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

Aha, there you are! I was wondering what had become of you.

I am about to disappear for a few days myself. On Wednesday evening I am flying out to the South of France to stay with my friend Magali. Given that I haven't been on an aeroplane for slightly over 16 years, this may prove to be a traumatic experience. And the night before travelling, will I be at home packing and relaxing? No, I shall be taking part in a staff quiz night at the college where I work

My cold went away, but I still don't feel quite right. I can't say that I feel ill as that would be over stating the case, but I have an almost permanent dry throat and I'm so tired it's ridiculous. Work was mad for the first three weeks of September, but I am now running out of things to do (I wrote a letter to my Grandma at work this afternoon). As ever, there are things that I need to do but can't because I am waiting for other people to do stuff.

I have applied for a PA's job in the same sector of the college where I currently work. It's not entirely what I want, and I may not even make the interview stage, let alone get the job, but I thought it was worth applying if only to remind the management that I don't intend to do the same old c**p for ever. I've been on the same salary scale for three years and I think it's time I got myself a promotion (and frankly, I need the money).

I know what you mean about the weather. My office is quite warm (so that's a vast improvement on the one that I was in before) so I don't like to go to work too bundled up. However, my little victorian house is inclined to be a bit chilly in the mornings and I have a fifteen minute walk to work so dressing in a manner that avoids hypothermia prior to arriving at work but doesn't result in my getting heat stroke once there is a little challenging. We have had a couple of really chilly nights here recently and I have had to resort to a hot water bottle in the absence of a man to warm up the bed, so I am particularly looking forward to a few days of warmer weather when I go to Antibes.

I'm with you on the Christmas feelings also. Debenhams in Ipswich have had their Christmas decs on display since August! It shouldn't be allowed! One of my colleagues at work today was talking about starting her Christmas shopping early this year. Sod that! I refuse to give any serious consideration to that particular festival until at least November (apart from paying for the Christmas party that I go to each year of course, the deposit for which was paid way back in March! Aargh!)

And relax.

I'm glad you are getting on so well with your Chris. I have been out several times of the past couple of weeks, and having no one to go with is starting to annoy me. When I get back from France, I may have to look again at the possibility of Internet Dating. My mate from work is still with her chap that she met on the net - I met him on Saturday actually. He's not the most attractive man I've ever seen (he looks like Mr Punch, quite frankly) but she likes him and they seem very happy.

Against my better judgement, I sent Chris a text message a couple of weeks ago. I knew that he had a hospital appointment, so I sent him a fairly terse little message wishing him well. I didn't want him to think I had forgotten him entirely, but equally, I don't really want to encourage his friendship anymore. Anyway, I said something along the lines of “Assume you are still at hospital today. Hope all goes well. Liz.” Here is part of his reply “... Sadly, the hospital decided to cancel my appointment last week. Which was annoying, but didn’t upset me that much. Maybe I expected it. Time to review my options? Still looking at houses, too many choices! Take care Chris.” I found that reply hugely irritating - last time I saw him, he was talking about trying to go private for these tests. I knew he wouldn’t. All talk and no action; always was. The “Maybe I expected it,” was what really irritated me. I found myself thinking 'Oh, pull yourself together!' He never used to be such a self-pitying little twerp - I don't know what happend to the man I used to love, but this certainly isn't him. Best to let this go now, I think.

I went and saw my friend's sons rock band again on Saturday. The occasion was the younger son's 16th birthday. He was terribly pleased with the birthday card I gave him - he's a nice lad, well they both are. Last Tuesday I went to a hen night at a Tapas Bar and after we had scoffed our grub, six of us had a salsa lesson. I cannot believe just how bad I was at Salsa – clearly I have NO coordination. For about the first fifteen minutes I actually felt rather upset that I was so hopeless. There was a point when I thought I was getting the hang of it, but then I looked up and discovered that everyone else was facing a different way, so clearly something had gone wrong! By the end of the hour, I was getting tired and was finding it even more difficult than at the start. It is possible that a couple of us will go again. I would have another bash at it given the chance - I'm not going to be beaten by a chuffing dance!

Anyway, I must go. I am trying to catch up with a few messages before I go away and as I'm going out tomorrow evening, this might be the last chance I get until next week.

Chat again soon.
Liz
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Hi Liz

good to hear from you ... just thought I'd drop in and say have a good holiday. I won't bleat on now cos I imagine you've got lots to do before you go away but I'll write some more before you come home ... honest

Anyway, you have a darn good time ... make the most of the break and the sunshine and come back refreshed and relaxed and ready to take on the world (almost)

take care m'dear,
speak soon,
Karen
xx

HI Liz

Hope you're break went well ... how was the flight?? I'd be the same as you, the last time I went on a plane was before I got pregnant with my eldest and she's just turned 16 ... I'm determined tho that next year I'm going to have a *proper* holiday in the sun somewhere so I may be calling on you at that point for some moral support

Anyway, things are going really well with Chris. We obviously don't get to see each other all that often, about every 3 or 4 weeks on average, but we chat most days and it's been good It's nice to feel that there's someone out there and he's such a gentle, kind guy that I feel really fortunate to have met him. I would give the dating sites a try if I were you. As long as you keep your tongue firmly in your cheek and be just a tad cautious it can lead to some friendships if not romance, but then that's something isn't it. I've kept in touch with one guy I met on Friends Re-united and although there was never never any *spark* there, he's a nice guy and we struck up a friendship which has lasted a couple of years now. We meet a couple of times a year for a day out and exchange e-mails but even that is nice. Go for it. What have you got to loose???

Hope you get a good result with the job application. As you say, at least it'll show the powers that be that you're not ready to be put out to grass just yet and maybe if the job comes off, it'll be better than where you are now.

I've been looking (just looking tho) for a change the last few weeks. In a moment of weakness I decided that I'd look for a job working with animals which is what I've always wanted to do. But nothing going unfortunately. I quite fancied being a zoo-keeper (I know, I know, but in my defence I was feeling a bit down and, therefore, unstable at the time ) but discovered that (a) the pay is probably not enough to live on and (b) I need to have had a years work already with animals and then there's a 2 year training programme, so I'm probably a bit long in the tooth for all that. Not many geriatric zookeepers about are there ???? Never mind, back to the drawing board eh?!!?!?!

Well, not much going on here really ... Chris is coming up next weekend which is great news and I'm still enjoying learning to play golf. Got my first try on the full 18 hole course next weekend so spare me a thought ... I'll probably still be out there on Monday morning Still going to the gym - the running's coming on nicely at the moment and I may even be brave enough to enter a real live race soon, you never know. The girls are fine, both settled back nicely into the school routine, it's just me that's struggling this time round

Sounds to me like you're slowly but surely getting Chris out of your system which is not a bad thing. Gives you the chance to move on - isn't it amazing how you suddenly *notice* all their irritating little habits??? It's almost as if it's ok to acknowledge them now it really doesn't matter ...

well, I'm off now to reply to a few e-mails and get and early(ish) night so take care and I'll catch up with you again soon

ttfn
Karen

I had a completely splendid time in France and I didn't want to come home. I have written one of my famously long journals about my trip, which you can read here, assuming you have the odd decade to sparehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brune...4?thread=1190984&show=20&skip=0#pi1

The flight was fine. I think aircraft have probably improved since I last flew. I didn't really feel the take-off - we seemed to have been charging down the runway for quite some time so I dared to open my eyes and discovered we were in the air! And the landing at Nice was quick and painless too. It was dark when I landed, but I flew back in daylight and sneaked a peak outside just after take-off and the views were amazing.

Travelling alone was OK - I would rather have had some company, but it was a relatively short journey in terms of time (an hour-and-a-quarter to Stansted from here by road, and a flight time of just under two hours) and I would have no qualms at all about going again. Stansted Airport is a complete dump, but it's still the easiest one to get to from here. Did I tell you I used a new service that runs between Ipswich and Stansted Airport? It was supposed to be a mini bus, but on both trips there were only three passengers including me, so we were taken by car and I got to sit in the front both times. I was very impressed with the service (once I managed to book it) and I would definitely use it again.

Work has been a bit peculiar this week as we have had people off sick and on holiday, so we have been a bit short of bodies in my office. It's been a nice week though - I wish work was always this jolly. I had an interview for the PA's job on Wednesday, but I didn't get it. The Director of Administration was on the interview panel and she called me into her office later that afternoon to tell me that I hadn’t got the job. She seemed very concerned about my ropey interview technique. She wants to try and get me onto some sort of training to help me with my self confidence, which is probably a good thing but scary none-the-less. She seemed genuinely sorry to not be able to offer me the job. She said that my task was very good, but that I didn’t sell myself sufficiently at the interview. I think the fact I wasn’t too bothered whether I got it was more apparent to the panel than I had realised. As usual, I can honestly say that I am not disappointed. However, what does upset me is that they were so disappointed by my interview – I knew it wasn’t great but I didn’t think it was that bad.

Well done on the running - shall we see you in the London Marathon one day perhaps? Or maybe the Great North Run?

I still get all my exercise by walking and since I am minus a boyfriend (and consequently minus his car) I walk even more. Someone at work suggested that I had lost weight, but as she tends towards lunacy most of the time I didn't take much notice. However, Magali told me last week that she thought I had lost weight too, so I weighed myself on her scales and they said 54.4 kilos, which I calculate to be around eight-and-a-half stone - so I have lost a bit, which is nice. Lose a boyfriend, lose weight and have a holiday - it's not a bad old life really.

Chat soon
Liz
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Hi Liz

not a bad old life as you say ... well done losing weight, the exercise certainly helps and I've found the opposite here - don't seem to have the time to get to the gym or go out running much at the mo and consequently I've put on half a stone. I'm now nudging 9 stone and feel like the size of a house even tho logic tells me that it's not really that bad The girls have been on half term this week and I took a week off work so I've made the effort and I've been out running every day (except Wednesday) and so hopefully that will kick start my enthusiasm again. There really isn't any justification for saying I've not had the time ... if I go for even a short run it'd be better than nothing and I need only be out half an hour but somehow once you get out of the habit the motivation just isn't there. So, we'll see how it goes (and yes, one day you *will* see me running the marathon ... I'm determined to do it before I get too old )

You sound as if you had a great time in France - glad the flight wasn't as bad as you expected but you made it and so now if you get the chance to go again things won't seem so bad.

How's things settling down at work now? Grab any training they're prepared to give you with both hands but I can understand how you felt at their reaction to your interview Just put it behind you ... you'll be fine, after all it's all good practice isn't it and at least the supervisor gave you some feedback so you know where you went wrong.

I'm not looking forward to going back to work on Monday - a couple of the women I work with are still doing the handbags at 50 paces and it's making the atmosphere in the office absolute pants. At least the girl I work with is as fed up with it as I am so we take the p*ss out of them and get what amusement from it we can The good bit is one of 'em leaves in another week to go off on maternity leave so at least we've got a little bit of a respite from it all.

Other than that I'm still practicing the golf. The 18 hole course was a bit of a *challenge* you might say but Chris was very patient and smiled all the way through which was probably even more of a challenge. Have to say it was damn hard work tho ... I have a new respect for all these oldies you see out there on the course and I now understand why my Dad used to come home from a round and sleep all afternoon

Well, that's about the size of it really ... I'm not looking forward to the winter months, the papers all say we're in for a belter of a winter, *the great freeze* they were calling it yesterday - I may just go into hibernation and come out again sometime around April/May. Just the thought of all those dark evenings and the cold and the snow makes me feel like curling up and hiding Stick Christmas into all that as well and it's just disaster

Hope things your end are good Liz ... take care, chat soon

Karen

Watcha!

Work last week was. It was half term, so there weren't any interrputions from annoying students, therefore it only took about an hour each day to get through my workload. I spent most of Wednesday on a 'Front Line Customer Care' course. I'm not sure that I learned much about how to deal with customers, but it was quite an entertaining day; especially the role-play part - I think my colleagues Bernadine and Charlotte were vying for the 'Best Actress' Oscar.

I never look forward to going into work on a Monday - Sunday evening comes around much too quickly, doesn't it? On the customer care course, the course leader went around the room asking what our motiviation was and I was one of a large number of people who were honest enough to say "money".

I'm not taking any notice of the people who are predicting a hard winter. Would these be the same forecasters who told us to expect a heatwave in August? Or the same people who forecast rain for today when it has in fact been a glorious sunny autumnal day? Weather forecasters know nowt!

Ah, the 'C' word. The shops are already choca with stuff. It's like santa's grotto in BHS and it's barely even Halloween! Christmas can just bog right off as far as I'm concerned. Bah Humbug!

Well, I haven't got much to report today so I shall shuffle off now.

Have a good week.

Liz
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