Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Bakers Delight at Apprentice Sacrifice

Tuesday 29th July 2008
This morning when Ian went to work it was raining, it wasn’t what you would call windy although it was a bit breezy, so that was a nice change. The forecast for later today was for a few bright spells, which we had, followed tonight by lots of rain and gale warnings which appear to be here while we are writing this. You’d think the Bamboo would get fed up with all the bashing around that it gets in weather like this and just die, but it won’t because it likes keeping us awake. If you were to bash a plant that you wanted to keep alive, half as much as this lot gets bashed, it would die out of spite, it’s a conspiracy.
We had a Fire Drill at the Shopping Centre today, it was being monitored by the powers that be, health and safety or whatever they are called over here.
It was the biggest farce of a fire drill that Ian has been involved in, we were all warned in advance and told that we would be expected to leave the building, so we made sure that we had some take-away coffees ready at the given moment as you do.
It was 8.38 am when the alarm went off, it should have gone off at 8.30 am but someone wasn’t ready. At first we weren’t sure if it was the alarm because it wasn’t very loud and it sounded like one of those security buzzers that goes off when you try to leave a shop without having a security tag removed. After a short while the tone changes and an automated voice says something along the lines of get out this is not a drill, we couldn’t really understand what it was saying because it was a bit quiet, but it was something along those lines.
Now prior to this happening, Ian was talking to one of the girls in Bakers Delight about Assembly Points and where we are all supposed to be once we leave the building. She had been working there for five years, had never done a fire drill and didn’t have a clue where the assembly point was. As it turns out the Assembly point is across the other side of the Car Park, by the Library, but the general consensus of opinion was that because it was raining nobody was going to get wet and they all stood outside the main doors under the canopy. That was of course with the exception, because you do always have an exception, of the staff from Coles supermarket, they had to walk to their own Assembly Point which was at the bottom of the Car Park next to the waste bins where there is absolutely no shelter from the elements. They were not happy.
Anyway, back to the evacuation, Ian and Simone who was the only member of staff working at the time grabbed their cups of coffee, left the building and waited under the shelter of the Post Office over the road.
Coles being such a big employer, have a system whereby all the staff are counted out of the building and therefore have to leave via designated exits. Unfortunately the Coles Emergency Door at the front of the building, when open, covers the only door out of Bakers Delight, so the Bakers had difficulty getting out. When the Bakers were able to force their door open it coincided with the time when some Bread was going to burn if it wasn’t taken out of the oven soon, so in true Aussie style they sacrificed the Apprentice and left him to take the Bread out of the oven while the rest of them drank coffee outside.
How they ever got planning permission to have two businesses with Fire Exits that back onto each other is amazing, apparently this problem was noticed on the last fire drill but nobody could be arsed to do anything about it.
Anyway, this was a pucker Fire Drill where everyone had to leave the building and the Centre Manager and his staff had to check each shop to make sure that the building was empty.
It worked really well, “the best one yet”, despite the Bakers not being able to get out because of the Coles emergency exit blocking their door, the Bakers sacrificing the Apprentice for the sake of a few burnt scones, the Coles staff that just happened to Not leave the Building, and we suspect a few customers also, the workmen who were working in the new Butchers shop who said they wouldn’t be there by the time there was a real fire and all the others who didn’t bother lifting their shutters until it was all over.
Within about two minutes of us leaving the building they said that we could go back in, so they obviously didn’t bother even pretending to do a roll call.
We got a Pie Maker and some Pastry sheets today and made some Jaffle Pies, four to be precise, we are going to sell them with mash and Gravy. Ian managed to sell one of them but the staff need a bit of training in how to promote certain dishes to increase sales, so Ian and the staff ate the other three. The woman who bought the one that we did sell, thought that it was great and is coming in tomorrow to have another.
Carolyn phoned up the bed people to let them know that the mattress for Frasers bed was a lot smaller than the bed frame and was told that three inches short in Length and Width was the correct size, they said it is so that the mattress can spread when someone is laying on it.
They are making a big thing over here at the moment about obesity but we didn’t think it was that bad, we’re sure that in the UK the mattress was only ever about an inch shorter than the bed frame so there must some serious lard arses over here if this is the norm. Fortunately Fraser is not of the build where he is likely to fall through the cracks down the side of the bed, but by the same token he would have to quadruple in size to make the mattress spread that much.
Kristian was supposed to have one, if not two of his teeth removed today, but would not let the Dentist anywhere near him, they couldn’t even get him to put a plate in his mouth so that they could take an x-ray. Apparently we could take him up to Perth where he could be knocked out in Hospital to have them removed, but it would be cheaper to fly him back to the UK, so he can suffer until they drop out or the pain is worse than the fear of the dentist. It was Carolyn who said that, Ian is far too compassionate to say such a thing.
(He lies)
Fraser was invested at Scouts tonight, he is a happy chappie, we have been badgering him all week about knowing his Scout Law off by heart so that he could say it off pat when required, only to find that they asked him to repeat after them, he just got on and said it anyway. He is now the proud owner of a new Neckerchief, Woggle and lots of badges which Carolyn is looking forward to sewing on his Uniform at the first opportunity, or two minutes before his next Scout meeting, whichever comes sooner.
As we are writing this Fraser is happily tucked up in his bed with all his cuddlies, the wind is whistling and Surprise, Surprise it’s Raining, so time to go and listen to what the Bamboo has to say for itself tonight.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It has only just occurred to me - shouldn't you have photographed the 3 smallest Hojos outside your own cafe rather than advertising someone else's ? Perhaps the cafe can star on another photo soon ?