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

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/other-sport/athletics/2008/01/31/jordan-comes-second-on-england-debut-97319-20417573/

England debut, second place

I remember this lad as a wee little lad, hasn't he done well. Wonder how far he can take this.
He's an in-law of sorts of mine but it's all quite exciting nevertheless

Hey Orcus,
and rather promising for a debut!
R4

Ho yus.

He's only been running for about 2 years too. Apparently he only went the first time because he was chasing a girly

He was 4th in the Junior world championships last year - with a personal 400m best of 47.09 s I believe. Which is unbeleivable if you know what I mean.

Bet the Girlys chase him now

Well impressive time

R4

Yes I went to his 18th** birthday party. Wish I'd had that pulling power at that age.



** Well actually it was his 17th but it was also his Mum's 40th (which is why we got an invite - I don't get invited to many 17th birthday parties these days - so they pretended he was 18 to get the club booked. Otherwise it would have been - well - not happening for obvious reasons.

Ah well you can understand that, he sounds like he was a mature 17yr old
Don't usually take too much time to look at the Athletic's results but i'll certinaly be on the look out

R4

Oh I do, I used to be well into it in my younger days. My father was briefly a hammer thrower for Scotland in his youth and I had pretentions of being good at athletics at school - I was the fastest sprinter in my year in upper school and was particularly good at long jump (best of 6.10 m) but didn't follow through with it at university.
My talent, such as it was, is a pale shadow of what this guy can do though. It's nice to see someone semi-related to me doing the business. It'll be awesome if her really shines through at international level - but that's a big if I guess.

Hey Orcus,

We could all do with someone to cheer on, so here's to the lad.

You got a bit of a pedigree sporting wise then. None of my relations can claim that honour. Might explain the competitve spirit

R4

Well it's not that much of a pedigree, my Dad was only a schoolboy international at the hammer - and that's pretty much it.

It might explain my weightlifting abilities though. I do share my father's large build. Apparently he was known as 'Big Miller' at school (no prized for guessing my surname )

Knowing schoolboy humour it could have been worse

would love to have that sort of gene inheritance , then the grass is always greener and all that.

My daughter has been on an exercise all weekend, doing things called command tasks, like carrying logs and truck tyre's over assault courses.
When she phoned this moring she had just completed a mile and a half in 11 minutes for a personal fitness test. Not bad considering the weeknd activities.

I think she is keen to get promotion, which makes me proud.
Bet she won't be able to move tomorrow

R4

Oh I'm sure he got called worse than that, didn't we all?

Your daughter is in the army then?

Yes, she's in the REME, doing technical training to be an avionics/electroinics technician
She was in Army Cadets for a few years so she had a bit of insight into the life.
Very proud that she has found what she wants to do. All her cousins have all been to University/ dropped out and still live with their Mum's and Dad's.
Emily is earning whilst learning, has independance and a great bunch of freinds. She plays Rugby (though you woul'nt think it looking at her, much too pretty)and has been aborad twice on tour with the REME team.
Not bad for a lass of 18.

R4

Nice one, I can see why you're proud. My partner's soon-to-be 20 year old still lives with us after an abortive attempt at staying in Birmingham when we moved to wales. Sadly she's yet to learn that when you've got a job you'd better turn up on time, all the time, and not give it up when you get bored with it.
Plus she's very picky about what she wants to do in her job which isn't ideal when she's been unemployed for 3/4 of the last year (and not claiming benefit either ).

She's lovely really but

I'm currently having thoughts about sending her on an assault course - not a chance, it'd kill her

Don't get me started on benefit.

After 25 yrs of working in Finacial Services I was made redundant in 2003. Temped for a while but there was two weeks I did not have work and went to claim benefit. You would not believe the hassel I had just to get the £56.00 per week.

Convinced if I had a different skin colour and ten kid's they would have treated me with more respect. It's the system that's wrong though not the staff.

We'll if she is a good kid that's half the battle
Hopefully She will find her direction in time

I'm just thankful Emily is enjoying her life and making the most of it while she is young.

Oh I know what you mean about the benefits lot. It is a joke.

My partner was out of work for a while when we first moved to Wales because she had to have an operation to correct carpal tunnel syndrome and so couldn't use her hands properly for 3 months. She got disability benefit for that time but when she actually wanted to work they more or less told her not to and to keep claiming the benefits. They were very surprised to get someone who actually wanted to work.
They then refused to help her get a job! They had a special 'surgery' for getting people back into work having claimed disability benefits but wouldn't help her when they found out our post code - we were in the wrong area apparently. Not enough deprivation for them or something This surgery was notable for the absence of anyone else trying to get work - she was the only one there when they turned her down.

She got a job off her own back in the end but they made us angry all the same.


You are quite right of course, we have half the battle won with the daughter so far. I think I've sorted out the main part of the motivation for working by *finally* persuading her Mum to stop giving her money. She used to have this trick of just persistently badgering her for money and would do it until her Mum cracked - and it worked, every time. I could see this a mile off but these things are often easier to spot from the outside.
It took me about 3 years of pointing this out to get the message home but now she actually has to do something to get money I think the message is finally getting through.
She was just a bit spoilt is all - she is a nice person and she can work hard when she wants to, it's just the frequency of it that is the problem.

TBH I would probably be like your partner.
As you say, easier to see these things from the outside.
Fortunately never seem to have the money to give. Always said my wage slip is like the Bull's eye phrase "Look What You Could've Won"


Given our experiences it's a wonder anyone works!
I'm going to shut up on the subject now or risk turning into Victor Meldrew at 46

My philosophy is to try and appreciate what I have.Though that too changes with time
Emily, despite all her good attributes, still has some things to learn. She phoned me half hour ago just to ask how to make scrambled eggs . Gald to know I have some uses

Enjoy your day.

R4