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

What a week! On Monday I got a Whatsapp from my eldest (that's the one who lives in Silicon Valley) to say he was just coming round from surgery after an emergency operation to remove his gall bladder. He's been having trouble with stomach pains and sickness quite a lot and I'm pleased they've now found the cause. He was back home already. I asked if he had to go back in for a check-up - he said no: They did that over the phone. My husband nearly did his nut, for him that is unimaginable. And irresponsible.

That's the way they do it in California, though.

On Tuesday, hubbie had an appointment at the doctor's himself. He (ever the hypochondriac) had found a suspicious thing in his nether regions, a hernia, and this appointment was with the hospital surgeon, where he had been referred to from his own doctor. He was given an appointment for the operation on Thursday.

On Wednesday we had a new staircase fitted. It looks lovely, but there are lots of finishing touches required which hubbie won't be able to do for a while, as he's still recovering from his operation.

So, Thursday at 6:45 we reported to the hospital and the operation went fine. He stayed in until Saturday morning when I went and fetched him home.

If he hadn't been freshly cut open and sewn up, he would have left on Tuesday morning for a long-planned cycle trip. Which of course he has had to cancel. It was to be a ten-day tour along the Neckar from the source to where it joins the Rhine at Mannheim.

He's frustrated he can't go, of course (but that's nothing to how mad I am that I shan't get those 10 days on my own).

At work, among a few other changes, we have been told that we have to go through all the offices and say "Good morning" to everyone when we arrive and then do the rounds again in the evening when we leave.

This I find very annoying and, even if it kills me, I'm going to make sure I'm there at 7.30 from now on so there's no one there to say "Good morning" to.

Next week is less hectic, until Friday when Son No 2 is arriving with wife and little girl - they are setting off as soon as school breaks up so they should be here late afternoon. (School is only in the mornings here in Germany and on the last day they only have 4 lessons. The teachers have to stay on for a few formalities and any drinks and cakes brought by anyone who is leaving, but he should be able to get away by lunchtime)

So Grandad will get to see his little granddaughter as he's not cycling from Stuttgart to Heidelberg - every cloud has a silver lining.

Good luck with the nursing!

Mannheim is beautiful. We visited two years ago and had an art historian bring us through the castle... which is brand new, having been flattened in the war. You wouldn't know, except for the sketchy nature of the ceiling paintings. There aren't any baroque painters alive any more.

We toured the castle (it's a palace really) when we had the Mannheim meetup. I learnt a lot when preparing for that day!

Wow, that was an epic week... Glad everyone is recovering well.

That is an unusual custom about the meet and greet - I kind of see how it might help people to ensure they don't get stuck in silos, and not know who other people are, but seems a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut...

I meet plenty of people at work by the communal printer, so that's good enough for me

Do all the other workers have to meet and greet everyone, or is it just you, TC?

If you're already at work, the people who come later will have to say hello to you. How are you to get any work done?

I do like the continental custom of greeting all the other shoppers in a small shop.

That's better than insulting everyone in the universe.

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Bowerick_Wowbagger

Wow. How could I forget him?

Maybe he hasn't insulted you yet. An insult would be something to remember.

This is the report on the Mannheim meet. Reading it brought back some memories. A61150628

The report is best read in a Ripley skin so that all the links work. I see that I intended to put all my research into Mannheim into an entry at the time. Maybe when I retire....