a few words of encouragement to them and reminded them of what they should be doing and why, I think I was pleasant!

Jill and Geraldine also volunteered tonight to help Jamie make new aprons, how kind was that.

Not sure quite what time we got back to the villa tonight but the ladies had very tired legs and feet so I suggested they had a dangle in the pool, was funny seeing them there with legs in the pool and downing a glass of wine too! Ladies you have style .

Well I have now been awake for 19 hours so I bid you goodnight. My eyes are closing so cannot even check the mistakes I have no doubt written, so apologies .

Sweet dreams

Must also mention I had a lovely chat with Hanna too , she was at my house checking on everything, thanks Hanna xxx

Monday 14th September

A little bit restless last night, not sure why though. Tested my blood sugar at about 3 am and it was low so had a glucose injection and glanced at my iPad to see Hanna had posted a picture of an ambulance outside her house, panicked a little but fortunately all had been sorted, poor Mark was in pain and Hanna had called 111 for advice, it was them that sent the ambulance as wanted to check out he hadn't had a heart attack. It wasn't thank goodness but he has to have some tests to find out the cause and what treatment to have. Needless to say I felt hopeless here but they managed. Even though Evie had to go in the car to Peterborough to pick Daddy up.

This morning I went off to the village alone as thought that Jill and Geraldine might like a lay in after their long day travelling  yesterday. My shift today was in the Cafe Clayton and I was on hot food, I was welcomed today unlike last week and the two of us worked well together. Again the strange food combinations were enjoyed by all. A funny thing happened towards the end of service as a family came in dressed as Spider-Man and Batman including the parents ..... the  Dad was the guy who still thinks I am an actress from a film so when I saw him I made him laugh by saying, hey, I know you, you were in that Batman movie!

I returned to the villa to collect the two ladies and drove them to the village to register and to give them a guided tour, plus to deliver the cushion covers they had made for the Castle of Miracles, they were delighted with them. Bumped into the family from Nuneaton who were returning today, my goodness he had had a great time. He taught me a biological fact that I had never before realised, seems his wife got pregnant because she gave up smoking, he was quite adamant about it too, she is also having a little girl after trying for 3 years .... all down the to lack of smoking.

We went off to Walmarts to collect more food, our fridge is overflowing. Had a lovely chicken salad today, even had fruit and ice cream for dessert.

Tonight's shift was Halloween and we went dressed up for the event, Jill and Geraldine as cats wearing the cats ears I had bought with me and mine and Debbie's tails. Geraldine. I have to say looked like she had just stepped out of Harrods. Made my Snow White look rather inferior.  At the end of the evening my Snow White looked even more inferior as the back seam had frayed and there was quite a long slit down the back. Good job I had a slip on too otherwise my modesty would have been on show for all to see..

Jobs  tonight for J & G was mask making and they were brilliant. Very artistic and the children made some great masks. I know my limitations so was assigned the job of 'Greeter"   I did greet and gave out bags for the children to collect their candy in but I confess to spending a lot of time chatting to the families. One Mum shed  a few years as she told how special the time there was as she felt like a real family again, all of her three boys having a great time.

This is such a magical place! 

Sunday 13th September

Debbie has arrive home safe and sound, she had arranged that her husband, Frank should pick her up but told him not to park up she would text him on arrival and he could just pick her up from outside the terminal, this she did but then she realised she was at .Heathrow and not at Gatwick where she had flown out of! Thank goodness Frank was on the ball and was in the right airport and at the right time.

Well I got up, I thought,  in time for my breakfast shift this morning but when I looked at my watch as I was about to get my cereal ready it was already 710 so I just grabbed a kitkat chunky and left the house to get there for my 730 start, had already taken my insulin so it was needs must.

Today I was Concierge again, a good job to have as you actually meet and greet the families. Passed on some information to the family from Nuneaton that I  promised to help last night, they are after a particular style and colour of Nike trainers from the Nike outlet store so I found the address and telephone number for them to call. It is another service offered here at GKTW , they will take the families shopping should they wish to do so, great for  families from overseas who want to grab a bargain.

Today was the time to say goodbye to a couple of families, you may remember me writing about a delightful young man, a wish child who rushed to help another wish child who was in a wheelchair at Village Idol the other day, well he and his lovely family are leaving to go back to their home in Newfoundland this morning. Unfortunately the poor lad was suffering from quite nasty sunburn (hmm don't ask what the parents were up to to allow that to happen) so he didn't make it to breakfast but his lovely sister made sure that she got 2 big boxes of take outs to take back for him and his mum., bless her she didn't want to go home and told me she would miss me so much.

I really feel that I am fortunate to be here for three weeks and working two shifts a day as a lot of families recognise you and will chat, especially when they hear the accent , I do tell them that it is them and not me who has the accent though, makes them smile. A lot of the volunteers come on the same day each week or come with a group so, as the families are only here for one week, they do not get the same chance to interact.

The Dad who thought I was an actress last night give me a big grin this morning but still hasn't remembered who he thought I was.... I decided perhaps to be Helen Mirren rather than Kate Winslett, a little more believable I thought.  Didn't see the other family from New York that are leaving today but we are now FB friends so will be able to see how their little girl gets on.

Debbie would have been so proud of me this morning because I took over her role as Boss at breakfast. There was a lovely bunch of youngsters from a church group  who had travelled a couple of hours from Tampa to volunteer, they had been to an event yesterday but all came along this morning , they had no idea of what was needed re cleaning and sanitising the eating area so as no one else was about I guided them. Before I arrived a zealous youngster cleared away a full plate of breakfast, he thought the parent had gone, but no, he had only gone for a hot drink. Shame as the food service had then shut. I volunteered him for doing some of the vacuuming cheered by his friends.

I also met a lovely young lady who originated from South Vietnam,she was tiny and looked about 10 but in fact she was married with two children aged 20 and 17

After my shift I made my way to Tarjei (Target) to get some shopping for the arrival of Jill and

Geraldine and to get myself something for dinner, have just finished off some Tilapi, mash potatoes and veg, first proper meal for a few days now. Got absolutely drenched shopping though, another real storm, let's hope for some drier days soon

Well just had a phone call from Peter, the Gentleman from Car on the Drive who is picking Jill and Geraldine up from the airport to bring here, they obviously had had a long wait to get through immigration etc but they have arrived and on their way to join me now.

More tomorrow

.

Saturday 12th September

Well, Debbie has left for her flight back to the UK , was picked up by Peter from Car on the Drive for her slightly longer trip home, not a direct flight unfortunately but via Detroit and a 3 hour stop over there. Have a safe trip Debbie and thanks again for the fun and laughter, we are indeed like minded souls.  Before Debbie went she stripped her bed and washed the sheets and towels and we remade her bed, she cleaned the bathroom and swept the kitchen floor. I have now vacuumed and washed the floors and dusted. All ready for Jill and Geraldine who arrive tomorrow afternoon. As I wanted to wave Debbie off I did not sign up for a shift this morning so will now relax until I leave for the village at 5, not very sunny though.

Rather an odd sort of day so far, decided to phone a few friends and family members which was good but admit that the villa is very quiet without Debbie to chat to. I decided to try and fathom out the TV, it really is shocking, think at last I have found Criminal Intent which is at least watchable, but only just. I am not very good with remote controls either........... ask Allan!  Late lunch today was the remainder of the Ribeye steak I had the other night at Longhorns, was fine really but not quite as good as the first time when it was hot.

Now tonight's shift was as the Concierge in Cafe Clayton or Nancy's kitchen as it is fondly known. Nancy works/worked for Perkins so she is hugely influential in this area............... nothing is impossible for Nancy, if a family ask for something that is not on show then we are to ask her and if at all possible she will make it or find it, plus if she cannot do it there and then it will most certainly be available the next day for the family. Now I love Mayor Clayton but Nancy is also very special.

Slight hiccup tonight as there were three Concierges and for once I won and the job was mine for the night. Mainly I was just scanning the people's cards and the number of guests on the card, was not taxing but it did mean I got to speak to all the families which is what I really enjoy, a lot of volunteers tonight, considerably more than the 9 of us the other evening. A church group of youngsters helping and I met Ming a young Chinese,  but now American citizen who is training to be a nurse, volunteering was part of her course.. Tonight I really felt like and old hand as volunteers were coming up to me asking where things were etc and I mostly could tell them!

A lovely gentleman asked me if I was on social media and was it allowed for us to keep in contact, I said it was fine as it was he that asked, will be great to keep in contact to see how the family fare in the future.

The weather was really quite awful tonight, lots of lightening so they closed the pool and the Big Splash Bash was changed to games on the theatre. Not as many families came out for their dinner, fortunately they can order food to be bought to their villas.

I was back in the villa by 9, early shift tomorrow, breakfast this time so need to be there by 645. Only one shift tomorrow as need to be in to greet Jill and Geraldine when they arrive from the UK

Nearly forgot the funniest part of the evening, a guy looked at me when he gave me his card to be scanned and asked.me if I was an actress from a film he had watched...seems he recognised my face but couldn't remember which film. I said it was obviously one where there was a stunningly beautiful actress in it, he didn't agree with me, but then asked if it was from Willy Wonka! Quite appropriate really for those who remember me dressing up as an Oompa Lumpah for Make A Wish! 

Friday 11th September

Well one of the slowest mornings as a shift so far, we were on Lori's Magical Flight, this has 6 hang glider type double seats, 2 of which are wheelchair accessible. This ride was named after a former wish child who became a wonderful volunteer passed away at a far too young age last year, a fitting tribute to a special young lady that both Jane and I met and worked together with. We were thoroughly trained and stood waiting to put our training into practise, we operated the ride 5 times I the 4 hours we were there, I know because we had to keep a tally of the times it was used. It is a popular ride in the evening but as we have said before the majority of the guests visit the parks during the day so after about 915 there was nobody to be seen. This ride is outside and the sun was beating down on us so we were able to sit in a shady area with a huge fan going which made life bearable.the saving grace this morning was our chats with Duane and Margi. Now Margi originated from Switzerland but came to the U.S. In the early 50's, found love and stayed, her job today was as train driver but only had two early customers.

A whole paragraph for Duane, he has been involved with GKTW with his wife since the villages conception, even before the village was built. He is a friend of Henri Landwirth who we sadly found out today is at stage 3 of  Altzeimers and in a home near his daughter in Jacksonville, Florida, he is 89 now. His third wife Pamela is the President of the board of directors and today was one of four annual board meetings. Duane's  wife is on the board as she has worked tirelessly it seems on getting companies to support the village, back when the idea was conceived she was in charge of charitable requests for Proctor and Gamble. They count people like Walter Cronkite, John Glenn and Jane Goodall and many others as their friends. It was really interesting listening to how it all started and how it had changed. The expression from little acorns to mighty oaks came to my mind. He did make us laugh though as he described how one of the volunteers had told him off by wagging her finger up and down at him when he had the audacity of getting a guest a coffee of coffee, coffee pouring was HER domain  it seemed and no one else was allowed to touch the coffee. We told him of Mr Scraper's rules too, we did laugh a lot. They had left their home at 5 this morning to travel down from St Augusta, near Jacksonville where they are building a home, her for the meeting and him to spend the day volunteering. Without Margi and Duane it would have been a long morning.

Well Debbie's last shift done, Pirates and Princess again but this time outside by the pool and slightly different jobs too. Debbie was on Pirates tattoos and face painting and I was doing the same for the Princesses. Not too bad  although one little girl wanted red lipstick and she did look a little like Marilyn Monroe, well the lips did if not the child. The children were all so excited  as all the Disney Princesses made an appearance  as did Mayor Clayton and his lovely wife, Ms Merry. The highlight for the children was the arrival of the Mermaid Lorelei, she arrived in a wheelchair and elegantly slipped into the pool where she flapped her fin around for quite a while swimming around . Think it was Taylor, one of the volunteers who was following her around with puppy dog eyes , he met her last week and when Dan told me, I said he must be smitten, he liked my choice of words!

Tonight we did slip off as soon as the party had finished, asked to be excused the clearing up as we wanted to get a meal out as it was Debbie's last night. Off we went to TGI Friday's again , after all it is Friday! Had a good meal and a chat with the waitress who we had to explain the term 'kitty' to, same language again but alien choose of words.

Well it is now 1120, not too busy a day but am now tired.

Thanks for joining me Debbie, it was fun, hope you enjoyed it too. We really did laugh at similar things and we laughed a lot xxx

Thursday 10th September

Before I start today's posts I would like to add a couple of points from yesterday's. Firstly I inadvertently forgot to mention that I had a FaceTime call with both my daughters and one granddaughter. Hanna and Evie were in bed 7.30pm as they had just got back from Evie's swimming lesson, Lucy had not long put Martha to bed so I arranged to ring her today, did chat with her and Neil though.

The other thing I didn't t write down was about one of the lovely children at the Village Idol , A young lad, probably about 8 years old rushed over to offer help to a young lad in a wheelchair. He pushed him outside to sign up to do a performance, pushed him back and then on to the stage where he positioned his chair so that he could see the audience and sing. When the lad had finished his song he went back on to the stage and wheeled him off again . How special was that, they were both Wish children too. Made my eyes water, or as Debbie puts it, I washed my eyeballs!

Okay, now to today - I have to confess that so far the highlight today (apart from seeing Martha and hear her saying Grandma) was our lunch. We had decided that with a fairly easy first shift we would go out and have a proper dinner, oh my, did we! We went to the Longhorn Steak House and both had the Ribeye, Debbie with a jacket potato and me with mash, we both had asparagus. It was delicious, a really top steak and the trimmings were great too. To coin a well used americanism it was truly awesome! We have had 3 meals out now, the rest of the time we have snacked albeit healthy snacking  so it was just wonderful to have a real meal.

This morning firstly, it was Mickey Mouse in Julie's Safari Theatre , our job again was to guide the families in and offer to take pictures with their phones, cameras or tablets. We would also de clutter them of bags, hats, sunglasses etc. not a huge number of families but those who came were given a real show by Mickey. We even had our pictures taken on Debbie's phone with him too.

I went back into guest services to see about a paver stone I was looking for for a Make A Wish volunteer in the UK  who had been here with her son, Adam in 2011. They eventually found where it was (it had been moved from its original place because of the building of the new Town Hall) and they emailed me a picture of it which I have sent to the family in Cornwall. Have already received a reply thanking me and saying it had bought a lump to her throat, sorry Rachel, hope Adam enjoys seeing it too.

We also went into the House of Memories and bought a few more bits and bobs to take home as gifts. Sorry Frank, still nothing for you.

No word from Allan today but not really expecting to hear anything as doubt if he has any signal up a mountain.

Tonight was the first repeat shift for Debbie as we both did Winter Wonderland again. Debbie  was Elf Front of House  and ho, ho ho'ed every family into the line so they could come see Santa and of course, get a beautiful gift. I was again in with Santa ( at the photographers request,  well he asked if I was joining him again this week, so I took that as a request!)  it was so much busier than last week, 60 families came through, one 'family' consisted of a large group of Down syndrome children, one of whom was a wish child. They were great and so excited to see Santa. This was not the case with all the children, some seemed  to be scared stiff, in fact tonight there were such a lot of scared children. Santa really tried and succeeded in most cases to relax the children enough to get their picture taken. I did help a little as when a child was sobbing I started singing Jingle Bells and believe it or not, despite my singing she stopped and we got a smile! I expect possibly in sympathy. There was a large group of Disney volunteers there tonight which was a great help as regular volunteers were low in numbers.

Well part of this trip is coming to an end as Debbie returns back to the UK on Saturday morning, so just two shifts left to do for her. Let's hope tomorrow is as good as today

Wednesday 9th September

Really had a good nights sleep and woke at 630,  had set the alarm for 6 am but for next Monday by mistake so all was a bit of a rush as had to be at the village for a 730 am shiift

Today we were in the Ice Cream Parlour. Now you might wonder who in their right minds would want ice cream for breakfast , well let me tell you lots and lots of people do! We were really busy all morning, right the way through to 12 when we were relieved by two more volunteers.

Debbie was on top form today and forget the name Popeye or Boss, we may now have to call her Nigella as she invented a brand new Milkshake. A guy wanted a peanut butter sundae, a particular type of sundae of which we didn't have the ingredients, but this didn't  stop Debbie, she came up with an alternative all of her own making which according to the guy was amazing, yummy, mmmm, fabulous, here kids you try - too many superlatives to remember. Now the recipe is soon to be patented and I am not sure I can yet share it without a donation to Make A Wish or Give Kids the World. You will not be disappointed !!

The funniest part of our shift was when the Oreo Sprinkle machine became clogged and I asked for some help from Nigella, oops the top came of and there were pieces of Oreo biscuits everywhere including the floor. We had hoped it had gone unnoticed but when we turned around there were several families all chuckling to themselves , we asked them to pretend that nothing had happened though so think we got away with it. This was a whole morning shift 730 until noon and we were really quite busy, always families in, there is an express breakfast there too where there are eggs, waffles and pancakes, all freshly cooked, today by Linda. We certainly got through a few large tubs of ice cream.

On our return home to the villa we actually both got straight into the pool which was really warm, then a bit of sunbathing before getting our late lunch, early supper.

Tonight was a 630 start for one of my favourite shifts - Village Idol. All together there were 18 acts, 6 of which were renditions of Let It Go, also a couple of break dancing acts, and one of my favourite songs by Katie Perry, yes Roar (played at every Tigers home game). My role tonight was lining up the competitors and showing them to the famous Green Room - okay perhaps it was just lining up behind a curtain. Debbie was front of house, watching the children didn't fall off the stage, holding up the Applause sign and more importantly letting off the Streamer Cracker when the winner was announced, tonight it was winners, as , of course, everyone was a winner! Deservedly so too.  My jaw was aching from smiling so much.

To me the best act tonight were a sister and her two brothers, they did Let it Go but in their own inimitable style, really funny.they were and they so enjoyed it, ages probably 16, 15 and 11ish.

Another great day. Night now as it is 11.20 and we are to be in the by 8 tomorrow. Please when I get home don't anyone ask me if I had a nice holiday'!

I must also add that I managed to chat not only to Evie this evening but also to both Hanna and Lucy, oh and Neil said hi too!