Righty O then

Well I have managed to get myself along nicely in this fine town of Salzburg for the last few days and have been having a bit of fun making random crap in the kitchen. The wonders of getting bored and making Brownies or Choc Chip cookies.

Hell, if I had the right type of trays and things to use I'd probably be making muffins and possibly even cakes.

My first couple of days here I had off because they didn't know for sure if i was going to be coming, had the breakfast on the Saturday which was OK except for the fact that the lazy topdeck assholes left the majority of their plates on the tables, all 50 of them, and I was working my myself; a lot of people got free breakfast until I could clear all of the tables off and clean them down. The rest of that day was a bit of a nothing day... it was Valentines and being wonderfully single and not in the mood to go out and play the field it was a boring day - although I did get a message from a fellow single friend of mine, Jen, which lifted my day from a chore to just another day which at the time was an achievement.

Dinner that night was a breeze and the wonders of having to do breakfast the next morning was something that I was so looking forward to. The one thing I did do that night which was a little bit different was to make myself, and the two other people working, a roast chicken. It was meant to be a two hour chicken but the wonders of a fan-forced industrial oven cut that cooking time down to just under an hour and got rave reviews all around.

The next breakfast was another snooze, only had a couple of people come in, 15-20, and only had to break out the fry pan twice for the eggs so it made for another boring morning. The day dragged on and then I crashed out early so I could manage to stay awake through my night shift which I had the joy of doing.

Dragged myself down stairs after a few hours sleep at 11.30pm and headed into the bar where the reception guy was hanging out with the barman and the regulars. Two beers quickly disappeared and then I was on the job, didn't really do much for a couple of hours till the people in the bar finally fucked off and left. Then I setup the breakfast bar, chatted to random people on FaceBook and then decided to use the random baking supplies I had the foresight to buy the day before, no shops are open on Sundays.

At 4 am I made Choc Chip Cookies, and then at 5 am I got bored again and made a tray of brownies.

After dragging the last few hours the shift was over and I headed to bed at a bit after 8am.

The rest of the day was a non item and then the night came around... I had ten euros and some change to spend, had three beers here at the YOHO and then decided to go out and see if I could run into the random American girls at O'Malleys again. They weren't there but I got a beer anyway and got talking to a guy called Toohey (like the beer) and a girl called Amber at the front bar. One beer turned into two and then I headed with them to a live music joint where Toohey was playing, great little place and the first that I have managed to find that has beer that is cheaper than here at the hostel. Got a couple of beers, chatted randomly with a couple of cute local girls and then decided that my lack of money was a sign that I had better get back seeing as I had the breakfast shift that coming morning too.

Breakfast was another non item, then I got pro active and did a total stocktake of the kitchen from scratch, which apparently hadn't been done in months. That wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be considering what I was used to doing back at the football club. Then it was another slow night in the kitchen but no breakfast which is something I was grateful for... back to the repetitive monotony of work.

On this fine day I have finally been told the kind of hours I would be working and how much money I should be expecting per month.

-6 nights a week
-5 mornings a week
-1 day a week off with the following morning off as well.

around 40 hours a week and around 500 euro's a month, and that includes accommodation and some food as well so its effectively around 1000-1200 euro a month if you add those costs in too.

Things are starting to become a bit more solid which after so much variability is a bonus.

That and its only a bit under two weeks till I get to catch up with my old mate Sam in Paris...

Today's feature is an old favorite.



"Johnny I hardly knew ya" - Dropkick Murphys

The light at the end of the tunnel...

So after the mounds of shit that had quietly presented themselves to me things have taken a move towards the positive.

An emergency credit card care of FedEx turned up half way through Thursday and then I got packing. The card with with emergency increase in limit so I can actually move myself between cities is what i needed. I paid my accommodation and got on the first train that I could get myself onto to Salzburg, EC115.

Hadn't been on an EC train yet but it was nothing to complain about, good fast train with comfortable seats, I was in Salzburg just under 2 hours later and couldn't wait to get myself back to the wonders that are the YOHO. Good to be somewhere where I know the accommodation is covered and the food is free... and I get to use the kitchen.

Upon coming through these doors here at the YOHO I was greeted with a cheer from the people at the front desk... apparently they had been trying to get in touch for a few days to confirm when I was going to be turning up... surely enough I was here and to the sound of it, it's a good thing.

Chrissy from the kitchen has her last shift tonight, Anita is leaving the kitchen soon too, Sabina the cleaner/kitchen person left without notice a few days ago and one of the people from the office got fired the other day - I picked a fucking great time to come back; from tomorrow I have:

-three kitchen shifts
-two morning reception shifts
-one night porter shift

And that has the opportunity to grow to even more so it should be fun.

So from where I was just a few days ago, I am loving where I am now.

Lets just hope that it stays this good... and that I keep remembering to update this thing often enough.

... so a few words from me.

So I've finally managed to pull out that nice web cam of mine...



There's my little chat for now, you might have to turn it up after 20 seconds... I didn't get around to fixing the audio levels.

The random vid of the week is:



Eisblume - "Eisblumen"