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

Hi there! I thought I'd save you the trouble of finding me all the time by starting a whole new conversation here in your home. I brought a gift: I hope you like flowers!

We had a wonderful weekend at the Pennsylvania meetup! It's so great to meet new friends, and even better seeing the ones you've met before!

How are things with you? Have you had your visit yet? If you'd like to exchange emails, you can write to me at:
[email protected]

Maybe email would be a better way for us to chat.

Good morning dear Shea,
I was just going to look for the last address you gave me. this is much easier. so glad you had a wonderful time at the meet. I am off for the day, taking my son to pottery and loking for kitchen units. I'll write later. Affectionate AR1
PS Regards to TJ, and thanks for the lovely flowers.

Good morning dear Shea,
I was just going to look for the last address you gave me. this is much easier. so glad you had a wonderful time at the meet. I am off for the day, taking my son to pottery and looking for kitchen units. I'll write later. Affectionate AR1
PS Regards to TJ, and thanks for the lovely flowers.

I got your email, but I didn't have time to reply today. I'll try to write to you tonight when I get home from work.

Hi dear friends
I am sitting here with the card, signed, the Mass notice and a LONG letter giving you my life history. I am a bit shy of sending it to you, but I do like to be up front about myself. So am just gathering up the courage to take it to the post office, have it weighed and then send it to you!!.
Hope you will enter the cake competition.!!
A fond to both of you AR1

Hi my dear

I see that the strike was averted so you presumably went to the baseball game. And are also going to the BBQ. If you have time do pop into the Pickled Tent and then come and have a drink at the Beer Tetn at the Harvest Festival. It was a wow last night. fond AR1 Sschooloffish>

You shouldn't worry about it! We like you just the way you are, no need to be shy!

We did go to the ballgame, and spent today in our robes watching old Dr. Who videos and munching I'll have to pop over to your pickle stand!

Hi dear Shea and TJ,
Well at lsst! Your Mass card etc. was posted yesterday. I hope you get it for the weekend.
How great to spend a lovely lazy day together. You must enjoy every single minute of your life together. It is very precious and very special.
I was up very late last night and did not sleep very well so am off to bed now.
a fond AR1

My dear friends,

Not a peep from you. I pray that I have not upset you. Please let me know. Your loving AR1

Sorry AR1! I sent you an email, that I hope you got. I must have missed this post. That happens sometimes. I'm in way too many conversations, and just around the time you posted that, I was very, very busy at work, and didn't come online here for a while. And school has started again, so I find my time here doled out poorly. Sorry.

We've been busy lately, but a good busy. Yesterday we drove out to Greenport where my parents live because they were having a Maritime festival. Not only did we have fun there, but we ran into my best friend and her husband, and my folks invited them to dinner. The night ended with some spectacular fireworks. It was a lovely day.

Today was very lazy. I injured my back and neck the other day, and although it's feeling a lot better, I find it difficult to find a comfortable position to sleep. This means I haven't been sleeping much lately. I ended up spending 12 hours in bed today, making up for lost time! I baked apple cinnamon bran muffins to bring to TJ in bed. We kinda lazed around for the rest of the day until it was time for him to start work, and for me to go to church (they have a 6pm Mass, ideal for a night owl like me!).

I hope everything is alright with you.

My very dear Shea and TJ,

So very pleased to get your news. I am so sorry about your back. they can be the very devil to cure. Of course I understand that when you do happen to have free time the best person to be with is y0our darling TJ. and as far as I am concerned I just hope that that time lasts forever and ever!!. I was just nervous that I might have upset you. Now that I know that I have not, I shall just keep on writing and when you have a moment it will be great to hear from you. what a lovely day you spent with your parents at the Maritime Festival. I am taking my son, my brother and a friend down to Newquay Cornwall on Thursday. I hope the weather will be good. I really regret no longer being able to get in and surf and swim. I used to love it when I was younger. But I do enjoy seeing others doing it.

I am so impressed with your work. How sad to think that those dear smiling faces disappeared never to be seen by their loved ones again on earth. But how rewarding that you were able to build up a data base so that there would be a permanent record of their unintended sacrifice. there are so many moral issues concerend with this tragedy. After all during the war the Japanese pilots committed Hari Kai.MUst fly. My hairdresser is here AR1

Very dear Shea,

I should not have sent you that because I had not finished my argument!. What I mean is that although the Japanese pilots committeed Hari Kari (which I cannot understand) they only killed themselves and of course their target but they were ar war.

the morailty of this ataack on the Twin Towers which I cannot understand is that these people took a planeload of innocent people, hit a target of innocent people and it was NOT in wartime. That is the crime which I for one will never udnerstand. I must say however that I think that wars solve nothing and I would have problems being a soldier if I as a male.

It is so important to recognise people and cultures and to give them their respect and due. We have so much to teach one another. I know that I have learnt so much from my African brothers and sisters. And the most important thing is to forgive and not to bear a grudge. The African has really got a wonderful temperament.

Anyway, now that I am shorn and washed and ready for the world I must go and finish my lunch then go and do some chores.

|I send you both my affectionate
Your friend AR1

I still can't understand the thinking behind the attacks ... but I also know that taking a preemptive strike on Iraq isn't the way to go either. I'd make a poor soldier, too. I couldn't purposefully hurt anyone, and would probably have been shot immediately while staring at my gun.

The more I learn of other people, the more I realize we're all mostly alike. Most people just want to be able to live their lives peacefully with their loved ones, and have a chance to make an honest living. It seems to me that there is a smaller handful of people that want to fight over territory, ideology, etc., and the rest of the world gets caught up in the madness.

*sigh* It's an odd little world we live in, isn't it?

Hi dear Shea,

Yet no-one seems to realise that nothing is ever achieved by violence. I remember when I was teaching in Zim many moons ago, I had one lass who had had a really tragic life. she was extremely good at swimming at so I gave her extra swimming lessons for nothing as her parents were very poor. No0one knew about it. Yet when she won her trial the five other competitors swam up to her and in the water began assaulting her!!. this was at a most respectable school in Harare.
I was so angry I got all of them out of the water, sent the winnder off to change and then attempted to inculcate some compassion into the other five who had initiated the attack.

I do not know if I was successful, but I do know that sometimes one has to actually practically "bully" people into realising that there are others to care about in the world. I often think that matriarchial societies are far more compassionate.

We are off to Cornwall on Thursday so I shall be away for a week. Say a special prayer for K. who has not been well and had to have a special blood test this afternnon.

A bientot dear friends, AR1

Kill 'em with kindness, eh AR1?

I'll say a prayer for K., and one for you! Hope you have a lovely time!

Hi dear Shea

It seems as if I have not heard from you for ages. I have not been a 100% and my poor fingers have been quite diabolically sore. and it is very difficult to do anything without hands!!.
I had a lovely surprise yesterday. My baby brother who lives at Port Washington phoned up and he was in London. He came round for lunch and then I drove him across to my sister who lives in Canterbury. she had two of her married children with them and so we had a lovely family get together which was great.

I had to drive back in the dark which I do not enjoy, but I managed it. I hope that you and TJ are well.

We have had the most dreadful winds which have broken down all my dahlias. I went to France with a friend for the day on Thursday. she was so kind and said that I needed cheering up. It was wonderful and we had a great meal.

I must go to bed. Fond to you both AR 1

Hi there, AR1! I'm very sorry I haven't had a chance to write. I've been very busy, and only seem to find for posting on h2g2 when I'm at work. I haven't checked my email at home for ages. Be assured I'm neglecting all my friends equally.

I've been having a difficult time trying to keep up with everything lately. School and work were hard enough, but throwing my new marriage into the mix, and I've been under quite a bit of stress. I very much resent the time I have to dedicate to my studies when I'd rather be with TJ. I've decided that after this semester, I'm going to put school on hold for a while. I think it's more important to dedicate time to my home. Especially since I'll be about 4 more years at school, and it won't really improve anything about my life having the piece of parchment they hand you at graduation.

I'm so sorry to hear about your hands. I have carpal tunnel syndrome, and know it can be very painful. I can't imagine having the pain in both hands. I think of you often, and keep you in my prayers.

Your visit to Canterbury sounds wonderful! It's so nice to be able to get together with family!

TJ and I are doing well. On Saturday, TJ and I took the train into NYC. Ever since last summer, TJ has told me he wanted to go for a walk through Central Park in the autumn. We didn't go last year, because he came shortly after the terrorist attack, but we made a point of going this year. It was lovely. I had mentioned that the wedding band and engagement ring I have are absolutely beautiful, but not very practical, and I hated having to take them off all the time when I had work to do. Well, he got me a plain wedding band, and presented it to me in Central Park in front of the Romeo and Juliet statue. It was so sweet! We then walked to the Museum of Natural History to enjoy the planetarium and dinosaurs! After the museum closed, we headed for Times Square to play in the new Toys R Us store. We ended the night at a lovely Irish pub. It was wonderful to spend a whole day together like that.

Take care of yourself, AR!

Very dear Shea

thank you for the lovely newsy letter. What a lovely idea to give you your new gold band in front of the Romeo and Juliet statue. Veree romantique ma cherie!!.

I think that you are most certainly right about devoting your time to your new marriage. Time is so precious and being together is such a blessing that one must make the most of it. There will be plenty of time to get your degrees later!!. I know. I got my first degree when I was 44 and ended six years later with the others!!. And it was fun and I had help in the house. Also darling Dick travelled a lot so it was nice to have something to do whilst he was away.

These wretched fingers were so much better and this morning I went and tidied up the kitchen without putting on my gloves - and here I am in great discomfort again. I really am a pain the way I moan. Anyway I have been (wonderful new smiley!!) so will say goodnight to you both. I have just had a super email from my brother who says how happy he was to see my son and I.

Fond s to you both AR1

AR1

Be careful with those hands (she says while typing)! I know, I'm a fine one to talk. It's difficult to do too much cleaning at once. It always hurt. That's why I try to do a bit at a time. I'm used to cleaning everything in one fell swoop, but now "clean as I go". I'll do the countertops and surfaces in the kitchen one day, vacuum another (the tub I give a day to, because holding the sponge in that position is quite painful). I think you get the idea. Maybe you should try that.

I'm quite excited because we have *NOTHING* planned for this weekend! It sounds silly, but I'm really looking forward to it! There's so much I need to do around the house, and I'm always so busy.

We've been having work done in the apartment. The plumbing was leaking out of the tub upstairs from us, and the big, smelly guy that's been fixing it seems to have moved in! Supposedly he's coming one more time next week and that's it. I hope so. I hate to have to plan when to use the toilet! We also had the electricity rewired. Oddly, the whole back of the house was on the same circuit, which is where TJ's computer is. The circuit would blow often while he was trying to work. Luckily, the landlord is quite good about taking care of problems, but I have to admit I'm tired of getting up early so people can work on the place. The woman that lived upstairs has moved out, and nobody new is coming in, so once the work is done, we'll have the whole house to ourselves.

Take care of those hands, my friend.

Hi my dear Shea

Have a glorious wonderful weekend doing nothing but loving one another!!. And have some nice consumabiles in so that you can keep youf energy levels high.

It sounds as if you will soon have the problems of plumbing and electricals ironed out. Glorious days then no more vital losses on TJ's computer.

We have the photos of my hands back from the pharmacy. They looks quite unbelievaby AWFUL. Shiv is taking me to hospital in London on Monday for a appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon. I am taking the first bone scan which was done in 1997 and the latest one done in March. Neither of these have been seen by him. I think that it is quite crazy to start doing a double hip replacement on me at my age when my knees have gone, I have osteoparosis in my left femur, the discs in my lumbar spine are non-existent. But still they want to operate. So I am going to have a hard time convincing him that I really would prefer to die as I am and not continue to be cut to ribbons. I reckon that having had half my left lung removed in 1980 and an emergency open heart op in 1994 are quite enough to take to my Maker!!. I do not need artificial hips. Oh dear. Anwyay, Shiv, having seen the reports is quite amazed saying she does not know how everyone is so insistent on my being required to have new hips when everything else is crumbling.

So hold thumbs for me on Monday that he will accept my decision that I am as happy as I can be as I am, and will agree to let me end my life as I am and not going in and out of hospitals in order to have more operations. I have my virtual life on h2g2 which enables me to do lal the exciting things I would like to do!!.

Fondest

Ar1