Journal Entries
How is a fella supposed to react to the death of a family pet?
Posted Aug 6, 2007
Today someone asked me why my brother is walking around with a face as long as a fiddle. They all know his oldest cat died last Thursday. Here's the puzzle: If one of my dogs had died within the last few days, everyone would expect me to be 100% miserable, as though I didn't expect the sun ever to shine again. Nobody would be surprised if I burst into tears every half hour or so, or hit the bottle for a couple of days. So I wonder why blokes aren't expected to form such close attachments to the companion animals that live with them; to the extent that they might be extremely upset when one dies. When the old cat was a bit younger, he used to jump up onto my brother's shoulder and refuse to budge. He'd ride the shoulder round the garden, looking down imperiously from his privileged vantage point on the other cats and dogs, while my brother checked, pruned and tidied round the trees and shrubs. He was a character, a rascal, a member of the family - and now my brother misses him and every now and then, people notice he looks sad. Quite understandably.
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Latest reply: Aug 6, 2007
Walk The Line
Posted Aug 3, 2007
Last night I watched 'Walk The Line' - a film about Johnny Cash, with Joaquin Phoenix playing Johnny and Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter. It wasn't bad. The balance between the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll could have been better. The drugs and emotional derangement were laid on a bit too thickly for my taste. More music would have been better. The main thing that struck me (and this could just be a sign of what a sad, unfocused sort of person I am) was how much more Joaquin Phoenix looked like David Suchet (Blott on the Landscape etc) than Johnny Cash. I might watch the extras on disc 2 tonight. It looks as though there might be more music on that.
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Latest reply: Aug 3, 2007
Unprovoked attack
Posted Jul 17, 2007
I was just strolling up the lane where I live on Sunday, scanning the thistle flowers for bees and butterflies (I'm fond of insects) and worrying about how very few I could find, when a sharp pain stabbed into the palm of my right hand. Ouch. I lifted the mitt to examine it and found a fly attacking it - don't know what sort - and swotted the blighter off. That was 2 days ago and I thought no more about it. This morning a big, red, itchy lump has appeared where that rascal bit, stung or ... or what ever it did. Now I'm hoping it did only bite or sting me. I hope it wasn't a jab with an ovipositor. As much as I like *most* insects, I think I might freak out or at least shudder with horror if fly larvae started erupting from my hand. Might apply a lump of ice for a few minutes.
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Latest reply: Jul 17, 2007
Help
Posted Jul 16, 2007
Finally, I received a reply from the BBC in answer to my call for help. This is, apparently, what you can expect if you can't get into h2g2. First of all, it's very difficult to find any way to contact h2g2 if not already signed in. So having clicked on the 'help' option on the error page that sign in initially directed you to and been directed to 'frequently asked questions' and a dozen other alternatives, and failed to find any way to actually contact anyone by reading the first 3 dozen or so pages, you sooner or later find a 'contact us' option that actually allows a message to be sent. This is the reply I eventually received:
"Dear Miss Bobley//Thank you for your e-mail.//I understand you are experiencing problems signing into the h2g2 website.//Therefore, I have forwarded your comments directly to the website owner, although a response cannot be guaranteed.//Please be assured that your comments have been made available to senior BBC management as well as the website owners.//Thank you once again for contacting the BBC with your concerns."
If there's an easier way to get through to h2g2 when not signed in, I wish someone would tell me what it is. I found my own way in eventually, by unblocking BBC cookies. If I were more computer literate I'd be kicking myself for making what must seem such an elementary mistake. There must be quite a lot of people like me though, who don't know enough to keep themselves out of this sort of trouble and need a bit of help occasionally. It used to be easy to get that help from h2g2.
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Latest reply: Jul 16, 2007
Help
Posted Jul 16, 2007
Finally, I received a reply from the BBC in answer to my call for help. This is, apparently, what we can expect if we can't get into h2g2. First of all, it's very difficult to find any way to contact h2g2 if not already signed in. So having clicked on the 'help' option on the error page that sign in initially directed you to and been directed to 'frequently asked questions' and a dozen other alternatives, and failed to find any way to actually contact anyone by reading the first 3 dozen pages, we sooner or later find a a 'contact us' option that actually allows a message to be sent. This is the reply I eventually received:
"Dear Miss Bobley//Thank you for your e-mail.//I understand you are experiencing problems signing into the h2g2 website.//Therefore, I have forwarded your comments directly to the website owner, although a response cannot be guaranteed.//Please be assured that your comments have been made available to senior BBC management as well as the website owners.//Thank you once again for contacting the BBC with your concerns."
If there's an easier way to get through to h2g2 when not signed in, I wish someone would tell me what it is. I found my own way in eventually, by unblocking BBC cookies. If I were more computer literate I'd be kicking myself for making what must seem such an elementary mistake. There must be quite a lot of people like me though, who don't know enough to keep themselves out of this sort of trouble and need a bit of help occasionally. It used to be easy to get that help from h2g2.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 16, 2007
Tibley Bobley
Researcher U170471
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