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

I just came across you in the 'claims to fame' thread. I see you are a Suffolk resident - so am I! For that reason alone, I thought I would drop by and say hello.

Liz
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Hi Lizz I am indeed local, lived in Ipswich for most of the last 12 years. Though I've tried to escape many times, Ip seems to have a knack for calling her children back to the fold. I'm generally happy here though, lived in far worse and less picturesque places, like where I went to school with the aforementioned Olympian's brother for one, Andover in Hants.

I guess you must like Suffolk too, it gets a lot of stick but generally a lot nicer than people say, do you think? My aunt used to live in Hadleigh, and once as we drove there, underneath the town sign someone had put 'twinned with Royston Vasey.'

I moved to Suffolk in 1988 and I lived on the married quarters at RAF Wattisham until I stopped being married in 1993. All that time, I worked at CompAir Reavell so it seemed logical to move into Ipswich as my job was here and I've been in Ipwich ever since. I bought a house in 1999, which ties me to the place even more.

I lived in the Lincolnshire fens as a teenager, so I think anywhere seems fantastic after that. My brother lives in Birmingham, which seems like a really nice place and he loves it there. I often say that if I ever split with my boyfriend that I would move to the midlands, but I'm not sure that I would - I don't think I would want to be that far from the coast. I think Ipswich is a good place to live because it has lots of ameneties, is only an hour from London, is near to picturesque countryside and not too far from the coast AND we get warmer, dryer weather in East Anglia than most other parts of the country. I've never had any trouble getting work since I lived down here either. Is your job in Ipswich too?

I don't know Hadleigh all that well so I don't know how fair or unfair the Royston Vasey comparison is. There is a little town in Lincolnshire called Bourne and someone once wrote "twinned with the moon - no atmosphere" under their sign. Not very original, but funny all the same.

Liz
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Good to hear things are better for you now; I'd definitely recommend staying here rather than going to the Midlands. You get all the fun of Felixstowe for £2.50 return, but with none of the hassle living in a coastal resort with a drag track for a promenade.

My job's in Ipswich, though I haven't had a great job history I really lucked out this time. It's a quiet secluded store supplying prescription forms, NHS stationery and needles etc to GPs' surgeries, pharmacies, dentists and opticians across Suffolk. If you had a sicknote in the last 6 months, I may well have stamped it (...definitely a case of poacher turned gamekeeper! ).

For the last week I've been running it myself, so I'm pretty knackered, not to mention hacked off that I'm a temp doing managerial work for temp pay. But I can't be too jarred, it is for the most part a breeze.

I think I've heard heard of CompAir Reavell, what's it like there? Of course I want to call it Compare Evil, bet I'm far from the first.

PS the comparison is very fair.

Your job sounds good, apart from the temporary money. If temping paid a decent rate, I would temp all the time.

I've had about eight full time permanent jobs, three of which were before I moved to Suffolk. The last job I had in Lincolnshire was working for the NHS as a secretary. I worked at CompAir Reavell for seven-and-a-half years and I got on well with most of my colleagues, which is what I liked about the place. I still keep in touch with a couple of blokes from Reavell's. (CompAir Evil sounds like how our old receptionist used to answer the phone) I left there in 1996 and have done several other jobs since, including working as a credit controller for a number of years. The best employer I had was a company called Initial IFF, but after Rentokil Initial sold them in 2000, they closed their Ipswich office and I was made redundant. I did a couple of temporary jobs and then did a much too stressful job at a van hire firm for about 18 months before coming to Suffolk College, where I have worked (if you can call it that) as an administrator for nearly two years.

The college have been doing something to their computer networks this week, so we've had no networks (so cannot even print, let alone access stored work) and no internet access all week. It has made a dull job even duller. Today we are watching the olympics on a portable telly with a very fuzzy picture. Team GB has won two more bronze medals today.

Liz
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I remember Suffolk College very fondly, a hell of a lot of fun to study at, if you don't mind a really flexible interpretation of 'study'; I met my best mate there 12 years ago and the rest is... mostly blocked out to be honest. I hope it's okay to work there, sounds like it might be.

I am having a fairly difficult time at the moment, for reasons you've done nothing to deserve hearing about and sorry to bow out; but I'm unsubscribing from hootoo for a bit. I doubt 'forever'; as the saying goes you never leave - for a fair while though I think.

But I wish you the best as it definitely sounds you've earned it, and if you happen to get IT support from a skinny black kid called Ady, tell him 'plug it out'. His reaction should be fun. He is in fact an old mate, a very talented musician with a spot on ICR (and two of my old samplers).

Take care.

Chris

If you really have left hootoo for the time being, you may not even see this message, but I'm sorry that you will be missing for a while.

I do know of a 'a skinny black kid' called Adrian who works for N&NMS. The department I work for has it's own network so I don't have that much contact with Ady and his colleagues, but I have met him.

Working at the college has its pros and cons - on the upside, it is very convenient for where I live (15 minutes walk away), it has a good pension scheme and, considering how little I actually do, I am relatively well paid. On the down side, I am often bored and the bureaucracy drives me nuts. Still, working for the NHS, I'm sure you know all about bureaucracy

Anyway - I hope you will return to hootoo soon and I look forward to chatting to you again sometime.

Cheers for now

Liz
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Hi,

I just noticed you on a thread somewhere and I recognised you from this 'conversation' that got interrupted by real life about 3 years ago.

Well, it's nice to see that you came back to hootoo. I don't actually log on to hootoo that often now as a lot of the people I used to commune with seem to have moved on and I have found other places to lurk on t'internet as well. But I do pop back every now and again.

Do you still work for the NHS? I'm still at the college. My annual promises to myself to get a proper job never quite seem to come to fruition!

Anyway, I just wanted to say hello again and hope all is well with you.

Regards
Liz
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Hi Lizz, nice to hear from you again

Yeah, I'm back after quite a while - but it all comes out in the wash, as my dear old Auntie likes to say. By some miracle, I'm still working here for the NHS, what's left of it at any rate - 4 years in February. I'm taking over the department when my boss retires next May (assuming I can cope).

How is Suffer College treating you these days? I've been mortified by all the rebuilding work that's gone on, though I'm sure it's for the best... I still recall the amazing smell of the rubber matting along by the steps next to the refectory, where we all went for a fag (presumably banned now). It is exciting to think there's going to be a university in our little town. Hopefully it'll encourage a bit more investment in leisure facilities... and a decent music venue

Speaking of which, I'm off to Eastern Haze this evening, to see Phill Jupitus fronting the Blockheads, and Ozric Tentacles. I'm very excited about it but a little wary, I've not been camping since Glastonbury in '95. At least, I *think* I was there

Hope to hear from you soon, and have a good weekend

Eeek! I've only just found this message.

I hope you enjoyed the gig with Phil Jupitus.

Doesn't 4 years with the NHS make you want to kill somebody? I've just passed 5 years public sector employment and I still cannot come to terms with the dreadful bureaucracy.

Suffolk College is called Suffolk New College these days and it's as infuriating as ever. I'm trying very hard to tunnel out. As for the building work, they still haven't started it! Work continues apace for the new UCS building on the waterfront, but we in the further education department are still looking at an enormous patch of cleared land that the new college will be built on. It was cleared a year ago but there is still no word on when work will start. The main college building has been shrouded in scaffolding and green net for at least two years now to stop the windows blowing out, so it really is time they got on with the new place.

I can't help feeling that the public is being mislead about UCS. Yes, there is going to be a separate campus for higher education, but degree courses have been available at Suffolk College for years (which you probably know as that is where the nursing and midwifery degrees are taught). It will be a campus jointly run by UEA and University of Essex, but it's not a university in its own right. However, having it on a separate site is a very good idea and it should attract more students - the old arrangement of mature degree students having to share the college campus with 16-year-old chavs didn't exactly encourage student numbers!

Anyway, nice to hear from you again (even if it was 3 months ago).

Take care
Liz
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