h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Bursts back through the door dragging a suspiciously shaped large black bag, frops down in the comfy chair and opens it to reveal a number of backlogs, nestling neatly amongst helium balloons.*

Oooh!!! I get a prize.y thing. Kyeks!! I'd like to thank.. no, I'd better not.

There's a new thread already? I really need to hang out here more...

Dreams about Fathers? WWFD? (What would Freud do?)

Growing up: I think there was a memo about having to grow up, but since only growed-ups read memos, well...

hello Az. Erm, ahem, az, I think, there's, you've got, ahm, witha,so,. Anyway..

>Had an interesting day. Manchester airport has three terminals, who'd a thunk it?

Birmingham has two. And a taxi driver will always deliver you to the wrong one.

David - in department stores in Japan they provide you with an umbrella condom so that you don't leave a dribble on the floor. The really good ones have an automatic doofer, where you insert the umbrolly at the top and pull it out sideyways all covered. Hours of entertainment for ...well.. me, I guess.

Should I post a massively massive post, me wonders. I think I'll have a little slice of kyek while I mull it over.

Oh, and well done to everyone doing runs for things. Watch this space.

The physical end of a conversation does not mean the end of any topic that was being discussed. Please carry on with your 2 cents.

I arrived in the office at one, opened up, unlocked drawers, became available for customers. Happily, both my javascript books arrived, so I had some distractions.

1:05 sit down and wait for customers.
1:20 smile at some tourists who come in to look at the lobby
1:35 put together the registered mail for the daily cash deposit, which was zero -- a nil return.
1:50 Sell 10 2-cent stamps to Ralph.
2:00 Pull all mail items together for truck.
2:05 Make small talk with truck driver and help him carry the day's mail to the truck.
2:10 scan bar codes that indicate I have given outside and inside mail to the truck.
2:30 change the dates in the cancelling stamps
3:00 log into computer and dutifully view a screen with no data, per federal requirements.
3:05 chat with Jerry for several minutes.
3:50 take down the flag.
3:55 Do credit report and batch close on credit card machine (report = zero).
4:00 Lock drawers and teller window and go home.

In between, yawn and fidget, try and study, get up and move around to stay awake.

What do I want to be when I grow up? A river otter. Imagine spending your whole day playing in the water..............

What or who were you in a past life?

ALLLO lIl!! Sounds like a fun day! Actually, there's not as much here as I thought.

Happy belated to Sig S.

Rosemary - how was the exam?

- I have to say, by the time I'd have managed to do that with my list, I'd have no time to get started.

Virtual conferences don't appeal to me, but a virtual hangover in place of the very real one I spent today trying to work with might have been an improvement. Waaaay too many buzzwords buzzing aboot.

Amy -
Glasgow has live music venues, Edinburgh doesn't.
Glasgow has more stuff to do than Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is far prettier.
Although Glaswegians are supposed to be friendlier, I meet friendlier people in Edinburgh without trying.
Glasgow has public transport that mostly works, and you can drive mostly fine.
Edinburgh is a major disaster to attempt to drive near the middle, but public transport hasn't / can't catch up.
Glasgow is *still* more sectarian than Edinburgh.
Edinburgh has The Festival, which I love to bits, but which most people who live there tend to get heartily sick of.
Every time I'm in Glasgow I meet at least one absolute nutter.
Every time I'm in Edinburgh I meet at least one absolute nutter.
The Edinburgh nutters don't leave me looking for defensive weaponry.
They might build a new big supercasino in Glasgow.

Gw7en - "Daddy will be doing services"???

I'm not planning on abandoning anyone, but BT may have a different idea when I fail to pay my bill.

*furtively casts a furtive glance at Az*

Lil,
I always find the tales of your life interesting, it seems so differnt to England, not least of all taking down the flag at end of day, something you would sadly not get in Britain in a post office.
.
I found what I call a broad leaf furn(sp?) in an unusual place today, it was down a drain in the middle of a car park. It seemed quite happy, I think I may have seen it there a couple of years ago. It is fairly dark down there, damp and not too hot, ideal for that type of furn that I have only seen in a forest type of situation. When I mean broad leaf I mean a solid leaf without the usual furn slots, and a greener, slightly waxy looking skin.
.
I also found out that slugs get a perhaps undeserved bad rap today, appearance wise. I was looking at a slug on a plant today, thinking you ugly creature, the "slug" turned its body, and up popped its beautiful stripped shell! It was just a snail in an awkward position hiding its pretty shell.

They just released the second season of Little Britain in the US. I enjoyed the first season so much I ordered it. It came today, so I have something fun to do tonight.

Now if they will just release more of the Midsomer Murders, I will be a happy hillbilly.

Mike, you don't even *want* to know how freudian that dream was.... And all because Tiger was a dirty stop-out.

Lil - have you read "Candleford Green" by Flora Thompson? It is the third section of a triptych usually published as "Larkrise to Candleford" and it is about a young girl working for a Post Office cum Blacksmiths in rural England in the 1890s. I have no idea whether or not you'd enjoy it, but I think you might.

I am feeling virtuous. I have now done most of my filing and am left with a stack of Things To Do which is actually neither that high nor that scary.

[GDZ]

[fg]

Why do I keep on forgetting to go to bed?

When I grow up?

1) Maskmaker & general artist type
2) Monster/alien/special effects makeup
3) Computer game design
4) Monster creation
5) Science-fiction writer
6) Poet
7) Heavy drinker

Of course, being a poet goes along with the drinking.

> Yeah, I might stick around if I don't get totally ignored like all the other times I've tried posting here

[Lentilla looks around, ignoring azahar] Was that somebody talking? Hmm... don't see anybody! You're pretty difficult to ignore - but it's easy to get lost in the shuffle.

As for the rest of the backlog, I must skip, as I'm off to the Kerrville Folk Festival! Hippie delights await. Ya'll have fun, and I'll see youse guys after Memorial Day.

Lady C <>

Have you ever noticed that when people mention their past lives, they were always Henry the 8th or Benedict Arnold or Marie Antoinette. (Shirley MaClaine has dibs on Cleopatra, I believe. ) Somehow, former lives as ditchdiggers and barmaids must not be memorable enough...

I think I may have been a Killer Rabbit, before I got clubbed...

SC

P.S. -- az, it's very hard to actively ignore people when they don't come back...hope to see you soon

Morning All,

Who are we ignoring?

You'll all be pleased to hear that the cold that's been hovering around for two weeks is in fact a cold, and not hay fever as my colleague helpfully suggested yesterday. *blows nose. Discretely*

I decided I need a hobby. Well, two. One where I can join something and one I can do at home instead of watching the telly. Well, while watching the telly, if I'm honest.

So after much thought, I've come up with joining a choir and embroidery. I blame David and Ag, except I'm too pasive to bound around on stage (and I doubt I'd get to do much more than stand innofensively at the back and sing in the chorus anyway, have fun at your posh party!) and knitting, I reckon, involves counting and a certain amount of precision. Plus, I think you can probably spend a lot of money on pretty threads and endless hours organising a sewing box.

I shall give growing up some thought.

*Tries to ignore az. Fails. Waves hankerchief limply in her general direction*

Actually what I want to be when I grow up is a person with hobbies. Although that would look more like my teenage years...

"What does that mean for you Caer? Will you also lose part of your garden, or will there be noise and dirt etc while they are building? Is it a lot of houses?"

We won't lose any of our garden, Kelli, although orginally we were approached to sell a strip of land at the end for part of the access road. But we turned them down, as did the neighbours either side. But we live on a quiet fork around the green in the middle, the slightly busier bit being on the other side. This is a very quiet suburban pocket, disturbed only by the traffic and kids going to and fro from the rather large school close by. But, being Surrey, all are generally well behaved and the school's attitude is the kids' behaviour is the school's concern until they get home and take their uniform off. So any potential trouble is nipped in the bud. It's that sort of quiet area.

So the 14 houses and up to 28+ related cars exiting on to our quiet little strip of road is going to change this area greatly. Add to the fact that each house will only have one parking bay, with just two more in total for visitors plus the only stretch of straight kerb close by is outside our house, adds up to K and I having the outside of our house looking like an urban road and people possibly parking on the green too.

Because the houses are being built on neighbouring gardens, they need an access road and nextdoor-but-one is to be knocked down for that purpose. So we shall be very much affected by the increase in traffic and so will the kids walking to school.

Then there is the whole issue of the drains. They were built in the 1950s running into sewers further down that were built in the 1900s. We regularly get the drains backing up, so often that K bought rods and has special clothing he puts on to tackle them. The new houses are going to add to the problem.

The obvious question is why don't you move? Yes, we could even with the houses being built, this one would sell the day it was put on the market, because of the school's reputation and the desperation of parents' to get their children admitted. But there is no guarantee that this wouldn't happen in another area. So we shall have to put up with up to a year of noise and disruption and just hope that once it's all done, life will be bearable again.

It was the Deputy PM's Office who approved the planning application as they have for every one presented for appeal in the area.

I could go on for hours, boring you all, so will stop.

I'm sorry, Az, I think I failed to welcome you in my tizzy over the building, so hello!

As for growing up, Z once said I was fourteen still! I want to be a Princess when I grow up, a rich one, with a tiara and ballgown.

There was other stuff I was going to respond to, but I'm all het up again over the building works again.

'Wear it?' I've not mentioned my other hobby, then?

Beasties having the chop. Mine didn't seem to notice. He didn't even seem to be sore or sorry for himself afterwards, bounded around like nothing had happened. Oh, except I think he missed the pretty nurse who had apparently been spending so much time fussing and stroking him that her other (presumably more worthy yet less pretty) patients had been neglected.

I think it is easier for boybeasties My two have been dropped off. Am now in agonies of guilt and worry.

Caer, that is awful - it is strange that they never *ever* seem to make adequate plans for parking, and assume we all live in 1950s family units where the man has the car for work and the woman stays at home with the kids and walks everywhere Don't know if any of you remember when I lived in the Croydon flat and they basically threatened us with a huge charge for re-roofing unless we agreed to plans to build 20 new flats upstairs? There were already 60 flats in the block, and parking for around 30 cars - where did they think the rest of the new people were going to put thier cars? It is all very well encouraging us to use cars less - but people are still going to own the things. I agree that moving might not put you in a better position (and will no doubt result in paying out huge amounts of tax to the govt), so I *really* hope that once the building disruption finishes then things settle down to a bearable level.

The office of the deputy PM seems to exist to overrule local planning decisions, as far as I can see