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

Well hellooo dahrling *mwa, mwa* *flicks well coiffed hair* What? S'cuse me.... * checks intro again* Oops, sorry, you DON'T like pretentious women. Defenestrates stilletoes and removes wig.

Let me start again.

Hello Try as I might to be intelligent, witty and charismatic I fail dramatically so I'll just offer a cup of and a piece of instead.

How are you finding h2g2?

How fantastically super of you to drop by my humble abode.
Let's see if I can get the hang of the smiley faces, etc.

What better way to enjoy an afternoon than a nice cuppa .
H2G2 looks like a lotta fun, will take me a bit of time to settle in though.

Well, you'll have to drop by for a nice pint of sometime, judging by your name you must be a member of the Draught Beer Preservation Society?

Ciao
GWL

I've never heard of the Draught Beer Preservation Society. I've thought about joining CAMRA. I just do my best to show support for real and to keep the breweries in business. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it While I'm here, can I offer you a drink from this suberb 1970s hostess trolley I have wheeled around for the occasion? There's also some cheese and crackers and if you're lucky a chunk of pineapple if you're feeling peckish (I know how to entertain ) Oops, I forgot to bring the sherry trifle, I can go back and get it if you'd like some.

Hello Again,
I'm sorry - you must think me very ignorant. I've only just noticed that you replied again, as I went on holiday on the 10th December for a month Very nice it was too.
The draught beer preservation society was just a reference to a song, but I still think it would be a good idea. I too support any kind of beer that is thrust upon me by vicious, inconsiderate friends and barpersons, who force me to drink until I start to act like a fool.
I hope the beatiful 1970s trolley is still available, I have to say I'm rather partial to a bit of cheese + biccies, especially with a bit of chili sauce - what a difference that can make.

GWL

That post seemed to come out of nowhere Thanks to the time-shield surrounding the trolley, none of the food on it has yet gone off (the wonders of modern technology). I've never tried chili sauce on cheese and biscuits and I'll think I'll give it a miss for the moment, I want to go to bed soon and it might give me nightmares How about you? One blob or two?

Definitely just the one blob of chili sauce today. My stomach has not yet fully recovered from the curry and lager sesh over the weekend.

But please - have a cup of or , and you must eat help yourself to a . Freshly baked this morning and don't worry about the 'green seasoning', Just the ticket for a monday.

that sound delightful, and is just the thing for 3-30pm. Anything much planned for the rest of today?

As little as possible.
Getting thoroughly sick of my job. It wouldn't be so bad but the people in my office are just soooooo dull. They don't speak about anything. The only woman who is all right had enough and b******d off at lunchtime saying she was ill, but I think she was as bored as I am.
Musn't grumble though eh. I think I'll nip out for a crafty fag in a mo.
What are you up to though, anything nice??

I'm at home at the moment so I've just been pottering about, avoiding doing college work by doing the laundry and going to the local shops for a few groceries. I'm off to a lecture shortly. I had this bright idea that signing up for an extra lecture a week would look good on my CV so on a Monday evening I go to lectures on Humanity, Faith and Values. The lectures are very interesting but I'm wondering if I'll regret the extra essay a term.

I'm actually training to be a nurse, and I know what you mean about dull colleagues. Most of the other students at college, well, they are all nice enough but I guess we just don't share the same interests or sense of humour and this can make life a little dull. That's life though.

Enjoy your cigarrette and have a few puffs for me

*Dreamiing about being surrounded by trainee nurses*

Sorry, slipped away slightly there, I'm sure the reality doesn't bear quite the same resemblance to the image that the Carry On films would have us believe about nurses.

Humanity, Faith and Values eh. Well that does sound interesting, but kind of in the same way that semi-molecular biology sounds interesting, great if you can wrap your head around it. I tried doing philosophy at university and it just didn't go down too well.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

GWL

*thinks about that carry on film with the dafodil *

I wouldn't want to spoil your daydream but the uniforms aren't quite Carry On, mine makes me look like a dentist It's not the most flattering thing in the world.

I started a degree in theology, classics and philosophy a few years ago, and although I quit because it wasn't what I wanted, I'm still very interested in it. Ties in really well with the nursing too.

Hope the afternoon passes quickly for you. Have a good evening

*Still thinking of Babs Windsor in her younger days*

I don't remember the dafodil, but I have to say I'm now very intrigued.
Have to say it is a bit of a cross-over from philosophy to nursing. I'd be interested in hearing why you chose to quit philosophy, because I did pretty much the same thing, except I just changed subjects to something else and eeked out a degree that I wasn't really interested in.

Enjoy your night (as much as poss whilst in a lecture, anyway)

You don't remember the daffodil? Throughout the film there is a rather awkward male patient. Near the end the nurse goes in to take his temperature with a rectal thermometer. She inserts a daffodil and the toher nurse open the door and takes a photo. They then go away and Matron walks in. She stands absolutely astounded. The patient asks, 'What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a temperature taken like this before?' and Matron just replies, 'Never with a daffodil'

The reason I started the degree in the first place is because I'd always wanted to be a teacher but was advised not to do a BEd but to do a BA and then the PGCE. I didn't know what degree I wanted to do, at 18 I think very few people know what they really want to do, so I just chose something I knew I liked and was good at. The thing is of course, liking something and being good at it doesn't necessarily mean it's what you want to do with your life. I started off OK at uni but then decided that the bar was far more interesting and essay writing ws far too boring. To cut a long story short, I didn't do any work so I quit Then I realised that I needed a job so I went off down the local job centre. Where I live there are an abundance of residential homes and all of them are always looking for staff. There were plenty of jobs and I thought it sounded like something easy that I could do. The job I applied for also had the bonus of being in the same road I lived in so I didn't have far to travel. I worked in the home for 3 1/2 years and really enjoyed it. The problem is that everyone assumes you're brain dead if you do that sort of job, the money is dreadful and I found that I needed to do some study, my brain felt like it was slowly turning to mush. Nursing seemed the obvious progression. If I enjoyed it so much, why not do it properly? Thankfully I'm pleased to report that I made the right choice. There are so many opportunities within nursing too so I've got a wide range of choice ahead of me. But I'm not going to bore you with my rant about the joys of nursing and it's progression and all the other things people like me get excited about

I will comment on the topic of how nursing and philosohpy link though, as you brought the subject up Well, now I come to think of it, where do I start? I suppose I'll just give you an example. Nursing is both a science and an art, we're always being told to use both sides of our brain at the same time to solve problems. The Monday lecture a few weeks ago was about Pascale's theory of knowledge: knowledge of the mind (empirical knowledge, reason) and knowledge of the heart (intuition, reflection). This ties in perfectly with the way we are taught. We learn from scientific study but we are also supposed to learn from reflective thinking (complex subject and the topic of a wide range of sociological and psychological studies). Another example is a module I'm doing at the moment. It concerns nursing in a postmodern context. The lecture I went to tonight happened to be on Postmodernism. The two courses compliment each other perfectly. I was also pleased to see one of my nursing lecturers there.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough. It's my pet subject and once I get started I find it difficult to stop. I just want to try and change the way people think about nursing and nurse education. It's not what people visualise at all.... I get to do drumming too, but that's another story

That's a detailed answer if ever I saw one. Thanks.

There obvioulsy is slightly more to nursing than I at least realised. I suppose learning how to wrap bandages and inject needles into people is hardly worthy of a full on degree scheme. My how times must have changed since the days of good old Flo Nightingale.

I have to say as well that I have got massive respect for anyone who has worked in a nursing home. I remember going to see my Grandma shortly before she died at a nursing home just outside Birmingham. Whilst I was there an old lady leant on a tray that had wheels and it just zoomed off without her and she fell flat on to the ground, it was absolutely awful. I almost felt sick, and just felt so helpless that I couldn't get to her to stop her hitting the ground. That always sticks in my mind, and as I say, that's why anyone who works in a place like that deserves a medal or something in my book.

But onto something less morbid. Out of the carry on films I only have memories of Kenneth Williams screwing his face up and saying 'Oooh Matron' a lot. And also the 'Carry on up the Khyber' with the big joke about what the English wear underneath their kilts.
Oh we won't see the likes of that kind of comedy again

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, I haven't been online much over the last week and I completely lost this conversation. I'm feeling a bit dozy at the moment too. Hope you've had a good week anyway.

I started working at the hospital this week part time. It's been a shock to the system as this uniform is a dress It's rather cold waiting at the bus stop and I'm sure that's why I fell ill this week. Roll on a week's time when I'm back in my student trousers.

I don't think I've seen Carry-On Up the Kyber. My favourite was always Carry On Screaming with Kenneth Williams saying 'frying tonight' as he dipped women in that strange vat of goo and turned them into manequins.

Sorry to hear that you aren't feeling your best. It seems to be an epidemic at the moment. Remember to keep drinking plenty of , as I'm sure that has medicinal qualities far beyond that of modern medicine. Not forgetting a every now and then. (So you might want to put something a bit stronger in the tea). Still I hope you feel better soon.
Wish I could tell you something exciting about my life, but last week was a bit disapointing. At the start of the week, I was looking forward to going and seeing Tottenham in the cup final in Cardiff. By the end of the week, I had failed to get a ticket and we had turned in a stinker of a performance and got beaten. So I am not a particularly happy chappy at the mo.
Still, hope the hospital work goes well for the next week or so. Try not to give too many patients the dreaded lurgy.
Ta Da - GWL

I'm feeling better now, thanks, despite my plumbing having sprung a leak Doesn't require surgery just a plumber who I hope will come today or tomorrow. I'm also having computer trouble so whether I'll be on h2g2 again remains to be seen. My anti-virus scan shows no sign of a virus that my be causing the trouble and the diagnostic scans detect no problems on the hard drive so I fear its age is catching up with it and if the problems continue it might be expensive to resolve.

I've had plenty of and I also find ginger wine a wonderful cure. Purely medicinal of course.

One of the men on my course went to see Tottenham in Cardiff, he's not going to be very happy.

Life's not very exciting here either, just cold, wet and windy. The sort of weather that makes me want to stay in, wrapped up in a blanket with a really hot cup of and some videos. Next year I am definitely going to hibernate from Autumn until Spring. I've got to brave the elements later though and go out, I hope I'm not left at the bus stop for too long. I'm attending a lecture on the Performing and visual arts in health care before tiring myself out Morris dancing. Thankfully I'm doing a late shift tomorrow so don't have to get up too early.

I find anything with ginger in is absolutely perfect for all occasions, that's why God had the grace to add more than a touch of ginger to my genetic pattern.

So is this what our taxes go on is it? Performing arts for nurses??? *tuts excessively loudly*

I am just hoping that the weather is not too bad for my cycle home from work this evening. It is sort of mediating between mild, quite pleasant weather, and sheeting rain. Hmmm I wonder which of two it will be come 5:30?

Best get back to work anyway, have fun clunking the bits of wood, and jingling those bells. Haven't seen any Morris dancing since our street fayres in the village years ago.

Well ginger must be therapeutic then

It's OK, no public funding went into the Arts. The lectures are sponsered by a local drugs company and the research project being disussed is funded by charity. I was amazed just how interesting the lecture was. It was given by researchers from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital about their use of visual and performing arts. I wouldn't mind being a patient there myself, sounds great.

Morris dancing was as enjoyable as ever but I think I get more unfit every week, I seem to ache more. I'm looking forward to the May Day celebrations though. Should be a beer tent too

Nearly the weekend now, have a good one

I really cannot see how the performing arts and medicine are connected. Is it something to do with enriching the spirit in order to help with the body's self-healing process or something?

Will this be your first public Morris Dance then? My friends Dad used to do it, and from what I can remember there was ALWAYS a beer tent. I don't think the one can exist without the other. I think I did the maypole dancing one year, I know my little sister did it a few times. Always out on the Village Green.

Counting down the minutes till w**k finishes now, so I can go out and get very - it's been that kind of week.