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

Terri won't mind, she will be so happy for you, too!


He sounds wonderful.... I look forward to reading more about him in your Journals


lil xx

Terri good to hear that Yoda is making a good recovery. I have never been on a St. Partick's parade but it sounds great fun. You must have looked very elegant and beautiful dressed as an Edwardian lady in a horse drawn carriage.

Going on my mind, I am finally starting my New Deal course next week in Admin. Buses seem to get lost around here and find themselves in South Ockendon far from their destination. Got a travel card which means I pay childs fares on trains and some buses. All I know is that Ensingbus does not accept them but not a clear list of which bus companies take them.

Ooooh Milla!!!! So happy for you "Wouldn't it be luverly!" as the song in My Fair lady says & yes it is indeed , finding someone who genuinely cares about you etc.

Ivan; happy to see you haven't dropped off the face of the earth, been eaten by kangaroos or bitten by gigantic Aussie !

Willem; muchly for the advice; Fritz is going to the on Monday to be de-balled, plus general health check, jabs, microchip etc, we thought it best to get it all sorted at the same time while he's under anaesthetic, less traumatic for him.

I managed to screw up my (supposedly) "good" knee the other night during rehearsal of dance scene, so am back to hobbling around with a knee like a rugby ball....my (who is also in the play) has said it's cartilage stuff, given me heavy duty painkillers & anti-inflamatory meds, told me to rest it totally.

so, obviously i'm somewhat out of action; but determined not to let it get me down; if it ends up meaning i have to have another knee operation, at least i won't be scared this time, i know what's involved.

P is away today & tomorrow, inspecting Solar Panels in Dublin; it feels strange without him here, but i have Edda& Fritz to keep me company & phone contact with P; i'm doing my "secretary" bit, arranging hotels, answering the phone etc, my CV now includes Personal Assistant , electrical assistant, animal minder, gardener,shepherd, & General Farmers Wifey role....great life!!!

Thinker: yes, the Public Transport thing can be a real pain...P has travelled to Dublin by train & is using this time 'cos i am here to look after things & it's more environmentally friendly, plus less strain on him than driving BUT trying to co-ordinate bus routes & houses isn't easy.

How many of "you lot" depend on public transport compared to driving? Out here, in rural Ireland, it's not easy, seems to be OK in major cities though.

Sorry for not replying to emails yet; life is pretty hectic, we have rehearsals most nights & daytime is usually taken up with farm stuff; but "tis a grand craic!" as they say here; certainly not boring. Lovely time of year too; the weather has been mild & sunny, lambs are skipping around, flowers in bloom, we went up on the wild craggy moorland yesterday; amazing landscape; as someone said "you almost expect a dinosaur to appear at any moment!"

No new reports on Yoda, so assume "no news is good news"

to all of you.

zdt

Terri plase give my to Edda and Fritz

In South Ockendon/Belhus, the railway station is at least 30 minutes walk away and there is a 2 foot gap or more from the platform to the train and it is very nerve wracking to get on the train as my legs do not stretch as they used to do when I was a lot younger, Trains are every half hour Monday to Saturday and less on a Sunday. They start at around 6 am.

One year we had 4 different bus services from two different bus companies and now we have one bus service that goes down my road every 20 to minutes and there are two other bus which are 10-15 minue walk away, which runs every 1 1/2 and 2 hours, btween 9-6pm. Sunday bus service is very bad.

If I lived in the borough of Havering I would be able to use the oyster card for all buses around London for £13 and all bus companies take them in London but in South Ockendon-Thurrock, there is no such thing and if you get a weekly ticket you cannot use it for another bus company, so if you have to use two different bus companies you could end up pay £28 a week on bus fares.

Take care and all the best. I hope that the spring like weather continues.

Well, as you know, my wooh, Chicago has a fairly good public transport system (even if it is underfunded and we've seen some service cuts and rate increases in recent years). My train station is a little under a mile from home; I could catch a bus right at the corner of our street if I wanted to, but except in the heat of summer, or when there's more than 8" of snow or solid ice, I generally prefer the walk. The ride itself is about 25 minutes, and there's a 5-minute walk between my office and my train.

K and I tend to ride buses and trains around the city unless we have lots of groceries to lug home or during inclement weather. If K takes the bus to and from work, it triples his travel time so he usually takes the car.

I haven't actually owned a car since the early 90s, and even then I hardly ever drove it. It's cheaper to have a transit pass- right now I pay $86 a month, and it's tax deductible. Parking in the garage at my office is $18 a day!

Glad you are ok apart from the knee. Take care, don't try to do anything 'clever' while you are on your own will you?

It's the for me I'm afraid, with the services are better than most people think, and having a free pass puts a whole new light on things

Websailor

I hope the new light is powered by solar energy; then P can inspect it!!!

I still find it quite amazing that this place (2 houses, outbuildings etc) can be run pretty much totally by solar & wind power, we have a gas bottle for times when there is little wind or sun, but rarely use it. So Yippee: no electric bills to pay!

The only "not too clever" thing i did while he was away was totally turf out the 'middle room'; which is basically a dumping ground for stuff which will eventually get recycled. Stacked & sorted into categories now, rather than assorted heaps!

The knee seems to be muchly improved, so have stopped the toxic meds; however today we have rehearsal from 3pm till Lawd Knows when, full run through....I'm not skipping through arches of broomsticks again, that's for sure!

Anyone else here been in Amateur Dramatic stuff?

zdt

yowsae one and all!

not been online for a long time cos i usually do it in work, when i'm not supposed to and they 'redundantized' me in jan.

i been keepin up with terri's adventures in oiland via telefone and gmail thingie.

glad you survived the winter anyways hon. it was a wicked one and worse up there in wildernessland. we get it milder here by the sea.

today is mothers day, so a bit odd and sad for me, seeing as i lost mam on jan 3. but i'll pick flowers from her garden and go to the grave and visit her and dad later today. and in the mean time (i'l lett the boys off becuase they are 8 and 9 and not allowed near the cooker or to have sharp knives!) i'll cook us a nice mothers day slap up roast dinner.

hope peter got on ok with his dublin trip terri, and that he's back home with you now

catch up later on. dont work too hard in your rehersal!.

v

Terri it is good to hear that your knee has been getting better.

The last time I was in Amateur dramatics was when I was at school when I played Max in the Sound of Music. There were photographs taken but that was 31 years ago and I have lost them through the various home moves.

Hiya all! Just too say i haven't actually dropped off the planet: it seems like years since i've been on here!

It's been pretty well a non-stop schedule of rehearsals almost every night, with slotting in Solar inspections & general farm upkeep, shopping, eating & occasional etc. We've both had rather a hard time with costume "lady"; been told we are too "different"; ie: too scruffy looking to be authentic Cockneys (as if there weren't scrruffy Cockneys, honestly, the mind boggles!!!) plus in the Posh Scenes P got a severe telling off for the crime of Not Possessing A White Shirt!

Well, Her Fair Ladyship has just had to come to terms with the fact that some folk are just not "mainstream" & have no intention of buying white shirts they will never use again. So we've used a white polo neck T shirt & constructed an authentic Edwardian collar, ironed it with an authentic old iron which heats up on the range. Said Lady should maybe read my Hootoo Home of Today Archive & discover that's actually how life was until fairly recently!

Hands up any of "you lot" who don't actually own an electric iron, or smart white shirt?

Oh, and apparently we are both Too Slim, so none of their hired stuff fits!

Anyway, tonight is the Opening Night, but unfortunately i've had to miss it, since i had another bout of coughing up blood yesterday & today, very scary. My own is in the play, so was obviously unavailable & i didn't want to disctract him; plus he'd probably just say "off to hospital!" NO WAY! Eventually P tracked down a duty doc nearby & we went there.

At last!!! A sensible doc, really great guy, who actually listens & does the "minimum intervention" route. He got me to "open wide & say AAAHHHH as loud as if you're on stage" & pronounced "what this is; i can actually see, is blood from your nose, which can't get out, so it drips down your throat until it clots, then makes you cough it all up at once, it's a sinus infection."

I told him how i panic, which send P into panic mode also & he gave some useful advice: take note any of you lot who also get panic attacks:

"Well, next nime you feel like panicking, instead of think 'omigod i must stop panicking!' say 'I WILL panic, I MUST panic!' & amazingly, you may find it hard to deliberately panic!"

So, folks, change the "Don't Panic" to "DO Panic!" & try your damndest to panjic really really well!

As to the drinking; he is of the opinion that life is for living, that it's nobody's business but mine how much i drink & since around 50% of people with a liver problem don't drink at all, mine is fine. Plus despite all this trauma, apparently i have a normal oxygen level in my blood & lungs sound healthy.

zdt

Hiya Terri! I've been painting and painting and painting. Mostly florals. After all, it's springtime here!

I'm glad you saw a reasonable, nice doctor. I'll remember his advice next time I have a panic attack! I'm sorry you are coughing so bad, please take care.

Terri, I am sorry to hear that you have been coughing badly and I hope that you will be able to have your sinuses treated. Take care and all the best.

Now, I know what to do when I have a panic attack, all I will do is try and panic really well.

I have an iron but I do not have a crisp white shirt or blouse.

I don't get panic attacks, the only thing that ever did that to me was driving and I haven't done that in years, but that advice sounds like it would stop a person sliding into any kind of negative thinking, like getting angry, etc. For example, consciously imagining a minor inconvenience is The Very Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen. That would probably make me start to .

I own both an electric iron (till recently, had two) and a number of white dress shirts- but the shirts rarely require actual ironing and I can't recall the last time I used the iron.

Thanks for the s tip Terri. I will pass it on and change my badge from to 'Do Panic'.

I hope you are well enough to take part in future performances after all your hard work.

Take care,

Websailor

Hiya!

Well; last night i did it, as Professor Higgins said "Ah, great to have you back, tonight's *your* first night"

People here are so nice & friendly, i really do feel part of the community, several folk remarked "ah, we really missed you, but listen, you take it easy OK!"

Anyway, it went fine; i actually don't get Stage Fright once the show is running, i'm quite calm; it's rehearsals that bug me, when the continuity may get stopped at any moment, new stage directions added etc.

We've both had the Official Stamp of approval re: costumes & i even escaped layers of muck on my face "Jeez, you are a grand colour skin anyway, off ye go!"

Good audience, no major probs like lampposts & pillars toppling over, probably a few lines missed, but only those in the cast would notice, i doubt the audience has a script in front of them!

Finished around midnight, P exhausted & off straight to , i managed some shut eye also, woke around 5am though & have been doing Good Little Hausfrau stuff; basically he's a lark & i'm an owl, so i will probably go back to bed once he & appear!

No nasty nasal nonsense, thank goodness, so with luck i may not have to see ENT specialist. it's such a relief to know that despite it looking so scary, it's not actually that serious.

for all your kind thoughtsmy fiends!

Jellen, great to hear you are doing so much stuff again: i am really looking forward to getting back into that, there simply hasn't been time until now, but you can bet i've been collecting all sorts of Oirish treasures & plotting ideas for future cheeseboxes, paintings etc! I showed P my photo exhibition & paintings today, he seemed quite impressed (he's into photography also, plus obviously stuff...with both parents music teachers, i guess it's in his blood!)

So: the burning question on my mind is: PC; why on earth did you need TWO irons? We visited a house on Inspection the other day where we had to crawl under two ironing boards & THREE irons!.....wondering if we are a bit unaware of the intricacies involved in all this, maybe we should go on a training course or something?

zdt

Well, K came with an iron, too. His was older and more complicated, so we donated it to charity with a heap of my old clutter from the back porch storage.

He came with an iron??????? The bind moggles & imagines the scene!!!!!

Tonight's audience was great, started singing along to "I'm getting married in the morning".

Tomorrow, ye gods, we actually have a Day Off, so we are relishing the prospect of getting on with finishing the roof of the new porch, planting summer flowering bulbs, cleaning out the pond etc.

I was really quite touched today when P looked back at the house & said "Oh, doesn't it look lovely, the crocuses are coming out, you have prettied it up so nicely, thank you"

Anyone else into gardening type stuff? What's the weather like in your part of Planet right now?

zdt

The weather's all wrong here. Days about 12C above the average for this time of year, grass in public spaces beige and crisp, grass in my garden long since crumbled to dust. There was rain today for about 5 minutes; barely enough to dampen the ground. The first of the three months of Autumn ends today. The autumn break - the decent rains the farmers rely on in these parts - have failed for the eighth year running.

As far as the garden goes - I'm allowed to water plants (but not the 'lawn') with a trigger-controlled hose between set hours every second day. These hours are now after nightfall, so it's not a whole lot of use, but it's definitely reducing the usage rate of the city's water supplies.