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

Another funny http://wonkhe.com/blogs/whats-in-a-name/ about name change consultations - 'Totaldream Limited'

I have a small locker in the officer, so I have somewhere to store my mug, but the shared kitchen has shared mugs and tea bags and milk for the office provided by the uni. The kitchen layout is very awkward, almost as if they put the sink in as an afterthought and everything has been arranged in such a way that it is impossible to go into the kitchen without being in everyone's way. I don't think I've ever known anyone to enter the kitchen without saying 'sorry!' at least once. But that's the joy of security-kitchens for you.
But it does seem that if you don't have places to store things, that it becomes more of a logistical issue to take mugs, milk and tea bags - especially if you aren't there that often.

Sorry to hear about your gutter - you don't know anyone who knows about stopping leaks from a roof? I assume it is a missing or misplaced tile, but might possibly be the sun tunnel.

I hope you had a good weekend - we had a fairly quiet one, though we did all as a family go to the cinema and saw 'Kung Fu Panda 4', which was fun, but not as good as the third or first and very, very predictable. So I'll have to write about that for my DreamWorks Animation entry soon.

I also did a fair amount of doodling, and was pleased with a page set in a greengrocers I drew yesterday. Of course there's a sign where all the fruit is labelled:
Apple's
S'trawberries'
Ras'pberries'
Pas's'ion Fruit
Though I'm not sure how visible that will be - I'm thinking of Inverting (CTRL-I) when I polish it up, which will mean that instead of having black text on a white background it will hopefully look like chalk written on a blackboard.

Thank you for that link - I really enjoyed reading it.

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There are some lockers in our office as well - I put my archive box in one, but I think there's enough room to put a mug in, too - that's a good idea indeed

Funny but not funny about the 'sorry'-security-kitchen... I must admit I can't imagine our kitchen being easy to use if it gets busy, as there are a couple of tables, chairs and sofas in front of the sink area, but it's fine if the tables aren't in use.

It was a lovely warm sunny day here today, but now the rain has started again... Sorry your roof is still bad - hopefully it's not the sun tunnel that did it and hopefully it's straightforward to fix if you can find a tradesperson soon

It was an interesting day yesterday - I did car birdwatching at low tide, but the marsh was so wet with all the rain it looked like high tide. Unlike at high tide, the birds weren't very active, though - mostly huddled up to keep warm. I added another species to my list, though, so that was pleasing Glad you all had a reasonably good time at the cinema. I can imagine 4 Kung Fu Panda films are stretching the basic plot thin, but glad it was fun overall.

That is funny about the grocer's apostrophe doodling That would be good to do inverting to make it look like a blackboard

My broadband cable is being replaced tomorrow - a scary prospect, but hopefully it will go reasonably smoothly so I'm not offline for too long

The broadband engineer was friendly and did a lot of preparatory work so it was a somewhat productive afternoon. However, he was sort of scoffing at people for being hesitant to change (I told him I'm a fan of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'), as he assured me it was an easy job to switch over. He then discovered that the street cabinet that my new cable needs to plug into is broken so he couldn't do the switch over... Luckily I'm online with the old cable in the meantime, but I'll have cable spaghetti everywhere for a day or so until the cabinet can be fixed

Nasty weather again today - more high winds and flash flooding. The engineer did do some jobs this morning, but had to wait until the wind allowed him to climb a ladder safely even with harnesses and standard protocols. A bit better this afternoon, but still not pleasant. I hope things aren't too bad for you getting out and about

My locker's jam-packed with , change of clothes, stationery and mugs, as well as keyboard (which only fits in at a diagonal angle to make full use of available space), mouse, headphones and mouse mat, but I have to carry the laptop back and forth from home to work. I didn't go in the office today, though, due to the severe weather warning.
Definitely not a warm, sunny day. Very strong winds.

'Kung Fu Panda 4' had a plot of 'can we find a successor?', which was very reminiscent of 'Cars 3' or 'Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion'. The third one remains the best sequel, but now they have announced that they wish to make 'a second trilogy'.

Don't blame the birds for huddling to keep warm - the temperature has dropped again.

Good luck getting the internet sorted and swapped over with the minimum disruption. Friendliness is definitely a positive, and a quality that is underappreciated when genuine.

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Fascinating how different organisations approach the hotdesking situation - good that your keyboard is yours, even though it isn't the easiest to stow away. We just have keyboards on desks already, but the cleanliness may vary as a result. I was very reluctantly given the lockable cupboard for my archive, but it could be more useful than I had imagined Glad you were able to stay safe out of the strong winds It certainly is colder again, too.

Wow, a second trilogy is an ambitious wish. I guess there is potential in offering audiences familiar characters, but difficult to find fresh stories indeed.

Yes it does make a difference when workpeople are friendly. Today's engineers were friendly too - we had a chat (including one engineer's stomach that joined in because it was lunchtime ) while waiting for the remote team to do the activations. Unfortunately, they weren't able to fully complete the setup because they are network engineers, not broadband engineers.

I telephoned for help, and the friendly operator gave me instructions on how to complete the setup myself. I then got an automated e-mail saying the system was not yet ready and I needed to wait for another e-mail before the setup could be completed. The operator said there was no problem as I had until 17 April before my old modem would be switched off. The old modem was switched off an hour later My laptop is now working, so that's helpful, and I'll sort out the drill dust, cable spaghetti and other device connections later Messier than promised, but I can't blame any of the friendly people - it was just unfortunate that the powers that be didn't check the cabinet before sending the engineer out so the processes happened in the wrong order.

Another HUGE thank you for the hamper, which arrived this morning. The Grinch decorating gingerbread was a particularly big hit with my daughter, who hasn't wanted to go out of her room this week but she was very enthusiastic with the decorating. My wife took a photo of the decorating which she hasn't sent me yet - and I'm sure that everything else will be very much appreciated in the near future too.
It really did feel like Christmas - and I've no tree outside the loft to put the on


Ah - the hotdesks we have only have a monitor on, an internet cable and powered USB cable to connect the standard issue laptop to the monitor and charge it too. Most people just use the laptop's inbuilt keyboard and mousepad, but after wrist pain using a laptop on its own in lockdown , I've realised it is much less painful to use a keyboard and mouse. So I do.
Not everyone uses a locker, and you had to apply for one, but as I cycle mine is fuller than most. My work shoes I used to keep in it are here now - I brought them back last month for my friend's father's funeral. Not sure it is worth returning them to the locker now - I usually just wear my boots at work and as I'm not student facing, no-one has noticed or complained.

That's quite an adventure with the engineers and modem - you really can't make this sort of thing up...

Yay! I'm glad the hamper arrived safely and has been appreciated already, with more to enjoy The Beatrix Potter book is funny/scary, about with 'savage whiskers'

Yes indeed a separate keyboard and mouse are much better for the wrists and fingers than a laptop.

Yes, quite disappointing with the service I received during the cable switchover, but I managed to finish the setup myself without too much trouble, including taming the cable spaghetti and hoovering up all the drill dust. The other funny-but-not-funny relates to the fact that I need to return the old modem because they only loan people the equipment and charge us if they don't get it back. I received a bag with an address label to send it to Yorkshire. Then a couple of days later I received a box with an address label to send it to Scotland... I have put the bag inside the box and hope that fixes it so I'm not charged because I didn't send the modem to both Yorkshire and Scotland

I hope you all have a good weekend. It has actually been a nice day here today - quite warm and sunny - but some clouds have been hovering around so it might rain again later.

Good luck in returning your modem to Scottish Yorkshire - confusing instructions indeed. Scotch Corner is in Yorkshire, if that helps?

Do I have any news since the arrival of the exciting hamper?
Well, I'm on strike again tomorrow and Tuesday so we'll see if that achieves anything. I've also been to the cinema twice this weekend, once with my wife to see 'Back to Black' and once with my son to see 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire'. Despite the x in the name, Godzilla and Kong don't actually kiss, but fight a bit instead. (An entry on King Kong has been on my to do list for a couple of decades...)

My daughter's still struggling, especially with regards returning to school.

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Aha - that is handy that Scotch Corner is in Yorkshire, so hopefully they will know what to do with the box when they receive it

Glad you had a good cinematic weekend "Despite the x in the name, Godzilla and Kong don't actually kiss, but fight a bit instead." The weather here wasn't too bad (windy but dry) so I enjoyed birdwatching at the beach. Very busy with people and dogs, so not as many birds around as there can be, but I added another species to my list

Today the weather is lashing down with rain again, interspersed with sunny spells and hailstorms

Sorry your daughter is struggling - hopefully things can be sorted out OK soon

I received my copy of Pope Joan, too. Did you use the new cover designer? Strange that the book is a slightly different shape. A funny story, and I'm particularly impressed by the artwork and the background detail Excellent collection in the secular section, too. The panel featuring Keith and 'Welcome to Heaven, friend.' brought a tear to my eye, it did

Excellent news that despite tricky situations you managed to add another bird to the list

We had all sorts of weather when on strike today - when it was sunny it was quite warm, but also very cold, very wet and very, very windy.

I'm glad you enjoyed 'Pope Joan' - and particularly the last page. I hoped you'd like that bit. Yes, I did use the new cover designer - I don't think you can use the old one any more? I concentrated on trying to make the old one look like the new one, but do enjoy being able to write in paragraphs on the back as well as use italics.
Annoyingly, having picked it up again after you mentioned it just now I've spotted two spelling mistakes
I also noticed that it has a 'printed in Croydon' label, so I wonder if the different size is because printing has been subcontracted out to a new printing company? I could try to find out by ordering a copy of one of my older and seeing what size that comes out as, but I'm not that fussed.

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Yes, definitely mixed temperatures when it can get warm in the sun but the wind is chilly... I went out for a bit of a run this evening, but not for long - I did enjoy a bit of 'windsurfing', but I didn't enjoy going in the other direction, pushing against the wind. A group of ducks were also struggling - I could hear them quacking to each other as they were being buffeted around in the sky.

Ah, I didn't realise Lulu have taken away the standard cover templates - I was just pleased they've brought back the cover designer, as that was helpful when I was making the Crime Has Been Committed Omnibus. You've done a grand job of recreating the standard template, and it does look much better on the back cover I see my copy was printed in Croydon, too. I checked and found the Omnibus was printed in Croydon, but it is exactly the same size as The Building that was printed in the previous place that didn't put a location on the barcode. Curious, but not a major problem indeed. A book about a Pope is of course a likely candidate for a visitation by Titivillus A1049979

I watched Frozen tonight, as the Monday quiz shows have finished for the time being. I enjoyed it - sad about the parents, but it was more subtly addressed than in some Disney films and then there was a lovely ending, being different to the usual princess and prince trope Impressive ice animation

Today was much warmer - and entirely dry - on the picket line. There was an amusing incident in that foreman of the roadworkers came over and complained we were making too much noise(!) The roadworks have been going on for 8 months outside the office, with constant pneumatic drilling, digging, cement mixers, jackhammers and whatnot, but we were playing music that some of the roadworkers were dancing along to on their lunchbreak and were told it was upsetting their mental health. I don't think a group of workers wearing ear defenders and operating heavy machinery were able to hear the music and it was a bit rich, really, to complain after all they've done to disturb everyone at work...

I applaud your Lulu research, even if it leaves us no closer regarding the new size - though I won't lose any sleep over it.

Glad you enjoyed 'Frozen' - have you seen 'Frozen II'? Talking of Disney, 'Let It Be' is finally being re-released, onto Disney + of all things. I still would prefer it to be out on physical media.

Have you heard the Sean Lennon and James McCartney news?

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Glad you had better weather for your second day on the picket line. Excellent accompanying doodle. That is sad that the roadworkers found the music to be 'too much noise' when the non-roadworkers would indeed consider the roadworks to be 'too much noise'...

I haven't seen Frozen II yet, but I have the DVD so it is on my list for next time

That is good news that Let It Be will be available to view again, but yes would be better on physical media...

I did hear the Sean Lennon and James McCartney news yesterday, and heard the song this evening - very nice

Been a busy couple of days here, as we had the school talk which was mainly on the forthcoming GCSE exams my son has. The rules are much stricter now - absolutely nothing to be taken in, you aren't allowed to wear watches or have drinks that weren't provided by the examiners, only bring pens.
Then yesterday evening I seemed to spend all my time on the phone, and as soon as one call ended someone else called.

Today's been quite quiet in comparison, though I did finally manage my 299/399 - 299th Eastleigh parkrun and 399th overall, on track to hopefully do the 300/400 next week.

Glad you liked the doodle - I was surprised no-one else seems to have noticed the too much noise one, oh well, c'est la vie. Hasn't stopped me from drawing again today.
And I've finally thought of a possible plot for the latest - all about a wombat. Though that might prove too daft, so who knows?

Hope you have a good weekend, possibly involving 'Frozen II'.

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Wow, that is daunting about all the rules, but I guess it makes sense - digital watches in our day weren't quite as sophisticated as some smartwatches can be. Scary about the drinks, though - I know there is a brand called smartwater, but it's not the kind of smart that would help in an exam (beyond adequate hydration)

All the best to your son

Strange how it happens sometimes, with phonecalls like buses

I was quite busy in the last couple of days, too - for a couple of months, I've been aware of 6 projects that are 'coming soon', and of course they're all starting to arrive at the same time Not to mention that project I was working on in 2022 has come back to haunt me again The IT guy who rubbished it last time has left, though, so his colleagues are more interested in it Just annoying that it will take me ages to work out what it was I did in 2022 and see if I can finish it this time. We have some new software that might be easier to use than the stuff I was using before, but we shall see

Glad the parkrun course managed to dry out enough for you to run this week All the best for 300/400 - hopefully will be next week indeed

is strange at the moment - it might not have shown your doodle to many people just yet, but could do in the next few days Certainly I've noticed a few posts appearing from 3 days ago (and thankfully the problem I had a few weeks ago seems to have resolved - one post (someone talking about the weather) was being shown to me every day for a week).

Not a bad weekend so far - very busy at the supermarket, but luckily they were able to open a new checkout for us so it didn't take too long to get through. Today I'm hoping to see some barn swallows at one of their favourite nesting sites

Ah yes - Smartwater is Coca-Cola's latest attempt to break into the UK mineral water market, having failed miserably with their contaminated water for plonkers, Dasani in the 1990s.

Sorry to hear you've had projects like , but hopefully it will all work out and may you have success with the resurrected project. There was surprising little fall-out from the strike, the VC has continued to ignore everything and not responded in any way, but the union picketed the open day, handing out leaflets to parents over the weekend, so maybe that will get a reaction.

I succeeded in ticking off the 299/399, so as long as the weather isn't too torrential it should be going ahead next week for the 300/400 at last. It's been raining most of today, but quite light.

Hope you had a good weekend with lots of birds spotted and photographed too.

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Wow, I didn't realise Smartwater was Coca Cola, and I've just looked it up and see they have a very long list of brands - I didn't know they were involved with Five Alive, Innocent and Appletiser too... Fascinating

I'm feeling more positive about the project just now - the new software is very helpful, so I managed to build a prototype today. Lots more work still to be done, but at least all the work I did has come in useful so far

Sorry the VC managed to ignore the strike, but hopefully there will be more of a reaction from the open day picket indeed All the best with it

Looks more hopeful for parkrun this weekend indeed - we had some drizzle yesterday as well, but not enough to make puddles on the pavement like before, so my evening run was pleasant

I did have a good day on Sunday, although it turned out a bit different from what I expected. I met up with the local Octopus for a Preemie group. I then did see a swallow, but didn't manage to photograph it. The swallow season is later this year, because of the weather being so wet, so they haven't settled down yet. Hopefully I might see a few more at the next Octo Meeting There were a few birds out and about, so it was a pleasant afternoon. Lots of funny sounds, too - a herring gull was crying like a baby because its mother had left it alone for a few minutes, and then an Oystercatcher flew round in circles making an alarm call as it must be nesting somewhere on the canal and something must have disturbed it.

On the minus side we weren't able to see much at the Boat Museum because of a theft a few weeks ago http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/theft-from-the-national-waterways-museum-ellesmere-port but on the plus side they did give us a ticket for a free visit later in the year, so that will make it a bit better value for money.

The VC still hasn't begun negotiations and apparently their policy is of agreeing to talks with the Union and then cancelling at the last minute, and asking to rearrange - and this has been going on since October. The Union conducted a workplace survey which gave the result of only 2.4% of staff surveyed would recommend Solent at the moment as a good place to work, and the VC's office responded, 'We do not believe that survey'. So the current plan is to bombard the VC with e-mails asking 'Why don't you respect your staff enough to address their concerns and begin negotiating?' and if that is also ignored, as seems likely, the next step is to take a Vote of No Confidence in the VC for his failure to communicate with his staff.

Good to hear you had a good weekend, and I'm delighted to hear that swallows are always welcome at the Local Octopus for a Preemie group. Can they crochet? Apparently they haven't invented a robot yet that can.

As you mentioned a herring gull, did you hear about the Gull Boy? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68874762

Yesterday I had my first RR10 of the year, and finished 471st out of 500, but over 2 1/2 minutes faster than last year, so I'll take that as a result. We've also been at two more school evenings to say what is going on next year and this year's option choice for my daughter to choose GCSEs.

Shocking that the boat museum has been burgled - I hope they find the culprits and recover the items.

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Ah, that is a disappointing tactic - cancelling at the last minute won't make the problem go away, and causes more resentment... All the best with it

I don't think crochet is a swallow skill - they are better at weaving around in the sky catching flies I hadn't thought about it before, but that is interesting that there is a knitting machine but not a crochet machine - seems simple when a human does it, just pulling yarn through loops, but actually it is complex as there are many different ways to pull yarn through one loop or more than one loop, etc

Yes it was shocking about the burglary - hopefully the culprits will be as the items are quite distinctive. I see another burglar was apprehended quite quickly http://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/ellesmere-port-man-jailed-after-25326190

I hadn't heard about the Gull Boy - a very interesting article Impressive skill to be able to mimic the calls The herring gull inspired me to write an Entry

All the best to your daughter with choosing GCSEs I hope she is doing OK

Congratulations on achieving a better time than last year in the RR10 I hope you have a good parkrun for your 300/400, too, without too much mud to run through. I went to the late afternoon session at Burton Mere today, and it was much drier under wheel than in previous weeks, but there were still two fairly deep puddles on the path that hadn't dried out yet. Lots of tweety-birds around so I added some to my list I was chasing chiffchaffs, but found a Whitethroat instead I heard some chiffchaffs chiffchaffing in my neighbour's trees so I'm hopeful of getting a photo of them some other time

Congratulations on your Marvin record purchase - great find!