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

Irritating how it always gets in the way... RW has been decidedly rainey today, too. I took my film of photos (taken with my baby point and click camera) to the chemist today; a few days more and they'll be in the state where they can go on a website! I guess I'll get down to designing properly at that point...

Have to see if I can get a clone to do my RW stuff for me .... but only if I get to do the interesting RW items myself, of course. Rain's "off" where I live ... no more until around Easter (feel sorry for garden plants!). You know how kids in the UK rush out to play when it snows? The kids here do the same with the first rain of the autumn - they all rush out and get soaked!

*tries to imagine herself being excited about the rain*
*fails*

It was really, really yucky yesterday evening. but its bright and sunny now, which is nice. But there's a lot of flooding around. Happily Durham wasn't really affected- the towpath dissapeared for a little while beneath the Wear, but its back again now... but there's flooding in North Yorkshire, not so far from here....

Yes - the amazing UK weather even made our parochial TV news. This is just a flying visit - off the more rehearsals soon. Keep fingers crossed starting about 26 hours from this posting .... until I log on again from the office on Monday morning .... half dead from lack of sleep! CU then.

Right... The A1(M) was closed in both directions due to the floods.... we took a detour, and the coach driver estimated we'd have taken 2.5 hours longer if we hadn't, the tailbacks in the other direction were a sight to behold!
*crosses fingers*

*finds it hard to type*

*uncrosses fingers and crosses some inside her head instead*

Hi Princess, (or is it Muse now?)

Your weather's still bad, I see - glad you were OK.

Someone brought a laptop into the Green Room, so I've sneaked in a quick posting - about 30 minutes before we go on (keep those mental fingers crossed!!)

An hour ago I listened to the last of the examination concerts .. students doing the Mozart E flat Quintet (K452) on original instruments ... (as it should be ... no valves, not enough keys, etc). They did a really good performance. Makes me realise our efforts on modern instrumetns should be a "walk in the park" by comparison. ... So why am I still nervous????

Talk to you again soon.

Its healthy to be a bit nervous. You'll be fine *keeps fingers crossed*

& its still Princess...

Oh good, Princess - couldn't cope with changes of title

And thank you for the crossed fingers. I think it went well. ... only a few wrong notes
(I'm now at work, surviving on coffee and hoping to last the day out without falling asleep).
The hall looked fairly full most of the night (you know how hard it is to see much from the stage) .. it turns out a lot of people were coming for a couple of hours, then moving on, and more people coming in ... and we took just over $2K on the door, which we've sent to the local childrens' hospital.

I spent a couple of hours early this morning listening to the recordings .. although there were a few disappointments, most of the pieces worked well - some sound really great. At first listening, there could be just over 20 good quality pieces, of which 6 or 7 will be the "dual" arrangements. I will wait to get a copy of the tapes in a couple of days, (plus get some sleep), and then listen to them again ... hoping not to feel really silly

So if I do let you know how they sound, you'll know they turned out ok ....

Got a couple of matchsticks to prop my eyelids open?
BCNU

Hi Princess.

Just a brief mutual "back pat" .... Noticed that our joint article on Scales in Music was the lead item in Monday's guide page. Nice to see it emerge from the system!

It is, isn't it? I love the picture too

D'you still need those matchsticks

Still in need of the matchsticks, as it happens ... I've recovered from the concert, but last weekend my company moved to offices in the city centre. We spent the whole weekend on the move - making sure we stayed on the net for as long as possible .. so not much sleep!

I got tapes of the concert, and have listened. Not too embarrassing at all .. there are some pieces I'm quite proud of! . They are also going to preserve two of the "serious" solo pieces that I did. The one I really wanted (a Chopin prelude) wasn't good enough, but I played two Bach 2-part inventions on the organ, and they came out well.

How's things with you?

Unfortunately I am currently suffering from Essay Crisis. Its due in tomorrow. I'm stuck at the 800 word mark. And I have a 9.00am tomorrow... aargh... *looks for caffeine* i'm so, soo sleepy...

Are the new offices nice? that sounds like hard work...

I'm glad your pieces mostly came out well, though...

*Finds slightly old bag of Blue Mountain beans, grinds, put percolator on.*
This stuff should do the trick - coffee for desperate essayists ...

The offices themselves are great - much more elbow room, better facilities, dangerously distracting views of the river .. , and everything's running smoothly now. The location is the best for business - right in the city centre ... but that's also the snag ... city centre = traffic, rush hours, etc.

From where I live, (on the other side of the river) there's only one way in ... only one bridge ... so the traffic gets bad. I've taking to coming into work by 07:30 (11:30 your time) to avoid the traffic. Still, they allocated me a parking space - they are like gold dust round here - they cost about $8k a year ... at least I don't have to pay for that!

Good luck with the essay. I'd send a couple of hundred words, but they might not just copy and paste into place ....

500 more words... I'm writing about extrasolar planets. Except I dont' know any about them. And my tutor probably does...

Eeek! I think I know less than you do ....
*Pours two mugs of strong coffee*
Look on the bright side ... when you've finished you can also submit it as a Guide entry ....

BTW - are the water levels in the UK going down yet? Hasn't been on our news for several days ...

lol I was planning to... great minds, huh?

Things are getting better. There are less flood warnings around at the moment, and some trains are running. The trouble is that unless we have a very prolonged dry spell any extra rain will cause floods straight away because the ground is saturated.

but the towpath here isn't in danger of immediate flooding, - this time last week you couldn't walk down it.

Good job the Cathedral's up on the hill! Pretty bad if the train tracks are washed out ... Were you planning to go to the London meet on the 25th? (I'm not, obviously!!!)

I would have loved to go, but I can't- I have commitments in Durham... My friends Confirmation is the day after, & we're all going up to Newcastle that day...

Finished my essay now

Essay done! Great!
*Produces orange & walnut sponge cake*
Time for a brief celebration ... then what? Catch up on sleep, or straight into the day?

Shame about the date clash, but the confirmation will be a good day. I expect someone will take lots of slightly out
of focus photos and publish them ... we'll get to see what happened in London

Mmm nice cake

Brief celebration, then launch into the homework problems due in tomorrow... then choir practice...

The electronics lab didn't work because of the fire alarm this morning. Not because both my partner and I were needing matchsticks to keep our eyes open. No really...