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

Tomorrow, Jim starts his degree course - he will begin studying to be a . This is so it's icebox, he has his first lecture tomorrow at 0900, and is sat here reading his coursebook, and being excited about "Cecil", the virtual School of Biological Sciences. I am slightly envious, but I've had my turn, it's his now, and he's already met many of the people who will be his class mates. He has got the phone numbers of some, women of course - he has always got on very well with the opposite sex, in a good way...

I have just begun reading the third of the Boudica series (my sister sent me the first one as a Christmas present). The third one, Dreaming the Hound is good from what I have read so far, but the second and third have failed to live up to the first. The author does create a marvellous fictional world, which is a mostly truly wonderful place to live, but unlike the first book, the subsequent ones do not have main characters it is as easy to really care about, and get involved with. (Yeah, ending a sentence with a preposition - so what? )

The sun is shining, the cicadas are deafening, and the neighbourhood is mercifully devoid of the sound of lawnmowers. What a blessing! The lantern festival is on this weekend, and a concert to raise money for the victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami. Unfortunately, there hasn't been the same concern for victims of the Bam earthquake which took place exactly a year earlier, or for the victims of the more recent earthquake nearby... or for those Iraqis who as a result of the American invasion are suffering more than they ever did under the dreaded Saddam!

Hi, Vicky,.

Good luck to Jim. What a very worthwhile job it is being a I do hope they treat them better where you are than they do here, and pay them better too.

Preposition - I didn't think anyone knew what that was any more It does irritate me when it is in a newspaper or a book, but not in casual "conversational" writing..

What does irritate me is "different to" instead of "different from" but I guess I am fighting a losing battle

The sun is shining here too, but it was frosty and icy this morning and there is a bitterly cold breeze which is rather spoiling things. Cloud and possible snow showers later. I would welcome the sound of lawnmowers oddly enough -signs of summer would be most welcome. The signs of Spring are getting frozen to death unfortunately.

TTFN,

Websailor

That's fab about your son..

Hello, Websailor, MV... Yes, nurses here have just got a fairly major pay rise, and not before time! This week, Jim doesn't have any labs or tutorials, so he's finished for the day at 10.00 - however, he'll probably be meeting some of his friends, so I don't think he'll be straight home...

Different to is not as bad in my view as 'different than', which is an Americanism that's taking over here in NZ. It makes me rabid!!!

Rain today, but it's still warm, which is good. It's so lovely and green, and the weeks of baking sun have not harmed the gardens here, because it's always humid here. I don't mind the rain at all, but I will in winter when it's cold and continuous.

I am sorry to hear about your slow spring... I hope it gets better soon.

Hello!

for your son! Hope he’ll do fine, and that he has a good start!

We’re having still a lot of snow, so no spring feeling here either. Actually it’s very cold these days, luckily the snowdrop-sprouts are covered under a thick mantle of snow, so they don’t freeze.

*makes a note in her grammar book about “different to” and “different than”*

Hi Vicky,

Glad to hear that Jim is on his way. If he gets into a pickle with either Physiology or Biochemistry, drop a note on your site. I am also hot on Pharmacology and not too shabby on Pathophysiology or medical statistics. I also love explaning the things that medics can make complex, but in a simple and logical way.

I am not sure about Websailor and her view of 'Different Than' being Americanism. I would find it to be acceptable English.

MY pet hates are 'In back of' meaning behind, at the rear off or even at the back of.

My other pet hate in spoken English is the Antipodean inflective. This is great in Kiwis and folks from Oz but sounds very odd when used by a girl from Rochdale. I am talking about ending a spoken sentence with an upward inflection that makes a statement appear to be a question.

Have a look at Websailors page. I am off to look at the BTO links as we have had a female Goshawk in our garden this year. We also get a lot of Fieldfares. I managed to get a photo of the Goshawk, but its not digital.

I am pleased that the bugs are all in merry voice. I had to clear snow from my car this morning.

Bye for now

Aardvark

Hi, katkodl, snowdrops? Nice!

Hi, oldaardvark. Thanks for the offer of advice! Jim is going to buy a lab coat today, he needs one for tomorrow. His friend Alban is doing a BSc in Chemistry, and texted him a wake up call at 06.30 this morning - we were already awake, but Alban had an 8 am lecture, and was sharing the pain!

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Ah, that's the "high rising terminal" we learned about in linguistics in 2003. There was a comedienne called 'Lynn of Tawa' who was an exponent of that, but it seems to be more an Aussie thing these days. (Lynn of Tawa's real name is Ginette MacDonald, and her father was my sister's GP in Wellington.)