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

It must be beautiful living in the west of Scotland. I don't particularly have the travel bug, but that is one country I would be interested in seeing. I love the Scottish accent, it has such lilting tones to it. I live in Australia and as such have a boring drawl like the rest of the population here. Good luck with the piano - keep at it.

well hello there sweetie pie! How are you this evening?

So you like the Scottish accent eh? Quite a lot
of people like it... everyone except the Scots it seems. The West of Scotland, beautiful? Well not quite! No it's not bad really... then again i've never seen Australia! Except in "Home & Away" and "Neighbours" that is...

So where exactly in Australia do you live? *off to check out you userspace anyway*

Claire
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Please don't base any of your ideas about Australia on that mindless dribble that passes for so called "entertainment"! I live about 45 kilometers northwest of Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria. It's only a little backwater town, with no real services to speak of, and it is out of the way to everything which can be a nuisance, but it's quiet and I'm reasonably happy here. Nice to hear from you, hope to do so again. Rock on Princess

hi!

oh don't worry i won't do that. I don't watch those soaps anyway. Oh no i watch quality entertainment like "Eastenders". *laughs*

where you live sounds lovely. You must get plenty peace and quiet. I live in the outskirts of Glasgow. It's fairly quiet here, i live in a little village. However i like the fact im only 20 minutes from town by train.

So what do you do for a living? What age are you? I noticed you don't have a userpage yet.

Claire
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I don't have a user page because I'm hopeless with computers and wouldn't have the first idea of how to construct a flash page like yours. Maybe you could send me a few clues. I'm embarrassed to say that I am now 39 (it doesn't feel much different from when I was 16), and after 18 years in the work force I tossed in my job, put myself back through High School, then finshed a uni degree last year - Bachelor of Science (Biological Sciences), with a double major (Microbiology and Genetics), and was fortunate enough to be offered one of eight honours positions in the Micro department. So that's what I'm doing now, an honours year in Microbiology. Uni is about a one hour ride each way on my motorbike, but as I said the services are pretty ordinary out my way and public transport is two and a half hours EACH WAY! That's a hell of a lot about me, now your going to have to dish. Oh, my name is Michael. Hear from you soon.

Hi Claire.
Well, I've stuck something on my userpage now, let me know what you think. It took me a while to work it out, but I had fun doing it (there goes another night of study). It looks like if I choose classic goo when editing my page that makes no difference to whoever is viewing it, they select the skin - is that right? Looks best in goo, anyway. Rock on, Princess.

hi Michael!
Ah, i shall check out your userpage in a minute.
I actually have have to admit that i didn' didn't design my own userspace... well i did to a certain extent. All the information is my own but a nice young man on here actually set it up for me(for the most part anyway). It's not so much that im hopeless with computers but that i access h2g2 through digibox making it ver near impossible to compose my own userspace. I am getting a computer this May though.
oh don't be embarrassed that you're 39! Nah it's such a cliche but you are as young as you feel. Well im 17 as you probably know, as i believe it says so on my space, i'll be 18 this June. I go to college in Glasgow and i study Advanced Highers in French and Spanish and i also took up Italian last year. I clearly love linguistics but i also love music, cats, reading, Turkish Delight, leopard-print and ermmmm... well i was gonna say playing the piano but i only love it when it doesn't feel like a chore.
How did you manage to go back to high school?... your job sounds really cool. I think you're really lucky to have a job you like. Im sure you deserve it though.
Off to check out userpage.
Claire
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I tossed in my job and put myself back through Highschool at the age of 35. What I do isn't a job, its study. It is an honours year after just completing my degree - BSc (Biological Sciences), double major in Microbiology and Genetics - in November. The government pays me an allowance called Austudy, which is very little, so a job makes it sound like I gat a wage. If that were true I'd eat a bit better than I do. But yes, I think I earned my honours position. Now I can't slacken off because if I do well enough I can win a scholarship to do my PhD. Looks unlikely at this stage, but we'll see. Hope to hear from you soon, Claire. Ciao (that's the extent of my Italian!). Michael.

hei pa deg!(That's Norwegian)

ah i see... so there's a job for you at the end of the degree? It sounds great fun though ! Most people would rather have a job they like which doesn't pay so much than a job which pays loads but that they despise.

What kind of music do you like?

ah my Italian ain't too fabulous either to be honest!

Arrivederci!

Claire(or Chiara as they call me in Italian class)
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I did 2nd year Genetics 2 years ago, and helped a locely girl named Chiara, I didn't realise it meant Claire. Because a motorcycle is my transport, and most people listen to music in their cars, I seem to have lost the passion I once had for music. Or should I say I'm still stuck in the 80's and despise most of the garbage that passes for music today. I'm also a lot more mellow, and can't take metal anymore (or rap, or bloody dance mixes). The older I get, the quieter I tend to like my music. I still enjoy The Beatles, Van Morrison, the Corrs, some Avril Lavigne, and some Aussie bands you probably haven't heard of like (some)Powderfinger, etc. But these days I don't like artists, I like songs, ones with well written lyrics. Example, beautiful by Christina Aguilera is a well written song about how she saw her abusive alcoholic father regularly beat the living suitcase out of her mother. And she sings it well, but I'm not about to tell my mates that I've got it on CD lest the beat the snot out of me! I do tend to listen to a lot more female artists these days, perhaps because they, also, tend to be more mellow. Try to get hold of some songs over the internet and tell me what you think. Here's 3 to start you. My Happiness by Powderfinger, and two by Wendy Matthews - I don't want to be with nobody but you (I love this, DO NOT TELL MY MATES), and The day you went away. You can listen to them free on the net, I'm sure you or your friends will know how to do that. Rockier stuff to come but try these out.

hi!

oh don't be embarrassed that you like it, i love Christina Aguilera. I think she writes really strong songs and is a brilliant singer. It can't be disputed really.

Do you go to gigs? I usually have lots of gigs to go to but i only have one lined up just now and that's P!nk next week.

You have a motorbike? Cool!

okies gtg. spk soon.

Claire
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I haven't been to a gig in ages, mainly 'cause my student allowance doesn't permit me to do anything more than put food in the house and petrol in the bike. Yes I have a bike, you will notice on my userpage (you didn't tell me what you thought of my page!) that I used to race them until I started at uni. It's a very, very expensive sport, so as you can see from the above, it's impossible to do in my current situation. It's the one thing I miss most since going to uni (the other sacrifices don't bother me). It broke my heart the day I had to sell the racebike, and sometimes I wander off and daydream a little and it's then that I really feel the loss because the thoughts always run along the lines of "I've had my last race" or "I'll never see a race track again". Still, I didn't have to throw my job in and return to study. I knew what I was doing and I still think I made the right decision. Don't know if you've heard of Phillip Island (rated the best track in the world by GP riders), but just to impress you, I finished third there once. The Australian (bike)GP is held there, like yours is held at Donnington. Enough, I'm getting misty. Hear from you soon.

hi!

Oh i like your userpage! Sorry i didn't mention it earlier.
awwww sorry to hear you ain't been to a gig in a while.

Why will you never see a track again? I know you said you sold your racebike but there must be places you can go to race?

No i haven't heard of Phillip Island but im rather impressed that you finished there third! well done!

Claire
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No' I've never heard of racebikes that you can hire (they would just be getting crashed and thrashed so constntly it would put you out of business), plus I've let my race licence expire now. Understand how little the government pays me, and how expensive racing is. I couldn't afford to hire one if it were possible, nor could I afford to renew my licence . How did the gig go?

hi!

aaaah i see... och i dunno what i was talking about then... but if it makes makes you unhappy that you're not racing anymore then perhaps you should do something about it? I don't mean to sound cheeky by the way.

the gig?... hmmmm the last gig i was at was almost 2 weeks ago... shocker!lol
well it was good anyway... if you mean P!nk it's this wednesday... yippee! oh and i got tickets for The Rasmus too.

Claire
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Computer off for repairs for a few (3?) days, this is a quick message from uni. Contact you soon.

I've got another spare 5 minutes, so how's my baby. Will have intermittent access to my computer for about TEN days now. Hope to hear from you soon.

hi!

och no worries, im constantly having problems with this digibox so i know what it's like. But im gettin my computer in about a month!

ooooh the gig last night was great! 2 hours of non-stop P!nk!

gtg study, major exam tomorrow.

Claire
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Hope you ace your exam. When you get time can you explain what the hell a digibox is, nobody that I've asked has heard of them. What was the exam on? Hope you kicked bum anyway.

hiya!

omg you're going to have to forgive me for replying 3 weeks late... eeeep! sorry!

ne hoo... a digibox/ Hmmmm well it's just a wee box which allows us to have Telewest Cable TV.

I think the exam i sat was my french oral exam. It went okay i think. No. Not sure i kicked ass mind.

how have you been?

Claire
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