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

Morning Peanut

Good news about Hiccup's exam results. Our 16+ exams are just about as near as we get in the modern world to the kind of puberty rite that 'marks for life' in the eyes of the world. I still vividly remember getting my own results and feeling in my case that I had proven something to the school, my teachers and peers.

New phases of life opening up. And, as you say, 'getting away' gives time for the stress with which we sometimes imbue our daily life to subdue. It was even quite nice to get back yesterday to the ritual of receiving a rejection letter from a publisher to whom I had submitted a letter about my latest book.

Back to simple and mundane life struggles, and this applies to my carrots as well. I had visions of past successes and returning to find my carrot plot awash with green. Not the case. But many people have found that it was not a good year for carrots. Nevertheless I could rejoice in what I do have, in particular a couple of real cabbages like I have never managed to get before, and various other things. Friday and Saturday was the beginning of the weeding campaign, once I had got to the plot after various long conversations along the way. It was nice to be home.

But chatting to my lovely 'Portuguese' neighbours yesterday about this and that, and our pleasure and pride as 'our city' is proving such a great host to the Olympics and Paralympics, there was a key moment when she said that we can not succeed 'on our own'.

Which takes me back to my O Level results which owed a great deal to the fact that I had taken more or less full responsibility for preparing myself, because I felt that the school had not, not least because I did not understand how to learn and take to heart the kind of "Civilization" that they were trying to mould me into, and I do not think that they had much idea of how to make their knowledge relevant to the son of a lorry-driver.

In 1955 the point of 11+ entry to Grammar School was to allow "academically able" children from 'the working class' to climb the 'ladder of opportunity' into the middle class. As the Sixties study "Education and the Working Class" (based on Huddersfield) showed those of "us" who "Made it" often ended up living in a sense of "limbo", with a high proportion going into teaching in order to give others the same kind of opportunities to have a more empowered life.

But, as both 2012 games have underlined, people achieve by means of, and because of, the way that they are sustained and supported by others. It so happens that I took down a Nina Bawden novel to take to France just in case, and, as she died when we were there, it has seemed appropriate to actually read it now I am back home. In it I was struck by a character asserting that it is often around the age of ten that children forge the obsessive targets that dominate the rest of their lives. It was so in my case.

Preparing for the 11+ my Oxford childhood assumed new significance. Grammar School was the access road to a university and a university was an important place on the journey that is the exploration of history: and concepts of the sweep of history from the Past through the Present and into the Future were the ideas limiting and directing the life opportunities within the Present. I took this up as "my struggle", but that in itself is a "warning from history". I have always been too much of a "one man band".

When does Hiccup start college? And is she still happy that her Future can take her through the courses she has chosen?

Have a good day.

Cass

Hi Cass

Hiccup started today. She was nervous this morning but is meeting up with people, knows where she is going and has got all the stuff she needs.

She was so happy and relieved with her results, I think importantly for her they have meant that there is a clear cut from school to college. GCSE's done, no re-taking. For now concentrate on getting into the swing of her diploma and enjoy the wider opportunities that college offers.

You say about 11+, that was so decisive in a child's life. All along we have encouraged Hiccup to keep 'options open', being able to do that is empowering

Also about your results and what you felt that you had proved, I read Hiccups results and behind every one there is a story. Hiccup's story, a context of OFSTED reports, government changes, 3 schools from infant to senior and a college and all within walking distance

sorry, not being very coherant I feel, should stop thinking thoses trains of thoghts and do something mundane, like the washing up

Peanut

Hi Peanut

Having been a teacher I have gone through lots of "first days".. It is the same for Hiccup and all the rest.. a bonding experience and a new chapter opening.. But I recall telling our daughter after her first day to be wary of the girl who latched on to her and immediately asked her to be her particular friend.. smacked of sad desperation, "any port in a storm" and trying to "stake out" some claim "No she's mine".

I think that you are wise to try to treat the day as 'normally' as possible.

Cass

Morning Cass

It is a gorgeous morning here. Hiccup is getting into the swing of things. The college have done well to prepare them and get them on the right track. Although Monday was first day there had been days where they had been into college to get orientated, meet people on their course and they were well funneled through enrolment etc.

Now for me to get adjusted to new normality, where I take more of a back seat.

Recently I have seen more of the old Hiccup, freer, more sure of herself, happier in her own skin, more outward looking and just enjoying what the days are bringing

is in a bit of a huff now that his lolling around partner has abandoned him during the day to go get an education

How are things with you?

Peanut

Hi Peanut

Glad to read that things are going well in an appropriately tranquil fashion.

Our Druid friend sent us her regular poetry email to mark the seasonal change and your post reads very much like a harvest celebration.

Producing a decent crop of exam results involves much of the same strains and struggles as any other crop, and, particularly as a parent, while one's role in the exam process is mostly secondary and supporting, the young adult that emerges on the other side is quite another harvest in itself, and one that has involved seeding, planting, nurturing, nursing, treating, supporting, pruning, etc over many years.

Like some Goddess you are entitled to look at your creation and feel that it is good.. Enjoy the Autumnal glow it is all part of Nature's reward.

I suppose to some extent that is the case with me too, after some anxieties during the year all bound up to some extent with that business about our son's car and formal letters pointing out that "The Law" can put you in prison.

As my wife rather pointedly- but rather cruelly, though nonetheless with unerring accuracy- pointed out, the whole episode to some extent opened up memories of my childhood and brushes with the Law.

Things sort-of "blew up in my face", when I came home from school about 12 years old to find that our house had been raided by the Police. My father subsequently appeared in court and was found guilty of a Felony, for which he got a year's probation. He naturally "resigned" from his position as Treasurer of our local Labour Party, and effectively our whole family life ended.

One evening he packed a suitcase and left home, when there were just the two of us at home. I heard him clunking out and he was yards down the garden path by the time I got to the door. I asked him where he was going. He turned round and said "Tell your mother I have gone". I felt totally alone and of no consequence to anyone.

My challenge in future would be to "get a life" for myself, as I seemed of no account in the face of the problems that turned our house into a kind of at best Cold War Zone, when my father did return.

And I suppose I have, especially now that I am back in a Greater London that is showing the world the Face of the Future that some of us have spent our working lives helping to forge. I can feel such a sense of Harvest too.

Regards

Cass

Hello Cass,

When you reflect on your life so far, Cass, I hope you do feel a contentment and satisfaction, that sense of a fruitful harvest

despite the carrots going astray this year

for the childhood memories that you recount

how is your son getting on with finding the freedom of the road?

Peanut

Hi Peanut,

After that period of anxiety and depression I am trying to feel some kind of sense of contentment and fruitful harvest, especially here where I can now feel much more at home than France. And I have managed to respond positively to the first rejection letter for my latest book, acting upon the comment that the letter that I sent did not make my project/intent clear enough. But it was written before, and in vague anticipation and expectation of what London 2012 was going to show to the world. I can feel quite a strong sense of personal involvement in various aspects of the new and hopeful face that London has presented. We have been preparing a New World here since the Sixties.

As for our son.. He was away on holiday in Croatia for a couple of weeks while we were away, and found it quite strange to be back behind the wheel when he picked up his dog and car where they had been left at a friends on the South Coast. But last week-end he was scheduled to actually use the car in one of the ways that we had anticipated. One of his friend had hired him to run a disco for a party last Saturday. The shop where he works hires out such equipment and he was going to take it to the venue etc with the hire fee going to his shop and a fee for himself. Hopefully it went well. Perhaps there will be more work, and he may yet get some giggs as a pianist.

Must go

Lunch call.

Cass

Hey Cass



It is a chilly morning here. I am going to a little gardening before it warms up and makes it uncomfortably hot out the back.

Are you revising your book?

I'm glad you are feeling more settled and positive after a period of depression and anxiety.

How is Mrs Cass, are her roses ok?

I didn't see the hedgehogs for a while and there were no signs of them either. Now they are back,not sure if they are the same ones, there was only one that I could confidently identify as an individual and I haven't seen him for ages. There is a juvenille visiting also, growing well

Peanut

Hi Peanut

Yes its lovely to get out in the September sunshine, especially when things are fresh. I made a quick sortie to my allotment a couple of days ago to collect the rhubarb and bags of rubbish for the green waste part of our recycling depot. Each trip you make you are entitled to fill up three free bags with "Croypost"- Croydon's organic compost that they make from it all. I must make full use over the next few weeks. Both here and on the allotment our clay soil needs masses.

As for Mrs Cass, at the moment the Moon seems to be prioritising fruit, and this means cooking, preserving etc more than flowers. We have now moved on from the fallers from our two mid-size apple trees to picking.

But today we are a bit post-prandial after a trip to the Proms with our daughter followed by a very late bedtime. Mrs Cass got suitably told off for looking( and feeling) exhausted buy she still went to bed too late, and was unable to sleep on as she needed to this morning.

But in answer to your question about my book I have rather got caught up in writing once more, which foolishly I got back to last night, after the Proms and after watching 4+1 Paralympics coverage. But it is only the letter to publishers that I am re-writing, probably again at too great a length.. I sometimes worry that actually getting a publisher and an editor is likely to be a beginning not an end. I understand that a good editor will do what I used to do with pupils, that is suggest how what is written could be improved assuming that there is a hope and intention to interest and be understood.

I rather suspect that the person who was "sorry to be disappointing" (that I found a rather clumsy and eroneous way of conveying her meaning.. Is she a "Disappointing" person? Surely she should use a verb or adverb rather than an adjective ) did not even bother to read my letter. As a "professional" she is perhaps entitled to pretend to be a bookshop customer who would just idly pick up, browse a bit, and-if nothing actually clicks- put it down and move on... First impressions etc.

Cheers

Cass

Hi Cass

A misty morning here. I am going to have to get a mat out to sit on while having my first cup of , two mornings in a row I have got a cold bum

Yesterday I was cautiously optimistic that I had got into some sort of rhythm and I was feeling really quite organised. I just lay down on the sofa giving the cat a cuddle and listening to some business programme, I think it was about 6pm and didn't wake up until 10.30pm. I thought that I wouldn't get back to sleep after getting up lock up the house etc but did about 11.30pm and woke up again at 6.27am, perfect. I feel really perky

Bit disorientated, I keep thinking it is Sunday but everytime I realise it is Saturday I give a little cheer in my head

Peanut

Hi Peanut

I have just managed to "escape" from the turmoils of re-writing my letter..

It has taken me much of this last week, and the problem has been not to re-write the whole book. Todays re-working from the start has at least made it possible to get to an end.

Have you ever heard Ian Dury's "Reasons to be Cheerful"? I think that they included a version of it in the Paralympic Opening Ceremony: and it will surely be the message that will remain as a legacy of these games.. It seemed like a good thing to sign off with.

Your post about your day/ night sound really serene and appropriate for the Indian Summer.. Reasons to be cheerful after so much "funny" weather.

Perhaps I can now get back to more "Putting my house in order" stuff..

But I suppose something that happened yesterday might count on that score.. A couple of days ago I was phoned by the company who has done our double glazing etc and it is true that it looks quite good. I was spun this line that someone in the street had bought a conservatory quoting us as the reason for choosing that company and they wanted to give us a wacking commission so we might be able to get something done for next to nothing. Seemed to be nothing to lose, until the next phone call which was not quite the same. And I called off.

Back comes the first guy, and eventually I agreed to see someone at 6.30 Friday.. Only thing really that we have not changed is the back door from the garden to the garage. I don't know what experience you have with such things, but you can never get them just to give you a "Ball park" figure to make sure that it is not all a waste of time.

The next to nothing turned out to be £2,400: and then you get all this playing about of phoning back head office and different schemes etc. I suppose the young men were pleasant enough to meet and chat to, but I am very resistant to people trying to talk me into things.

For information: We had not actually thought about changing the existing door, which is a very solid, ex-school one that we picked up for nothing and I fitted many years ago. But we had agreed that our 'next to nothing' might be as much as £500.

Hope you have enjoyed your Saturday.. Has Hiccup been off with new friends, or glad to just soak in being at home? Or a bit of both?

As you say there is a question of a new rhythm for you both.

Cass

Hello Cass

I am glad you are resistant to that sort of selling, seems to me they are trying to sell you something you don't need and then ramping it up some. Those sort of strategies only incline me towards telling them politely 'do one'

Funny thing this week that shaped my weekend, weatherman said enjoy the next few days, after that everything is going to be unsettled. It made me smile because I thought, welcome to my life, thank you, I'm going to take that advice will enjoy this weekend, for what it is and because I can

So I have made the most of it as what I can

Peanut

Hi Peanut

You read really calm and settled this week-end. Long may it continue.

Funny thing happened today.. A few days ago we got a flyer through the door. An estate agent publicity. A house in our street (photo given) had been sold for £579,000.. And they were asking for more clients interested in selling.. Looking at the house I did not really recognise it, and thought it must be "the other end" of the street, divided from us by a small wood/ bird sanctuary.

Looking at it again today I realised that it is the house just opposite!! But from the other angle than I usually look at it, and of course minus the car and white van parked in front. The owners are an Irish couple who run their own building firm, and it is true that they have quite massively extended and improved. The loft space was extended into a self-contained flat for his grown up daughter, before she moved in with boyfriend.

Still I have often toyed with schemes to do something not dissimilar. It is not clear that our son will ever be able to afford a house/flat and should they ever have children...? Moreover with us vacating the house for over three months of the year already, there would be advantages of having someone on the premises more permanently.

As I have said "putting my own house in order".. It might mean trying to fullfil its potential.. Up to now we have always tended to put off any thoughts of moving until our daughter is married and settled etc, anticipating grandparent duties.. But I am really beginning to feel at home here. Home at last.

Cass

Hello Cass

Back to reality today, or facing up to it, I think a bit of both *sigh*. It was good to have a holiday and to get away camping, also this weekend but in the full knowledge that you are allowed to cacoon yourself for a 'designated time' but beyond that it is not a healthy dose of escapism but avoidance and that won't do *wags finger at herself*

It is lovely to hear you talking about feeling at home and

Did you enjoy the closing ceremony last night?

Peanut

Hi Peanut

Interesting points.. Back to reality/ escapism etc.. It brings me back to questions I raised some months ago, based as much as anything else I suppose of our own experience of that time when your children go off to college and an entry into the wider world, and one if left in the nest that was built for their dependent and earlier phase of life.. That are central to much of what I have been trying to put down in my letter.

I fear that it has become a bit of an obsession over the last week.. and I keep trying to get away from it only to come back.. I thought I had come to an end yesterday, and thought I might be able to watch the closing ceremony. But by the time it really got going I had decided that in fact the end that I had got to was really what I had to put at the start. Introductions and conclusions should be essentially the same, if one wishes people to understand.. So I got involved in another re-draft, and had the ceremony in the background.

Lunch call

Cheers

Cass

Hi Peanut

Back again waiting to do the washing up.

I may have mentioned a long- chat I had with a more or less total stranger my first morning back.. Her 11 year old son waited with Chinese politeness, but I do not think that it was such politeness that made her say that she felt she could easily converse with me all day.. I am probably easier "to take" in conversation than in monologues, and in many ways prefer the interaction.

I think that the material for my letter ended up as 48 pages of A4! But that also includes several sessions of cutting and re-pasting in order to try to get down to something that achieves what my brother said in one father of the bride speech. A speech should be like a Bikini. As short as possible and covering three main points.

But the Shiva process of construction and destruction, writing pieces and then editing them out or re-arranging is detrimental to my short-term health. What I did not say earlier was that, having started a new editing while the closing ceremony was blasting out, I finally got to bed around 12.30, only to wake up about five hours later with my mind quickly back "on the case". So I was back writing around 6pm in order to finish. Then I could sleep for a while.

Hopefully the last revision took place later this morning, with a bit of squeezing to make sure that it did not go beyond 8 pages.

As it is intended to be the kind of book that should "change the world" that does not seem excessive as the equivalent of a "business plan".

But the logic of what I have written is that really life is all about getting involved like the army of volunteer Games Makers. And there is little sense of getting involved when sitting at a computer screen.

Anyway just a couple of hours to "get involved" here at home before we are off for tea at our sons.

Have a good day.

Cass

Cass,

A speech should be like a Bikini. As short as possible and covering three main points.

sorry that make me laugh

which three points should it cover exactly, my mind boggles, it is not one of those thong bikinis is it they seem to cover very little at all



Peanut

Hi Peanut

Well it was supposed to be a joke to lighten the moment. My brother actually had to "give away" three daughters- one of them twice, and she is currently on her third 'partner".. They were in many ways 'the light of his life', though he was also blessed with a happy marriage. He "held it together" pretty well at the weddings. Our son's wedding was certainly not the same. But then he had not been living with us really for almost 20 years by then.

As for the three points perhaps it is less obvious these days, but back then it was pretty clearly two nipples and the groin region. I seem to remember that even in "Nude" photographs (as in the Windmill Girls) it was enough to tape over these points plus no pubic hair for censorship's sake.

Cass

Explanation

As I have no Smilies on this skin I thought I would see whether GuideML works.. Seemed to for laugh.

Cass

Hi Cass

It is a lovely starry sky tonight and so peaceful. My head is also whirring with things that I can do nothing about when I woke up 3.30pm, so I told myself to shut up and enjoy the view skywards from my garden.

I enjoy conversing with you Cass, don't find you difficult to take at all.

I agree with you about getting involved. Not so about the sitting in front of a computer. As with all things there should be a balance and it depends what you do on your computer. I got given my first computer to have at home in 1997 and got on that there interweb and it was life changing.

Are you now happy with your revisions?

Peanut