tourguideddie

Back from back to backs
Just got home in time to see Sol Campbell scoring for the Arsenal in Euro Cup final. Although I used to live almost next to Highbury never been a big Arse fan - too many foreigh players to be a proper English team - but glad for Sol and wanted them to win. Reminded me of coming home from tour just int ime to see England beat Germany 5-1 away. Too tired after a four and eight day tour to do anything else but watch telly. Did not even unpack until next day when there was a flurry of domestic duties - washing iroing, gardening and all the things that you cannot do on the road. My ex thinks that I am unadventurous in that I do not take our daughter abroad when off but, after so long on the road, I really just want to spend time at home and exploring London - which suits her as well.

Taking her to see the Da Vinci Code tomorrow which is really a must see movie for tour guides. Quite looking forward to it in a superior sort of way. It was one of those books you dash through and quite enjoy while feeling that it is both nonsense and superficial - but much of it still remains in my mind in a way that more difficult books often don't. Makes a contrast to King Lear in Russian which I saw at the Ritzy yesterday - I remember it as one of the few Shakespeare films that was successful, although Monty Pyton maybe makes it seem melodramatic now.

Off to the office today to collect file and funds for next tour - only a brief respite between tours.

Double figures

DOUBLE FIGURES AND DRIVERS
This is my tenth posting so at least I have reached double figures - I read that most people give up after a few months, but I enjoy posting even if I do so irregularly and have not done so while on he road yet - will maybe have a go in Dublin on Sunday if I don't slope off to the cinema.
Wales and Ireland is my next tour, the first time I have done this particular itinerary, so I am a little nervous particularly after seeing the optionals listed on the itinerary booklet, some of which I know are impossible, others difficult in the time available. One of the inmportant things to do before the tour starts is to draw up a listof optionals and photocopy it so that people can choose whi9ch they would like to do. Some people like to do them all, others few or none. I also will probably have a driver who has not done the tour before as it is a new company for us, Park's of Hamilton, or a new old company rather as they used to do our tours and ahve just returned to the fold. Almost all their drivers are Scottish and some of them think they know the tour better than the tour director - which may in fact be the case.
Occasionally, however, a tour guide/director has to stand up to an awkward driver and say, "No - we are going to do this my way, not yours." The tour director is responsible for the success of failure of the tour and so he has to have the final say - the buck stops here, as President Truman had written on a sign on his desk.
I hate arguing with a driver as I am a conflict avoider by nature and think that people usually pick up on conflict and it affects the atmosphere of the tour badly. They usually side with the driver, in any case, there being a psychological need to believe in the man (almost always) behind the wheel, rather than the man/woman holding the mike. Someone wrote that each group has a leader, followers and a scapegoat who is blamed when things go wrong. God help the tour guide who becomes the scapegoat...