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

Hello dear Rick and Folly.

I agree~~the comradeship seems to have waned. I think I know why though!! But I shan't mention any names. Things started to go downhil when........ I miss all the chit-chat that certain of us shared. I can't stand all the horrid remarks(although I have been forced to make a few myself!). There was never any need for such dogmatism over amateurish poetry. Bring back the old 'snogs' threads where we all told little personal stories and anecdotes.

Goodnight both of you. And 'take care' !!

Polly
xx

Good morning to you both, my 'cyber-friends'! (No. That's wrong, I think - or would hope that we're more than that, and we can rise above superficial banter.)

So, what are we to do? Firstly, continue being supportive to each other. Since my 'outburst' when I had really had enough of the unkindness that some people were capable of, I have been so heartened by the strength of our friendship that at times - and I'm sure you both will understand this - my eyes welled up.

So, mes amigos, we must do what we do best, keep up with the 'idle chatter', interspersed with emotional outbursts, deep thoughts and plain joy of living, in the knowledge that, now and then some others may read us and think, 'That's what life is about'. And even if others don't, we can be assured that, by remaining positive and generally happy ourselves, we will spread that way of life into the world outside our studies, away from Bytes and Bits and Motherboards and Monitors and qwerty keyboards (yes, there is a real world out there).

So, what am I doing today?

Did you know i have a small part time job as Clerk to our Parish Council? I took the job promising to take on the challenge of the professional qualification, 'Certificate in Local Council Administration'. Today I have my first training session - two and a half hours on 'Roles and Responsibilities'. These sessions go on weekly for six weeks and - assuming I pass - then I move on to the main course involving more long term projects, etc. The best thing about them is they acknowledge that this may take a long time, so I don't have to burn the midnight oil!

I hope you two will have a good day, pity we aren't promised as nice a day as yesterday, but at least it's getting warmer.

¡Adios, mes amigos!

Hi folderol,I've been working in Coventry today,tomorrow Derby and Friday Bromsgrove,these jobs are all local to me for a change,the company I work for are supposed to be restructuring the company which means guys I have worked with will be moved to another facility,some of these people I've worked with for about forteen years,the problem is nobody in the management side is letting us know all the facts.

None of us know even if the work we are doing at the moment will remain,there's talk of the company taking away all our premium time rates away from us all,you know overtime,weekends night etc.

But most of all I shall miss all the guys who are relocated to the new facility,ahh well key sera

Sorry to hear your jobs on a bit of a downward drift at present. Often, I find that it's at times like that that new opportunites present themselves and sometimes you wonder why you stayed so long in what you were doing. You just have to be open to those opportunities as and when.

Shame about your work friends, though. Do you meet with socially too? Personally, I've always kept them separate. that way, whenever I move on - and in 30 years in Nat West bank I moved around quite a bit - every three to four years - I was quite able to cut myself off from that 'previous life' without hurting my 'real' friends. There are one or two exceptions, but I've always held the maxim, 'Don't look back'. I find it means you have to look forward to the new situation more positively.
Good luck with however it turns out.

I presume Poll's still having problems. It's easy to suggest it as It's not my bank account, but perhaps it's time to trot down to PC World.

Hi Polly,I have'nt seen much of you this week,is everything alright?

Well, my friends, Humph is no more - not in real life anyway, but forever in our thoughts, our humour and our memories of the vast amount of enjoyment he brought to many millions of idiots and jazz lovers ( I fall into both camps)

I feel priveleged to have seen him and his jazz band live about 5 years ago in Bedford and again only last year with the touring ISIHAC team at Northampton. What a man.

As Cresby has said onn the MC board, RIP, Humph you deserve it.

Hi Folderol,heatwave forecast here today so I'll be out in the garden for a few hours,still no sign of Polly,I bought my Dell tower on line as I already had a flat screen monitor it cost me about £276.

I added another gig of memory for about £17 now everything is that little bit quicker(except me of course,with my chicken pecking style of typing with my left hand index finger)still I hope you and yours all have a nice weekend,make the most of today as later they've forcecast torrential rain.

Thanks, Rikki.

We've got friends coming for the day and we'll be off for a visit to nearby Olney - of the famous pancake race. It's a really nice small market town with an interesting church, riverside, and a museum of John Newton and William Cowper - contemporaneous dwellers in Olney and prolific hymn writers - Amazing Grace, Glorious things of thee are spoken etc.
Cowper was a good poet - he wrote the ballad, John Gilpin. If you don't know it, it's worth looking up on the web - a very humourous tale of a man's disastrous horseride from London to Ware (Herts).
We had to learn it at school - all 252 lines of it - 63 verses of 4 lines each. I managed to learn it at school but can't do it now - zee leetle grey cells are not what zey were!

Have a good weekend in the sun and here's hoping Polly shows up soon. I miss her

Where are you Polly!

Wot no Polly?

Hi Folderol,I did a few hours yesterday in the garden,I erected that tent like greenhouse I bought from Lidl for £15 ish and placed it over some radish,lettuce and spinich seeds,it(I hope) will get my salad seeds started a month earlier.

I must admit the tent was with idiot proof instructions(needed)and at 6'-0"*5'-0" and about 4'-0"high with three windows(roll up)it was an absolute bargain.

Still we have unexpected sunshine here at the moment,I suspect you and Polly will be at your own churches(Polly plays the organ,but I dont know if that is at her church on Sunday's)still I hope you all have a splendid day

HELLO my two darling friends. I miss you both so much these days. Yes you ARE both more than 'cyber friends'! You are both interesting, and sweet, and I feel that I have known you for always. I often wonder what you are both doing with your family lives.

I have been away (can't stand it here). I keep running away! I was only in Dorset~~but oh it was utterly beautiful. Yesterday I was in the deep Dorset countryside. I listened to the skylarks (I haven't seen any here ). I took lots of photographs of my favourite old chalk stream. The sun glistening on it made it look silvery. The swallows were overhead, and the trout were jumping in the water.

I had lunch at my favourite Dorset pub~~in Ebbesborne Wake. I sat there in the sun watching the buzzards. Delightfully dreamy and enchanting. The hedgerows and fields were beautiful too. Dorset is where I belong in southern England.

I am now looking for somewhere to rent back in Dorset. It's not so easy. There was a flat in the High Street in Wimborne, but it would have meant sharing facilities. Not at my age I think!

My computer is in a really bad state!! But I need to save my money in readiness (please, please, please) for a move. I keep being told that there is no virus. But that the :

'anti-virus component status cannot be determined'.

'Component is registered correctly. However, determining staus failed with error code Ox81000002'.

Does any of that make sense????? I don't know whether fixing that will put everything right. Or whether there are other problems. So, using the computer isn't really much fun any more.

I came back late last night, so I have not been to church. I rarely sleep at night, and was still awake at 4.30am. So I had to catch-up a bit this morning.

We had a tremendous storm overhead last night. I stood at the kitchen door and watched it.

Are either of you thinking of attending any of the Proms concerts? I keep looking at the programme and wondering if I dare to go! It is the late night business that rather scares me. I certainly would not travel home alone late at night. I see that there is a Dr. Who Prom!! And a folk Prom.....(I'm not wanting to go to either! )


I do pray that you are both having a happy weekend.

Lots of love to both of you.

Polly
XX XX

So great to hear from you, Poll, and that you are well. You obviously love your E Dorset as much as I love my W Dorset. 'Fraid I only know it like the back of my hand when I'm west of Dorchester. Of course, I don't include Weymouth as part of Dorset - a vulgar place!

Haven't got a lot of time as on my way to an early night - ha ha. But you really must summon a techie - I founf mine in the Yellow pages and just chose the one who lived nearest. About £30 a visit and he can do quite alot in an hour or so. I bet he could sort you out

Anyway, sleep well and I want to hear about you moving (?) I thought you had only just moved to the Lymington area?

Hi Polly,Im glad you are back,I have'nt been to work today as yesterday I was feeling giddy,last night I did'nt sleep a wink and my pillow was soaking wet even though I felt cold.

I have'nt got flu just a bad throat infection,so I'm swallowing paracetamol trying to keep my temperature down

Hello my dear Rick. Oh~~poor you. You sound in a very poorly state. Do you think you are 'run-down' with all the hard work that you do? Shall I make you some nice soup~~carrot and butternut squash is yummy for sore throats. I do hope it IS only a bad throat. Wednesday is your endoscopy day, isn't it. I haven't checked my calender, but I am certain that is the date. Poor you~~you have been so under-the-weather for ages. Maybe one of my poetry recitals will cheer you up! Or some belly-dancing that I am considering starting in order to lose some of the weight I have managed to put on since living here in the Forest!

Is there a decent afternoon film on TV to watch? I love the afternoon films when I am feeling unwell. Hot soup, fingers of bread to dip into the soup, a comforting blanket and plump cushion, an old film, and lots of throat sweets. Or lots of Radio 4.

Please don't go digging the garden or anything daft like that whilst you feel so horrid. Rest, rest, and more rest is what is best for you.

Pixie is asking me if you need him to cuddle into you. He is heavy, thick furred, and therefore very comforting. I shall put a little tag around his neck (so that he doesn't get lost) and send him off to you. Please don't give him ordinary milk or softy food. Better still, I shall put a little rucksack on his back complete with his own milk and special food.

Yes, sorry to hear you're not well, Rikki. Is Polly right? The endoscopy, I mean? Might they put it off if you have an infection?

I'm afraid I'm one of those annoying people who hardly ever get a cold and when I do it never bothers me much. I don't think I've had a real bad throat for about 3 years or so. I get sniffles occasionally, but they come and go in a day. Jan's the same: we're both sickeningly well!.

I put it down to having my tonsils clipped and my adenoids removed (or was it the other way round?) when I was about 7. Before then I would get loads of colds and they always ended in earache.

But then, that was so long ago, I daresay the alternative cure for earache was blood letting or leeches or a labotomy!

Still, I do hope you get well soon, Rikki. Plenty of whiskey and honey, that should do the trick, and if it doesn't, take shome more, and if zhat doeshn't work, take shome more (hic) until you jusht fall ashleep .....zzzzzz

Now, Polly, I want to know more about you moving again.......

Hello dear Folly.

Shall we stand outside Rick's window and sing him a duet from a musical? It would either kill or cure. But poor Rick~~~he does work flipping hard. It hasn't exactly been his year so far. Nor mine though.

My moving! Well, yes I am just up the road from beautiful Lymington. I remember that Mr. P (Bxxxx) had had tea in the Buttery there. Have you too? I was in there 2 weeks ago with my Canadian visitor. He mentioned that it was the nearest thing to Fawlty Towers! And it is!
But moving here has taught me some very hard lessons. I miss Dorset. I don't like the Forest very much. My daughter is well-married now~~and I am quite unneeded. I expected lunches and suppers..... Foolish me!

There are many reasons as to why I am unhappy here. I just want to get back to the softness of the patchwork fields, and the streams, and skylarks, and buzzards, and all that is typical of beautiful Dorset. The NF is fine, and the ponies and cows that wander freely are lovely. But Hampshire is not for me. I had hoped to see more of my daughter (who is in Lym but soon to move away!). I actually see far less of her. That has saddened me very much. Plus........., well I can't say here. But I am disheartened and disappointed.

On a happier note~~~~my washing has dried outsid today! And I don't eat many choccies or sweets any more. And I might do some walking on the IOW during the walking festival. See you both there?

I quite understand, Polly, nothing can ever match up to Dorset (except Weymouth, which I always equate with places like Slough and Dagenham).

The Walking Festival sounds fun. I'd never heard of it, but looked it up when you mentioned it and I really would love to be in volved.

Unfortunately, May is partic busy. Jan and I are, however, visiting Jan's uncle and aunt - both in their dotage, and this may well be the last visit - - they are both lovely people, so interested in 'younger' people and that, to them, includes us! - in Barton on Sea - on Saturday 10 May, but as it's in the middle of Jan's reports, we're doing a day trip - or mad dash, as I call it - about 170 miles each way in a day. I'd stay on and go to the IOW on the sunday if it wasn't for the fact that I'm preaching at a Bedford church on the Sunday morning at 11.00.

Our washing NEARELY dried, then a shower at lunch time put paid to that. I'd better nip out now and see if it's dry before the next shower.

Big evening this evening! The Village Carpet Bowls Club (of which I am a member) has it's AGM! Wow!! They may even run to fancy cakes instead of Nice or malted milk biscuits with the tea!. However, I am NOT standing for the committee - I have enough of that sort of thing at church - I'll let someone else get bored silly once a month

'Carpet Bowls'? No ~I don't know him.



That's a shame about the Barton-On-Sea visit. If you, or you and Jan, change your minds or schedule, do let me know. I'm sure I have already told you that I was born at Barton-On-Sea! The walking festival is very popular, particularly the 'Speed-date walk'! But I shan't be joining that. There was a large article in the Telegraph 2 years ago about the Speed-Date walk.

I do not like Weymouth at all, although I once looked after a friends B&B and I did enjoy myself. I was able to explore the area at leisure and that seemed to make a difference to the town!

What is the subject that you will be talking on at church? I'd love to know please. Our morning services are low-key. But our evening ones are really great.

I hope you enjoy your evening tonight. Any excuse for a drink or two!

I hope that our Rick is alright. Maybe he is managing to sleep. Poor thing. He is so very hard working.

Home from bowls! The AGM only lasted 20 minutes so that was OK although boring. Had a few good games of bowls afterwards. Sometimes a few of us go for a drink on the way home but not tonight as the other two had things to do, etc.

I'm preaching on Pentecost Sunday so it's pretty well got to be the Holy Spirit. I do try to relate my sermons to real life. I'm a pretty laid back Christian and I'm not v good at extempore stuff and my sermon has to be from a script otherwise I find I go off on a tangent and never get back to the point.

It's a nice text, though:

‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. ...... You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘(John
14.16f.)

Some good meat there and we use a Methodist resource magazine called Roots which gives some excellent prayers and other ideas. Then mix in a smattering of trad and new hymns including a belter for the end so they go out singing.

Oh yes, and the sermon MUST have at least one 'hook'. A point they will latch onto and take away with them. I'm thinking of asking them to think about when they personally experioenced the Spirit. I don't do cringeworthy stuff like ask them to stand up and give a testament - that's for others who may be able to carry it off - I am also delivering it to a smallish elderly congregation who are quite traditional in their ways (you always have to vary the sermon to suit the congregation). Then I will list a few ideas and look for recognition amogn them. It's really, like all my sermons, just to get them THINKING.

Here endeth the sermon for today!

Moving on, I, too, hope Rikki is OK. We do all seem more content when we are all here andfiring off each other.

Now to tidy up my study - it's also a spare bedroom and Ben, our son, who lives in Bovey Tracey (lucky man), phoned Jan tonight and said he's calling in tomorrow night on the way to a conference on Wednesday in Peterborough. It's lovely when the kids call in on the offchance and still regard wherever we are as their home, even though he never lived here as we only moved here 3 years ago. Anyway, the rooms a mess, so I must get it tidied.

Night night and sleep tight

Hi Folderol and Polly,I've laid in bed so much these last few days,it has made me realise just how much I take my dodgy knees for granted.

I guess you know the feeling when you resolve to keep your eyes closed in bed even though you know that you've no sleep left in you,everyone in the house makes as much noise as a herd of elephants and it only seems like minutes since the OH has asked if everything is still OK for the umteenth time.

My throat though slightly better is still sore,Im now bored rigid drinking tea and I cant even attempt the crossword without yawning and my head is still feeling like I been in the ring with Mike Tyson.

As you can both imagine I am being a typical male(head up Rick)moaning more than any creaking gate