Hi wingswinger
Yes it is normal to work 20-22 days a month. Last summer the co. were doing 5/2 or 6/3. The 6/3 was a result of a trial giving 8 DOIL days back to the company and using those days during the roster to make sure that people doing 6 days got 3 off at the end. The system has reverted to normal again, so you don't necessarily get 3 days off after 6 on.
You generally get 5/2 or 6/2, however its not unusual to do 8 or 9 days with 1 off in the middle to keep the roster legal. The roster isn't too bad for the most part, however once crewing get hold of it, its an entirely different story. In terms of standby it's mostly single random days (1 a week) but often you might only get 2 maybe 3 in a roster. You may get 2 together. Its unusual to get more. As Ham Phisted has said being called off an early standby is quite common, to do lates etc. This is a pain if you are on a 0600 stby on your first day back as they call you 5 mins before the end to do lates which wipes out the next 2 or 3 days of earlies and the whole week goes to c**p!
This was a daily/weekly occurance last summer. Everytime i checked in and out for the day i had roster changes. Eventually you give up printing the roster for environmental reasons!
The dash guys would do 1 maybe 2 days in a week and nightstop the rest. You normally get sent to edinburgh, glasgow or belfast. However, as i said before some of the guys are away for the whole week. The bases with the most nightstopping captains are bhx and jsy, although i do stand to be corrected! Things should improve at bhx as i think there are more dashes for the summer. Not sure what is going on in jsy though. Bhx is probably the most turbulent base in terms of roster changing and messing around. The other bases are more stable but you pretty much do max hours wherever you are based!! You generally get "thrashed" wherever you are on either fleet, the only difference is whether you get to go home at the end of the day!!