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

I've added you to my Friends list. As you can see, it's very select(!)

So now I can spy on your conversations at the click of a single button!

Ah, well, I suppose I'd better find something interesting to say then

Erm...

How's the show going?

The show. The show..?

Ah the Jeeves and Wooster!

It went very well, thanks! We all decamped to Somerset for a week and raised about £1300 for the restoration of some important local building or other. A splendid time was had by all...

And they insisted on booking us for next year as well, but I'm blowed if I'm starting to write anything just yet!

Sounds delightful. I've never read any PGW myself. Perhaps I ought to. Am I missing out?

Oh dear - I'm doing that 'completely failing to reply to things' thing again, aren't I...

Erm... yes, you should at least try PGW. I can imagine that the very 'upper class twit' characters will grate with some people, but it's worth a go..!

Yeah, I'm a bit more Evelyn Waugh myself. However, I think my flatmate has Joy In The Morning kicking around. Did you ever come across him? His name's Nigel and he used to be manager of the ADC (1997-99 ish). You may have hired lights from him at some point!

>>>Oh dear - I'm doing that 'completely failing to reply to things' thing again, aren't I...



You've obviously got too many conversations clogging up your list! I shall just go away then and finish my entry on Jane Austen.

It's all the music-related ones that I keep an eye on for the MuG, honest

A 'Nigel' who worked at the ADC at around that time does ring a bell in a vague sort of way. I never had to hire lights from there, but I was involved in a few things at the ADC from time to time.

Good luck with Jane Austen

Thanks - good luck with Fire Door.

By the way, I've just spotted you on Friends Reunited. Well, I assume it's you, it sounds like it. I was mooching around on the site having updated my own entry - I've recently moved into a new flat and one of the people who lives downstairs was in the year above me at Corpus. I thought this would amuse people. Weirdly, we are also listed one after the other on the FR site, due to alphabetical compatibility.

Only person I know on the Emma list is Imogen Wall. And you, sort of.

Hmm... big brother is watching me, eh

I never knew Imogen, but the name rings a bell, for some reason. Was she part of the ECSU committe or something..?

And Fire Door will develop slowly, due to my habit of getting sidetracked and having other things to do

Well, if you will use your real name instead of being all paranoid and abstruse like the rest of us.

ECSU? Quite possibly, she was that sort of person. Was involved with Varsity as well, did some costume-designing for shows (including one of mine), was good friends with Justine Waddell. Don't tell me you don't know who Justine is....

This isn't meant to be big brother, I just knew lots of people, especially the artsy crowd (the thesps, the poets, the Varsity lot and some of the music people) and I'm curious about what happened to them. I think that's the point of the FR site.

I was only joking about the Big Brother thing. I don't mind Big Brother watching me, as long as I don't have to watch Big Brother

I was in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' with Justine.

Yes well. To be honest, I have a lot of time on my hands this week as I'm not working. And although I'm already writing my third guide entry of the week I still have time to go lolloping off round the internet whilst waiting for the phone to ring.

Being Big Brother is also better than watching Big Brother

Oh dear. After your (very kind ) comments on old Fire Door, I am overwhelmed with guilt (aren't I always...)

Of course, as I'm going away for a couple of weeks (including a brief stop-off in Cambridge ), I probably won't be able to reply to any reply you might make

So was the 'not working' a temporary or permanent arrangement?

OK, won't bother then.

Yes, it was temporary. I got made redundant and then did some other stuff and some exams and now I'm working (temporarily) in central government. Can't decide whether I like it yet (v different from private sector), but it is reasonably interesting. I'll review in about three months time.

Have fun wherever you're going!

As you've probably gathered from the Dostoevsky thread, I'm back. Holiday was good, apart from my girlfriend's bout of food poisoning in Edinburgh

And are you working for a particular 'side' in central government, or are you just part of the faceless machinery

Part of the faceless machinery. At the moment I work in the 'e' bit of Defra.

It's a big shock, moving from the world of internet start-ups to central government. You couldn't imagine organisations further apart. I don't know how I'll fare as I'm not the world's most patient person - you may have noticed. I don't think I've annoyed anyone too much yet...

It would be really nice to look back in a year's time and feel that I've helped to make it easier for the department to implement its policies. Bearing in mind that a year in civil-service-time is something akin to warp speed.

You should have told your girlfriend not to try that pizza with the fried mars bar topping...