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

is it a defence contractor that you work for now then ?

In a word, yeah. The main company has divested itself of satelite R&D and the space-arm used on all of the NASA shuttles (that was my company) and now is focused on aircraft refurbishment and over-haul for governments and militaries around the world.

With the down-sizing of our military through the 90's, there are not enough uniforms to do all that's needed. By coincidence, one of the company supervisors was a long-time friend of the "Chief" where I work, and offered to find retirees to back-fill some of their short-falls. Which is where I fit in.

how can they survive, if they're still using 20 odd year old equipment, it sounds a wind up to me

20 year old? Hell, I'm still occassionally meeting stuff my age. If you can find bits and pieces, and idiots like me with a work-ethic, it'll keep going and not need replacing.

I'll believe you, thousands wouldn't



I can just picture a Canadian fighter plane, with a great "wireless" in the back seat

Oh, I imagine the aircraft and a lot of the on-board stuff is pretty modern-day stuff. But guess what? The beacons and radio stuff they seek on the ground? It's still the same freq's and encodings. So 1960's or the 2004 stuff ... The devices in the plane don't know the difference.

in the 70's, when AM CB radio snook in here, they put out anti stuff, that it interfered with runway landing lights/petrol(gas)pumps and hospital intercoms etca load of hogwash!

Every farmer and his kid had a CB then ... Maybe because there were no run-ways closer than 100 miles or so, and the hospital was still one step removed from the stone-age?

nah! they even said it interfered with the police car radio's many a time I've sat near one, most of the cops knew me as Animal anyway

I could see the bit about police services ... At the time, CB channels (27 MHz band) weren't far from most emergency services. And most CB's were such noisy, unfiltered beasts, they could even interfere with some TV channels. They did in my village. We could be watching a bit of Starsky & Hutch, or Bonanza, and here some idiot farm kid cutting in with voice-over.

Gawds, does this make you or I old?

no, if I was old, I'd have to grow up

a newbie from your side, you could show him around ??

U10749745

He or she seems to have a good grasp of some of the system already, eh? I see lil has already called in, so I'll leave that in her capable hands ...

that's what ACE's are for

Indeed it is.

So, how'd you and your tribe ring in the New Year? The missus had worked the day, and I'd shovelled 5 or so inches of snow, so we were tired. A bit of a late evening nap, and then just caught the midnight hour ... Long enough for a and , a bit of the dry white wine. And then back to the .

2 days before, saw the signs of a cold coming and 31st I got it

only 2 drinks all night + lemsip

A cold was lurking about in the background, and finally stepped in fully for the 31st as well. And now I get to take it back to work with me. Oh joy.

I don't work, health as much as owtbut 15 year as a single parent on income support

I have no choice but to work, sadly. Disabilities here are pretty hard to fight for, and even then won't provide much of a life. Besides, I'd probably go out of what little mind I have left if I didn't have something active to be doing.

Mind, a comfy lottery win, so that I could choose what I do. Now THAT would be nice.

a comfy lottery win,dream on Mc Duff, as the rest of us do