No rest for the Christmas workers

A white Christmas means a busy day for weatherman John Stubley

It may take only one snowflake to be spotted at the Met Office in Cardiff on 25 December to make it an official Welsh white Christmas - but someone still has to see it.

And this year, the weather forecaster who drew the flake-watch short straw was John Stubley.

John is one of the three Met men who are on duty on Christmas Day.

He is one of thousands hard at work on the big day while most of us enjoy the company of family and friends.

"The problem is that the weather doesn't stop - our office is open 24 hours a day," said John.

"If it's a white Christmas, it may seem nice for people who are in their house but the councils will have to be out gritting roads.

"It means a busier day for us because we give them information about what the weather is doing."

When you get a call, your mind goes into automatic - it doesn't matter what day it is Lifeboatman Paul Frost

John and his colleagues are on the roof of the Cardiff weather centre every hour throughout Christmas Day to take readings.

"Christmas doesn't make any difference, unfortunately. We don't make any changes, we just do exactly the same thing as we would on any other day," said John.

"I've probably only had three Christmases off in the last 30-odd years. I don't really mind, you just get used to it.

"It sounds like a sob story but it's double time, remember!"

While it's business as usual at the weather centre, Paul Frost's Christmas work pattern is more unpredictable.

As second mechanic on the Rhyl lifeboat, he is on constant standby.

Paul, aged 50, could be called out at any time and cannot be more than four minutes away from the lifeboat station.

Paul Frost is on standby for Rhyl lifeboat on Christmas Day

"Christmas Day is just another day for us," he said.

"Wherever we are, whatever we do, there's always a possibility of us being called away from our loves ones.

"Luckily, in Rhyl we haven't had a call-out on Christmas Day.

"But we've had them on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, so you have to take the celebrations in moderation.

"The call-outs we've had around Christmas are for more domestic problems, like people in the harbour," said Paul.

"We've had a few people jump into the sea, whether it's out of high spirits or low spirits.

"When you get a call, your mind goes into automatic - it doesn't matter what day it is.

"We're professional, even though we're volunteers. We will do the job and get back as soon as possible."

John David has spent Christmas Day in the office for 20 years

Love them or hate them, no Christmas is complete without sprouts.

But should the water to cook them stop running from your taps, you'll need to call Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water - and there is a chance John David will be on the other end of the line.

John, aged 55, has worked the Christmas Day shift in Cardiff 20 years in a row.

"Despite what my wife says working on Christmas Day isn't just an excuse to get out of peeling the spuds - I actually really enjoy it," said John.

"We're a close team and there's always a jolly, fun atmosphere within the contact centre.

"Now that my kids are grown up it's only fair that I should work on Christmas Day so that colleagues with young families can be together.

"It's also a nice feeling to be helping people on Christmas Day, and the customers are very pleasant to us."