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

Ah, Jersey. Isn't that the place where everyone walks around barefoot? Oh, and do you know a bloke called Steve, 5'8", short brown hair, can't remember his surname...

Hello Galigan!

Just trying to make sense of your list of points about you:
- You like minis and live on Jersey. Yep, makes sense.
- You like minis and are 6'3". Nope, doesn't make sense.

I work on Jersey, but go home every weekend back to Devon. Quite like it here, although I don't get out much - working too hard! I've started becoming familiar with the daft things people think about Jersey, like the New Jersey thing, and there being only 100 people on the island, and not having electricity, etc, etc. It must get a bit tedious.

Maybe I'll bump into you one day, being as I've only met 40 of the Jersey residents, you must be one of the other 60!

Paff

Hmmm, I sense a pinch of salt needed here. Hello there Paff, thanks for popping by. And sorry but I don't believe I know that particular Steve.

Yeah, the actual practicality of a mini is something I've decided to overlook since I don't actually have one. If I do get one, some serious re-jigging is needed in the leg/headroom departments. I currently have a Ford Ka. Manly eh?

The daft things? Lovely. And we don't talk about New Jersey over there, that's a stoning offence.
You know, when I came to school in England I got asked so many times if we had cars and electricity that I started to think people in England were really stupid. For the record we do have cars, there's even a garage that has Aston Martins in it (they're beauuuuutiful!!), and we nick most electricity from France but we have a power station too, just in case.

You've met 40 people already? Only 89,960 to go then.

Yes, pinch of salt needed.

Ahh, so it's 90 thousand. And I thought I was being generous when I rounded 90 up to 100.

You're right, people must be stupid to wonder some of those things. Being asked about English/French/Jerriais language I'd say is fair enough, but electricity? roads? bare feet? What's the matter with people.

Yeah, it's a bit crowded really. We might export some to Guernsey soon.

People ask me if we're French and stuff like that, but mostly it's just to annoy me. Silly people.

So where are you normally? I see Dorset (I think that was it) on your PS. What's it like there? At the moment I'm in Somerset for school and it's seriously boring. Weather's a bit off too.

Shame about the weather on the mainland. It's been lovely in Jersey (well, was lovely last week).

I live in Devon, slap bang in the middle. I work on Jersey during the week. The commute is quicker than getting to places like London. Dartmoor is kind of my back-garden. I reckon you could fit Jersey into Dartmoor about 8 times. Bit of a large back-garden I suppose.

So, if you're at school in Somerset I'm guessing you do the 6 weekly 'commute' via Exeter airport? At the start of term time I'm quite often on a Monday morning plane that does the round trip from Exeter to Guernsey to Jersey then back again. The suits (like me) get off at Guernsey/Jersey and the Devon/Somerset school 'kids' get on to go back to Exeter.

The weather's been ok recently, but that could be because I haven't been outside that much. Lots of lie-ins have been had, especially today. I got up at 3 in the afternoon. And it's Thursday.

The commute from school to home or vice versa isn't that bad for me, at least not when I'm heading home. It always seems more cheerful going that way. And yes, that is a large back garden. Mine's about 8 metres square with a patio next to it, but we have the run of the land around it because it's all owned by family members pretty much.

Those 'kids' will be us then, though I'm not really a kid anymore I suppose being 18 and leaving school in 2 weeks. Weird that, in some ways I'm still a child and everything but in others I feel like I've outgrown it here and am quite eager to move on.

By the way what do you think of the new alterations to Jersey Airport? I think it's an absolutely pointless endeavor, *what* have they achieved? Less space for people so when there are a lot of delays people will have to wait outside and wasted a lot of money on a glass wall that I could have built myself. Literally all they've done is built 2 walls so now it's like the other airports in that you can't go straight from departures to arrivals without going outside now, and the nice stuff in there like the shops and cafe are now solely for flyers and not their families, the family area now being the bit by the desks which is suddenly overrun with those stupid queueing tape things that send you in zig-zags! I mean honestly! If it ain't broke then leave it the alone!

Sorry, bit of a rant there, but that sort of mindless and pointless money spending really annoys me, especially when it was so much better how it was before.

Addressing your rant first then...

In 2 weeks time you'll be shocked to find they've done the same thing to Exeter airport. I originally thought that Jersey was getting everything behind the security as an excuse to have everything duty-free (although the whole island is duty free ). Now that Exeter have done the same, I wonder if it's a security directive? Basically, we can't have people hanging about at airports any more unless they're getting on a plane. I don't know.

I first thought it was daft. But now it's growing on me. More pros than cons:
At Exeter I can go get a bacon sarnie _after_ I'm through security and not worry about being late for the flight.
At Jersey I can sit upstairs and wait without being harassed by bored tiny tots kicking at the Bob The Builder ride.
Jersey will be a nightmare if they ever cancel multiple flights simultaneously. We won't be able to just head for the desk when we like, but will have to queue up and be escorted single file out into the 'outside' bit, and _then_ queue again to re-book our flights.

In a nutshell, I'd say better if you are flying, worse if you're waiting or saying goodbye, probably a nightmare if you get cancelled.


Yeah, the age thing is weird. I think most people get that. I'm thirty-mumble-mumble-something, and I don't feel a day older than twenty-something.

Before you know it you'll be 25 and you'll still feel 18. Just your car insurance will be cheaper.


Good luck with the big wide world, or Uni, or whatever you do next.

Yeah, that nutshell sounds about right. And because of weather and stuff Jersey is much more susceptible to fog and therefore cancellations that other places. I just liked it how it was before, not it's so shut off. I liked how you could walk all the way through.

Actually I've seen Exeter, last time I was there the food bit was only accessible from the other side, which I thought was weird but not bad because Exeter's changed so much over the past few years anyway, whereas Jersey's been the same for about 10, since they built the new departures bit, and I'd gotten used to it how it was before the latest re-do.

Thanks for the luck, I'm hopefully off to Cardiff Uni in September if my exams went ok. I need AAA but I should be able to get that because I normally get good grades. Maybe I'll see the big wide world after that, haven't decided yet.