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

Hi Pinky, I couldn't get a connection on this site for a few days, traffic seems to have been dead so presumably they've been having problems, are you away? Daft question I know let me know when you get back if you are! I've just turned down an offer of a week in Staithes, my sis has rented a place up there after she's been to us but I made an excuse! Love, Ham.

Hello Ham , home now , safe and sound. I had a fabulous time,relaxing , so quiet ,weather lovely too. Always nice to be home though. Hope everything is OK with you ? So sorry I didn't get a chance to write before I left Ham, so much to think about , you need a holiday just to plan one ha ha ha . Speak soon , can't wait to hear all the news . Love Pinks x x x

Pinky, it's great to hear from you, I wish I had loads of stimulating stuff, the most exciting thing I've done was go to Aldershot last Saturday to watch the Heed, they won as well, mind you they've been tanked since then but it was a great day out. I went by train just on my own but the Heed lot are a very tight-knit bunch, it's always a great laugh. I had to change at Ascot and it was race day, honestly you have to see it to believe it, lasses in heels no human should ever wear tottering around in their fancy hats, champagne flowing as well, they're not as elegant coming back I tell you, carrying their shoes, somewhat the worse for wear is being kind! I got back at about 9 and met up with my missus and mate and carried right on so I've no right to criticize! You sound like you had a good time, I'm ready for a break to be honest but this bliddy knee, and of course the imminent arrival of my sis hotly followed by my two sis in laws, then my op, I'm not moaning honest, but we don't know what to do for best just yet, I'm easy pleased as anything me but my missus does worry about me, but I'd be just as happy in a nice place in Spain, if I can't get far so be it but I reckon I'll be fit as a lop by November. Reet Darling, I'll be back tomorrow, great talking, Love, Ham.

Oh and I won a case of Beck's at the opening Wallie's tournament, haven't even started it! I've been to buy a tree lopper thingy at Wilkinsons, this is cos my missus is swinging off ladders trimming my neighbours trees! I've told him but he's so bloody docile, he's planted these things birch I think all the way up our boundary, they're quite nice to be honest but it drives my missus nuts, she's a devil when she's roused, she'll hack away which will drive him nuts this thing extends about 10 feet, she'll do some damage with that! Well the weekend's here, my tomatoes have hardly started ripening yet, oh except the little 'tumbling toms' which are coming along, they're tiny patio things but they are really nice to eat, we went up to Cowley and got our eye on some pork pies, we're really sensible eaters but sometimes, you see a pork pie and it has to be, it just has. So that's what we're having for tea, nice and easy, bit of salad couple of new spuds and the job's a good un! I've been following the Corbyn campaign very carefully, can't say I've been aware of him really in the past, I'm a faithful Labour Party member but I don't get in to it as much as I should, but I love the way Corbyn's come through, we need a bit of the old red flag to shake these complacent tory so and so's up, and I'm afraid that includes half the Labour establishment, if they just want to carry on where Milliband left off what good is that going to do? I don't think we've talked about this stuff much but my impression is we've been on the same wavelength. Anyways darling, spuds to be scraped, Love, Ham.

Hello Ham , at least you won some beer, I can't win an argument, honestly. Just no news to report at all here, I need to get a life ha ha , it's only when I come to write to you , I realise just how boring my life is. I did cut the hedges the other day , your wife and I between us could be a secret weapon , I'm a demon with those hedge cutters ha ha.

So you've got the family invasion soon then ? Still not sure when mine is yet ! My brother (Shepherds Bush) is coming up soon and I'm going back down with him , nothings been arranged yet though.It's ages since I was in London , and truthfully I'm not that excited about a holiday there Ham. Everything you see on on TV , it puts me off.

You're right about the Labour party mind , it's about time we moved back to being Labour , rebuilt the unions, and stood for real values , like we used to . To me, they've just been an extension of the conservative party for far to long. I'm a member of the Labour Party also Ham , about time I started getting to as few meetings I think . Crack the whip a bit ha ha , or perhaps not , they'd ban me probably ha ha OK sending this now , enjoy the rest of the weekend . Love Pinks xxx

I got a call yesterday from Labour Central office, I said I was voting for Mr Corbyn, then he says, 'my name's Josh, would you consider giving your second vote to Yvette', no says I having posted elsewhere calling her a crypto Tory who had been totally vindictive to Corbyn, phone went dead! Pinky I feel the same, but I just enjoy rambling on but life goes on till it stops, nowt wrong with banality,for example I just made a typo calling you Oinky, which could have been the end of a beautiful relationship! We had visitors from Middlesborough yesterday, remember my former son-in -law who went to live in Didcot? His partner is from Middlesborough and she had her mum dad and uncle visiting so they called around! Isn't life strange! Really nice people though and we had a laugh. My younger daughter has gone to Crete with my granddaughters, I've got the dog which I've just walked along the Thames a bit, haven't had a shave yet, disgraceful, and I'm all sweaty, it's lovely here today, Love and perspiration, Ham.

Ha ha ha Oinky ha ha I've been called worse Ham , it'll take a bit more than that to end our beautiful relationship , 10 out of 10 for trying mind ha ha ha ha You are funny. Well what news ? I mowed the lawn , so the garden looks tidy , the weather has been wonderful here too. Had a lovely walk along the beach yesterday, watched a magnificent sunset.
Life is very strange Ham , I agree with you. Once you become single again , it's so strange how couples we once knew , just stop bothering to call anymore, even to enquire how everyone is doing ,like you don't j exist anymore. Very strange , no accounting for how folks are I suppose Ham. They'll need me before I need them , I keep telling myself. It just makes you think Ham.

I saw the football results , for our lot up there , both teams not starting off well at all, I'm supporting the Heed this season , it's too shameful at the moment to even mention Sunderland ha ha , they're a disgrace !

Not sure if I told you , my nephew , moved over to Texas , he met a Texan girl while at uni, they were married last weekend in Texas. They are coming over for a family celebration , after Christmas and New Year. They sent me photos through email. I think I told you he teaches archery, the opportunities are much better for him in the States than it ever could be for him here. They look happy , and that's the main thing. The huge benefit is , they've invited me over for a holiday next year. I might just take up the offer , I've never been to America, an adventure anyway eh ?
Right sending this now Ham, I'll write even more boring stuff tomorrow count on it ha ha Love Pinks x x x k

But be careful sweetheart, things are bigger in Texas! We only ever got to the States once, from Canada, only hopped across to Michigan for a couple of days but we had a great time just staying at motels, but even they are like palaces, but Texas, you'd never get me out of the guitar shops! People are so friendly, funny enough I've just finished a book, by Frances Trollop, mother of Anthony Trollope, she wrote this book on the manners, of Americans, sometime around the 1820's, she'd gone over there to start a haberdashery, this immediately collapsed so she had to make some money quick, a very resourceful woman, it's hilarious and fascinating. I've just been out with the dog, I pedal along with the dog on a lead and she just trots along, she's getting on a bit so she's knackered for the rest of the day! Domestic Manners of the Americans, that's the title of that book, actually I've just looked her up and she wrote lots of reforming novels, early emancipation stuff that you're into I think, I didn't know till I looked! Love, Ham.

You haven't been drinking the local water have you hinny? Love, Ham.

Hello Ham ,don't mention water ,I'm buying bottled water for drinking ,teeth and tea,boiling every drop for everything else. It's a nightmare. You don't realize until you want to wash say a tomato ,just how much water we use. The thing is ,I can't see it improving quickly. It really is a nightmare.

Well I found it very interesting about Frances Trollope,I'd never heard of her to be truthful. Checked her out on Google,she did have a very interesting life and so resourceful. Just makes me think though Ham ,she was well travelled ,born in Bristol ,died in Florence ,Italy, these people never come from the lowly working classes do they ? I mean ,you are talking the mid 1800's here,she wrote books about her travels , Belgium ,Germany, Austria and of course America. I couldn't find out anything about her family history ,before she married,it was so interesting reading about her though Ham ,thank you ,yet again for educating me with these literary authors,very enlightening. She married a barrister,he, and I quote'struggled with financial misfortune' ,so I'm thinking gambler,she had to start writing to support her family,travelled Europe to find content for her books ,so what they call financial misfortune and what we call financial misfortune are from two different worlds. I'd have to sit there ,with a candle ,if I was lucky ,just imagining what these places were like hahahaha I know you understand what I mean, but in all fairness ,she was published. One of her sons went on to be a more famous writer than his mother ,so quite an achievement really. Anyway ,thank you for creating my interest Ham , I love doing the research. I will be reading her work.

Other news ! Well hahaha,don't hold your breath now. We've had a bit of rain ,but generally the weather has been lovely. Everyone is fine and I'm getting there ,slowly but surely ,good days ,then a bad day ,I have to just get over and keep busy. So I'm going to paint the lounge next week ,I think ,that's the plan anyway. I'll keep you informed Ham. Hope you're having a lovely week-end? Write soon . Love Pinks XXX

Hello sweetheart, I shouldn't joke about the water situation, honestly we seem to be a third world country sometimes. I suppose there was a natural bias toward middle classness in women authors, for a start they had to be able to read and write, very rare in working class women at the turn of the 18th century and even later, but the women who managed to use their pen to fend off poverty were truly brilliant and very resourceful, Fanny Trollope's husband was useless as you say, Mrs Oliphant practically invented the bodice-ripper genre to literally enable her to feed her kids, and she sandwiched in some brilliant novels, remarkable. My own favourite is Mrs Gaskell, who never wrote anything less than brilliant, she was married to this long-suffering Methodist minister who seems to have been tolerant of Mrs G's fondness for Italian boyfriends, marvellous. My sis and her husband have arrived, it's lashing down here, we don't know what to do with them, Help!!!! Love, Ham.

Well I'm still here hinny, my guests leave tomorrow of course they hadn't realised it was a BH weekend coming up, I've told them to set off at 5am, I would but I suspect they think I'm just glad to get rid of them, true but if I was travelling North on a BH that's what I would do. Love to you, Ham.

I hope and trust all is well Pinky, Love, Ham.

Hello Ham , all is well now , I too had family visit !!! My cousin and her hubby and grandson from Sunderland , guess who had to give her bedroom up ? ME ! Of course, hence no PC , and trouble getting to post a message to you on the tablet, they went home this morning. I can't begin to explain the relief Ham , it's been hectic. My brother arrives in a couple of weeks , I should have an hotel up here really . Hope all is well with you Ham and the family ? I'm just thrilled to be back and able to write to you. Sending this now so you know everything is fine . Love Pinks xxx

Funny that we had a lightning visit this weekend, very short notice from my sis and brother in law on their way back to Newcastle after visiting their son in Southampton! Right in the middle of the Bunkfest of course, the wonderful folk festival they have in Wallingford, I was actually playing on the famous Singing Train when they arrived yesterday, I've been on again this morning, the 11 am special, its great I do lots of kids stuff, Morningtown Ride, Runaway train and lots of train songs., great fun, and I did a folk session last night so I'm a tad tired, still got to the club for the meat draw, didn't win nowt! Great to hear from you, I'm a bit micturated to be honest, I'll write tomorrow, Love Ham.

You could do without it sweetheart, you know yourself best but surely they should be looking after you! I know that we are like rats in a cage when people are stopping it's stressful, we always swear never again but what can you do! My sis is a complete nightmare, the one just gone off to Scotland with her poor downtrodden husband, she treats him like ordure, terrible, she's a complete glutton, well they both are, her favourite word is 'delicious', she must say it 20 times in the course of a meal, no exaggeration, makes me cringe! She's going off to stay with some poor so and so's in Scotland, she's running out of options cos people get wise to her, she only stops with me a week cos I lose it after a couple of days, then I'm the one that feels bad. She's really churchy in Canada, complete hypocrite, she's just in it for what she can get, she said she has the use of a holiday home on the lake near Ottawa, courtesy of fellow church people, I said if it's that good why are you here? Tactful as ever that's me. Hospital tomorrow for my pre op appointment, you keep well, we've got my sis in laws, both in their dotage arriving on Saturday, but to be honest they're light relief compared to my sis!

Love, Ham!!!!

Hello Ham , hope all went well at the hospital for the pre op examination ? You get more house guests than me ! I won't be moving back to Wallingford anytime soon then ha ha ha , it's as bad as living in Blackpool ha ha , well ,almost ! Every year when you do the trainfest , I wish I could be there , it really does sound just my kind of day , next year then , I might get make it !

Yesterday I went to a Comic Con ( more Sci Fi , I thought ) not really my sort of thing , but the kids wanted me to go . Well I had the best time Ham , kissed by Darth Vadar , AND a Planet Of The Apes , who knew ? Ha ha ha , it was amazing , thousands of people there , it was really good fun. I'd go again .

Wednesday I'm away to Gretna Green , the yearly visit , don't I always seem to be there when your sister is ? I've noticed that , don't worry , I'll hide ha ha

Sunderland plays Tottenham today , I feel deflated already , I'll be too scared to even see the result ha ha It's too scary!

Right sending this now Ham , hoping everything is OK with you? Thinking of you , as always . Love Pinks xxx

Love You sweetheart, I'm glad you're finding pleasures in rather esoteric ways, never knock it till you've tried it! Look just cos you mentioned it they did an ECG at my pre op and then said 'has anyone told you you've got an irregular heartbeat?' I'm telling you I nearly had a heart attack on the spot! The upshot is they've put my op back till I get started on blood thinners, I'm so peed off you wouldn't believe it. We've got my two sis in laws stopping, Linda's in the little bedroom where my computer is, so If I'm a little irregular, not in the cardiac sense you'll understand. Honest I've got no symptoms, no chest pain, tiredness, cramps, shortness if breath, all the things they ask you, not one. Anyways I'm not worried one jot, and I'm a hypochondriac! I won some nice pork steaks today, Watched your lot get beat, I hate to admit it but they were way the better side, Defoe is a great great player I've admired for years, he couldn't have been more unlucky. Reet I'm summonsed to dinner, the meat draw joints are coming out of the permafrost, we hardly eat them too big for the two of us, Love Ham.

Ham , I've been reading up on this heartbeat business, you can live a normal life , but they will keep you monitored until you have the knee op , and for awhile afterwards . The thing is , it's best to know about it , you can monitor yourself , just do things a bit more slowly, think before you lift anything too heavy , sensible things. I'm sure they set out to find something wrong every time you visit the hospital , if you didn't have an irregular heart beat before you got there , you'll certainly have one before you leave ha ha OR just watch Sunderland play footie , it's enough to give anyone palpitations ha ha ha

Just don't get stressed out over anything , you die if you worry , you die if you don't , so why worry ?

Write when you can , I know how it is when you've got guests, it's the same for me , I lose out on my computer every time , so I do understand . Just write when you can . Sending every best wish and love Pinks xxx