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

I just checked that link and they've changed the picture to one of the airport in 1969! The one of Balephuil Bay is in the picture archives for 2002 under 'August'. about that.
Waz

Hi Waz,
You sound as if you had a wonderful time. Did you have a wetsuit to surf in otherwise it must have got very cold.
I have just been to the Tiree website and found the super craft centre of the couple who do paintings and pottery - I think their name was Woodcock. what is the language they speakon the island?

Great to have you back.
AR1

Oh yes, I had a wetsuit! Although I did go swimming on one occasion in just a swimming costume. It was very calm, blue green clear water - no waves at all, perfect for swimming. Didn't look cold, but it was . Once you're in it's ok for up to twenty minutes. Then you start going ! But it's worth it, especially when the seals come to have a look.

I had a look at that craft shop web site - I wish we'd gone to the shop on the island. They have some beautiful pictures, very Tiree. We passed the shop I think. There's one in an old airfield building that I'm sure my sister said had Raku pottery.

They used to speak gaelic on all the islands. Some people still do and I believe some school lessons are still taken in gaelic. But I'd say everyone speaks English as well, certainly all the children do. There is a movement to keep the gaelic alive. There are a few gaelic tv programmes and in recent years some Scottish folk rock groups have sung in gaelic and have quite a following. Like Runrig, who had some songs which became known in England I think. I don't really follow the music charts so I'm not certain.
Waz

Well I am glad that you did not turn into a . That would have been sad. I cannot bear cold water. In Cape Town, on the Atlantic side it really was far too cold for me, and I only used to paddle. On the Indian Ocean side(False Bay) which is where we lived the water was wonderful. That is something that I miss most dreadfully. The wonderful swims in the sea. Although there were sharks in the Bay fortunately they never came near where we swam.
Today has been a busy day. I have a young friend who comes to help me with the shopping and my wheelchair. I went to try and find a roof rack for my car. I am taking by brother, my son and a friend down to Cornwall for a week at the end of the month. As three of us are large we never have enough room inside the car. It is difficult to get a roofrack for a Renault Savannah. so it appears that I now have to shop around for one. Fortunately I think that I have started it in time.
Then this afternoon another friend came and we did gardening. I call all these people "friends" but I have to pay everyone. It is quite appalling how much disappears in this sort of work - trying to do what one used to be able to do alone before. Grrrr.

Anyway on Tuesday I went to see the Ear specialist. I need new hearing aids,and my ones which had made in South Africa and were paid for by my medical aid have quietly given up the ghost. I was completely astonished when the technician informed me that I would only have one hearing aid. I told her I was deaf in both ears, but it seems that one only is given to one on the NHS What a hoot. Thank goodness they do not do that with glasses!.

Well my dear I am waffling so will end. Go well and have you managed to get into the routine of your work again?

Have you heard about the "Random Acts of Kindness" week? It is from the September 9th to the 15th and it is being done as a gesture of rememberance for the Twin Towers attack last year. It seems that someone in the States was so horrified at the expression "Random ACts of Violence" that he started a "Random Act of Kindness" campaign. The thrust of it is that one performs an act of kindness for someone, anonymously, preferably for someone one does not know. It is interesting to try and think of ways in which this can be done.

My bete noire are the manners of most drivers. So that is where I am going to try and do my RAK.

Perhaps you can publicise it in your neck of the woods. So we can have a great huge swirl of RAKS all over the world.
Go well and take care of yourself. A very fond AR1

You're up late AR1! So am I - I go back to work tomorrow so I'll have to get get to bed. I'll reply properly later on. I just wanted to say I hadn't heard of RAKs and I like the idea very much. Where did you hear of it? If it wasn't on h2 it would be worth asking one of the community editors to publicise it here.

RAKs while driving is a good idea.
Back later,
Waz

I think I'd rather share my swimming with seals than sharks! Speaking of which I saw basking sharks from the ferry, not far from Tiree.

I have swum in the Indian Ocean, and it's a much better temperature for swimming. That was from Biera.I remember one occasion when the sea was full of large jellyfish and everyone kept out of the water. I'm not that keen on cold water myself, but once you've been in the Atlantic for a couple of minutes I think you get too numb to feel it for a while. That's my theory anyway .

Hope you found a suitable roof rack. My brother in law has one of those boxes you put on the roof rack. It's very useful, saves you worrying all the time about cases falling off or coming apart. Cornwall - smugglers' coves, cliffs, sand, lots of green, fishing villages, cornish pasties... nice. And you should miss all the crowds at the end of September. Will you go to the Eden project? It sounds well worth visiting.

"trying to do what one used to be able to do alone before" - I can only just begin to imagine how frustrating that must be. And the NHS only provide one hearing aid?! I didn't know that. I find that , I don't know what I find that. The NHS has so many problems I know, but that's mean spirited. Far better to start making a basic charge for certain treatments. Some sports injuries springs to mind. Or patching up the results of brawls. Or making sure that when NHS hospital services are used by consultants as part of their private practice then part of their fee goes to the hospital...

Oh well, I need to go and get some work I've promised someone done. (Not paid work - I did a day of that yesterday and yes, one day was enough to get right back into the routine .) I also need to do some plumbing repairs - which will be more fun. In fact I'll do that first I think.

Waz (off to find the vice grip and the stop tap, anything my mother can do I can do too.)

Hi dear Waz,
You are fantastic the way you just quietly get on with things and fix them up!.

I must say that I thought it was a bit extraordinary about the one hearing aid. But I have enquired around and it seems that it is quite ususal for them to only offer one. I suppose that I must get back to the committee that I was on (for geriatric mentally ill patients)
and see what I can do. There is another thing which they do and that is when a mentally ill person reaches retiring age their DLA is cut by some enormous sum. Apart from that they are forced to stop going to their normal Mental Health Centre and have to start going to the hospital for tests and medication, so their whole life, which is always a bit dicey, is turned turtle. (My brother is 65 in November and goondess knows how he is going to take it) Suddenly they are transforme into OAP.I do think it is is so sad. I was put on the committee just as I was having to use a wheelchair so it has always been dreadfully difficult for me to get to meetings. But they do need a spokesperson. I also did an advocacy course but there again it is so difficult to get myself around. But full marks today., I phoend up yesterday because I have to be reassesd by the District Nurse for various things. I mentioned that my perch chair was on its last legs and could I please have a table which I could fit over my wheelchair. Would you believe it if I told you that both arrived this morning. 24 hours after I had spoken to the District Nurse about it. I nearly fainted. So well done the NHS.

Today has been busy. I took K. to pottery at Maidstone, then went shopping for gorceries. Then drove to Tonbridge and found a shop that sold roof racks for my Renault Savannah. Well the end result is that I am going to rent one for the week which is much cheaper. As we only go down to Cornwall once a year it is going to be better. And |I shanll not want it in between.

Yes we shall be going to the Eden project - but I have been following it with much interest practically since it was first suggested. We shall also be going to Rick Stein's fish restaurant, and I hope once again to the Lizard - I think it is called. That coastline reminds me so much of the Western Cape. And even the countryside looks like it with all the wonderful montbretias. I keep expecting to see proteas and leucospermums popping up next to the rocks.

Well dear friend. Sleep well.
A big AR1

AR1 - how I wish your first sentence were true! The truth is I seldom get things done until they absolutely have to be done. I'm at the computer now trying to make progress with some work I should have got on with several weeks ago.

What I think is fantastic is the way you cope with good grace with so many things that could get you down.

I worry about what happens when my nephew becomes 18 and therefore old enough to leave school. The fact that his school is helping him make progress towards basic skills like feeding himself and that, although making some progress, he can't yet do it makes no difference. He will still become 'too old for school'.

I am glad you found such a good solution to your roofrack problem. I'd never have thought of renting. My car is a Nissan Micra, very reliable but very cramped when you give two people plus excessive amounts of luggage a lift to the airport . I once offered to do an airport run in a fundraising auction of promises. The offer was sold for a very reasonable amount but the winner never took the offer up! I think because they realised what car I had. If they'd spoken to me I'd have explained I was going to borrow a bigger car.

I only found out about the Eden project here, a year ago. Since then a friend has been. She enjoyed her visit very much. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of it. And what the restaurant was like. Rick Stein is a tv cook isn't he?

Must get back to that work. I've got ten minutes before I have to get ready to go do the work I'm actually paid for. I was a bit late yesterday after losing track of the time .
Waz

My dear Waz,
thank you for your nice letter. But my dear, I never knew about your nephew. How sad for the family. Am I intruding in asking if he was born like that or was it as a result of an accident.?

I know all about tragedies with one's children as my poor son was given LSD by "friends" when he was at University and he has been suffering from a chronic mental illness ever since. (it is genetic)

But I must say that there are wonderful facilities for both the phsycially and mentally handicapped. It is the mentally ill that are so neglected. And now they have decided to change the name of the organisation to which I have belonged for the last 25 years - the reason being that they cannot raise money because the illness so stigmatises everyone. Life is certainly cockeyed.

My feelings go to your family and to your brother/sister whose child is called upon to go through life like that.

I have been very busy redorganising my bedroom as well. Last night I slept in a single bed (albeit orthopaedic) for the first time since I was 21!!. I was terrified I would fall out!!.

Well I think that you are fantastic with all your interests and will you please tell me about all the other highly academic things which you are pursuing!!..

With much affection

AR1

Good evening AR ,
I'm not sure about the 'highly academic' bit! I'm helping put together an exam paper but as a practioner rather than an academic. It's based on reality but simplified to make it possible to deal with in an exam. And it is made unidentifiable to any real organisation. I've been trying to draft pages for it. This weekend I'm off to help with a different one by actually doing it, with several other people, under as close to exam conditions as we can manage, to see if it is ok. Not fun. I won't say what the exam is just in case there are any candidates around here. I took this exam myself, years ago, it's the worst exam (except 'O' level french oral ) I ever did. And if I had run into whoever wrote it .....!


When it's out of the way I want to get back to writing some guide entries. I'd like to do one on Barra and Tiree. I've already had a go at it but got lost trying to sort out their history from the folk tales and myths .

You're not intruding asking about my nephew. He is my sister's child, we knew before he was born that he had this syndrome. There is a lot to be thankful for. Although he can get bored and some things cause him discomfort he is generally, at the least, contented, often happy and often expresses a joy in things, like music, that I seldom see in either adults or children. (He has just recently learned to laugh .) Also, one result of the syndrome is that he is very slow to grow which makes looking after him much easier. When I have looked after him the most demanding thing has been to keep him from getting bored. And the fact that you need to be aware of what he might need all the time since he can't tell you.

What happened to your son is terrible. I didn't know that could happen. Nor how you could deal with it. Except that, as with my nephew, there isn't really a choice, you just carry on and cope. It seems to me that you do more than cope. You must be strong to do that and you remind me of my sister. Like you, she gets involved - Mencap committees, J's school, a scheme to make sure there are leisure facilities available for disabled children and to help them use them...despite having every reason to leave it to other people with less demands on them.

Mental illness does get less help, and less sympathy. Maybe because people are afraid of mental disability and even more of mental illness, do you think? I was shocked to find, when I used to help with a disabled swimmers session, to find that the physically disabled didn't want the session to be open to the mentally disabled. One argument was that being included with mentally disabled added to their problems in getting people to see them as 'normal'. I understood, but I couldn't agree ... but I guess their attitude just proved how 'normal' they were .

I must go, this has turned into a very long post and it's bedtime. I hope your new bed is comfortable, that you have not fallen out of it yet, that your garden is full of autumn colours (my clematis are back in flower and nextdoor's virginia creeper is creeping up my crab apple very beautifully ), and that you're keeping well. Oh, and in case you're off to Cornwall before I'm back here posting again, I hope you have a very good time there and have a good break.
Waz

Dearest Waz,

I am horrified to see that it is five weeks since we have spoken. You wrote me such a brilliant letter and somehow I missed it Tonight I wanted to talk and had to go back and back in my postings to find you.

This is just a short note. I have not been well and for the last ten days my fingers and hands have belonged to someone else they have been so sore. my fingertips are hurting again so I must end.

A dear friend is taking me to France tomorrow for lunch to cheer me up. I am very lucky.

Fon and I shall reply to your wonderful letter as soon as I can type comfortably.
With much affection AR1

AR1, I'm so sorry you're not well. I hope your trip to France worked. You went to France just for lunch? Sounds wonderful.

Don't worry about taking a while to post - I often do the same. Although I was beginning to to worry you had got lost in Cornwall so it was good to hear from you.
Waz

Hi dear Waz

Yes! We went to France for lunch!!. She picked me up at twenty to seven - I was still asleep so fortunately I had packed passport etc. the night before. With her help I managed to get dressed very rapidly and we went off at seven. We drove to Folkestone terminal - an hour away - drove onto the train and took 35 minutes to go to France on the Euro Shuttle. We were outside Coquelles two hours after leaving Sevenoaks - and I had not had to get out of the car. I think it is quite wonderful I have written about it in my journal.

I was sad to leave K. but he had his Soc. worker coming and they went birdwatching at the local wild fowl reserve. But he was very sad not to come.

My fingers are improving thank goodness. But I realise I have to make a determined effort to get my biography finished as I am slowly running down. My beastly left big toe is apparently affected by the diabetes - so I suppose might drop off!!. Horrors.!! Anyway, I am feeling myself again thanks to the trip to France and intend to do it regularly.
What have you been up to? Fond AR1

Very dear Waz,

I do hope that you are alright. I have not heared from you for ages.
There have been lots of programmes on archaeology and excavations and I always think of you. Have you had frost yet where you are?
Fond AR1

Very dear Waz,

I do hope that you are alright. I have not heared from you for ages.
There have been lots of programmes on archaeology and excavations and I always think of you. Have you had frost yet where you are?
Fond AR1

Hi AR1, I'm fine, sorry, I didn't mean to disappear for so long - it's just been a busy couple of weeks, I haven't been able to watch much tv either but I did catch a programme on excavating what may have been Troy.

re the toes, I hope you're still improving healthwise. I read your journal about the trip to France and realised I'd been to Coquelles. There was an indoor mock town square with lots of interesting eating places around it. Is that where you went? We went there for crepes Grand Manier (hmm that spelling doesn't look quite right). I've been through the tunnel too, it's very impressive. I didn't miss the ferry. The last time we came back by ferry it circled outside Dover in rough seas for three hours! Then it hit the harbour wall as it docked. I enjoy the ferries out to the Hebrides, they are much more relaxed, have more deck space and the views of the islands can be stunning if you have the right weather. I've never encountered rough sea on those, perhaps I'd think differently if I had!

No frost yet to speak of, which is just as well as I've left a lot of apples on the ground. They keep better outdoors as long as there's no frost. This variety, Ashmead Kernel, have very tough skins that the slugs can't get into so I just bring half a dozen in at a time. A lot of them stay on the tree too so if I'm lucky I should still be able to be picking them at Christmas!

One of the things I've been busy with lately is Scottish dancing - great fun and very good exercise for the brain as well as the legs. I really enjoy it. To learn the dances well I ought to go twice a week - yet another thing to add to the 'ought to do' list. There just isn't enough time, I think I get interested in too many things. There's archaeology, local history, geology, fossils, the environment, birds, the dancing, tai chi, the garden, the house (that's a case of it needing attention rather than my being particularly interested in it), the village hall, the safari trip I've been meaning to write up for ages, h2g2 entries, h2g2 politics ()... It was your mentioning your biography that started me thinking about this. Do you make conscious decisions about what to spend time on? Have you ever deliberately stopped doing something you were interested in order to concentrate on something else? It's something I've been thinking that I maybe ought to do.

Writing a biography is a mammoth task, I'm impressed. I wouldn't have the discipline.
Keep well and apologies again for being out of touch so long, it doesn't seem like three weeks at all,
Waz

Very dear Waz,
It was so good to get your news and to know that you are well, busy and happy. really interesting to hear about the apples. I did not know that one could leave them outdoors in the cold. I have been thrilled because I planted five nerine bulbs and two have flowered although they were planted in far too much shade. I was very tempted the other day and bought a marvellous camellia that had been trained as a climber!. Would you believe it. It had a flower on it and still has four large buds. I have decided to keep it indoors until the Spring otherwise all the beautiful buds will drop off.
The kitchen is nearly habitable. It has been quiite a job getting it straight and the sitting room is still full of all the things that I cannot fit into the existing kitchen cupboards.
Yes you described Coquelles exactly. We went into a very nice restaurant and had a good meal. I went again last Friday and took my friends both to Wimereux which is where my paternal grandparents lived and then we went and had a marvellous fish lunch at a restaurant called La Sirene at Cap Gris-Nez. It is situated right on the beach. The only disappointing thing is that they have patently obvious artificial flowers and ferns. But the food is really good and very reasonable. It was packed with French people and I believe that is the way one tells if a restaurant is good if the locals patronise it.
What are you doing for Christmas? I shall have to cook a lunch in my new kitchen for about ten of us. I thought we might be going to my son and his wife in London but they are once again going to her mother. I am always slightly bemused by that as my daughter in law is Jewish and basically they do not celebrate Christmas. But I have not spent it once with them since my arrival in England ten years ago. My lovely Australian granddaughter is going to be with me which will be great. Otherwise it is is so much work as my guests are the ones who have nowhere else to go and who could not do it for themselves. The same Christmas that I have spent for the last seventeen years since my darling Dick's death. I cannot believe that it is so long ago.
I must go and make some soup for supper. Fond and great to hear from you. AR1
I must energise myself into finishing this biography. I have such a profound respect for the Rev. Barnabas Shaw about whom I am writing that I am quite frightened that I shall not be doing him justice

Happy Christmas, AR1! In about twenty minutes!

I have had so little time to be here lately. I was away for a few days (work) without access to a PC. Then any spare time had to be spent redecorating the village hall. Then it was various Christmas meals and parties and now it's very nearly Christmas.

Congratulations on the nerines! And I have never heard of camellias as climbers - it sounds pretty. Camellia flowers tend to get hit by the frost up here. As regards leaving the apples out, it only works with certain varieties. My Merton Knave apples don't keep at all while I still have Ashmead Kernels in excellent condition hanging on the tree. Not for long though - the birds are really starting to have a go at them now. There has been a blackcap hanging around the tree for the last week. They stand guard over the fruit and chase smaller birds away. They don't dare tackle the blackbirds and starlings!

It is my parents' turn for my sister to visit this year, with her family. My brother is there too and that's where I'll be for most of the Christmas holiday. My parents live just down the road from me so I sleep at home and spend the rest of the time over there.

It's a shame your son and his wife don't take turns with their mothers/mother in laws. You must miss them at Christmas but the Christmas you have sounds like a very real Christmas to me. I hope you have a really good day with your guests and your grand daughter.

Here's wishing you 12 xmas s, 11 xmas s, 10 s, 9 , 8 , 7 s, 6 s, 5 , 4 s, 3 glasses of , 2 xmas s and a in a pear tree.
happy Christmas,
Waz

Well it is Christmas now, I hope you're sound asleep, as I should be, and don't know it yet - unless you're out on the town partying of course! I just wanted to ask you something I've just asked someone else - would you mind if I added you to my 'my friends' list so that I see any new journal entries you make? Just as a way of keeping in touch and so you don't end up repeating the same things in different threads. Say if you do mind - I'm not really sure about the 'my friends' list idea and I've not used it up until now but I can see it has it's uses.
Happy Christmas again, now I'm off to bed before I on the keyboard!
Waz

Very dear Waz,big

Thank you so much for the fabulous Christmas gift!!. Very clever.

Of course I do not mind you putting me in as your friend. I am I hope. But please will you tell me how to do it. I tried and nothing happened. Does it come onto your list or my list. I am afraid I am a bit slow in doing things like that!1.

Fond and I hope that you have a wonwderul Christmas dinner - is it tonight>

AR1

I loved the story of the bird table. Are all animals the same. Jealous and not wanting to share except to a bigger bully? Horros!!