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

Good morning all - after a night where there was some decent rain at last.

Frank, The last time I really cried - and I mean sobbed and sobbed - was when my brother died at the age of 52, about 15 years ago. He had been given 6 months in the December when they found cancer of the larynx, lungs and liver - basically, he had drunk and smoked himself to death. I wasn't close in that we saw each other perhaps only once a year, but as kids (he was 4 years older than me) we were very close and, as I said at his wonderful funeral, he taught me everything that a young, energetic, inquisitive boy should know! He died in the July, about 3 weeks after we - my family - spent a wonderful summers day with him and his family, walking in the woods and bird watching which had always been his delight. I can't see a long tailed tit now without remembering that day and Keith.
I was unprepared for the effect his death would have on me and I was glad that I was able to sob - actually with my family around me - it was a wonderful release of guilt for not being closer to him over the years.

Whatever you do, I would urge you not to bottle up your emotions. Let your family in on your feelings: the alternative is depression.

Like Polly, I will be praying for you and your family including your sister over the coming months. Polly's words from her father are very wise: "The time wasn't right for me but in their pains the timing was right for them".

As for me today? Well, after I got up just now I was cleaning my specs and the frame cracked! So I'll be spending the morning sorting out a new pair and claiming - luckily - on the insurance (though there's a £100 excess). Fortunately I was due to change them later this year. This pair are varifocal and reactolight and I've never been happy with them - especially that when they get darker in the sun, they seem to take for ever to get clear again indoors. So it's an opportunity to sort that out. Although in the light of the news, I don't want to be seen to be taking advantage of 'the system'!

Have a good day everyone and all round

Oh yes, and Polly, I do hope your blotchiness clears up quickly - are you wearing a mozzy net over your face?

I thank you all for your kind thoughts and good wishes.
My sister started to become anxious about 5 years ago; started to worry in an irrational way as far as my bro-in-law saw it, because they were very well off, had great family support and after many years of hard work, an 50 happy married years were all set for a long and happy retirement. There really was nothing for her to worry about.
But the mind plays tricks on us, as I know from episodes in my own life.
She also developed sugar diabetes and some memory loss and lack of concentration. This progressed to loss of some motor control and control of bodily functions. She became more passive and had little enthusiasm to join in with the many great projects and holidays that were organised. Her husband became a very frustrated but loving main carer to a person with whom he had been an equal partner with for most of his life.
He is still very fit and able, and though older than any of us is endowed with a remarkable drive and zest for life. He is really broken up by the way she has now rapidly deteriorated over the last few months. He bought a new bungalow with workshop basement a year ago to be nearer his children and so that Mary had no need to climb stairs. Now he lives there by himself and visits her every day trying to get her to eat a pulped food. She cannot support herself, sit up, open her eyes, or recognise where she is, who she is, who he is, and so on. Imagine how sad that makes him, and how helpless we, the other members of the family, feel about it.
They were all holidaying together in Mexico (of all places) back in February, using a special wheelchair bought for the purpose of getting her on and off the plane, and to a fro to their hotel.
She did not even realise she was there. How sad.

But she was a wonderful beautiful woman, and her life was very good. She did great things and was loved to bits by everyone who ever met her.
Today the sun is shining here in the South of England, and the rain is holding off. I was a bad boy yesterday because I broke my promised to myself, by going into my local and drinking a pint. Must lose some weight! Got to fit into that suit!
Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I know I will. Lotto tickets at the ready, tee hee.
fxx

Hi team,I'm off to bed again soon as I'll be up at a little after 4am as I have a job in the smoke tomorrow(Moorgate)and Monday in Highgate still I'm not moaning as I need the dough at the mo'

Weather here was windy,wet and in general truely awful I do hope it's better tomoz(thanks Fol)as I'm working outside,hope you all enjoy your weekends and Frank I hope peace comes soon for you and yours.R.

" The Great Escape". No, not the film, just my way of coping. I just write silly rhymes all the time, all over the place, much to the disgust of the moderators, I see.
I have also been reading and writing emails to all and sundry in the family, a thing I usually avoid. Had a long phone conversation with my other sister, the one in USA. Lots of tears and words later I am still writing my silly poems. Hope I don't upset anybody.
fxx

Frank, the story of your sister, and that remark of Polly's, remind me of our old friend, Nietzsche, who, if I remember correctly, said "Some die too soon, but most die too late. The doctrine still sounds strange: die at the right time".

Your sister's plight is very tragic, and many others suffer something similar. It's a cruel fate which most of us, or so I imagine, dread even more than dying - a kind of living death, really. But it's also a cruel fate for her nearest and dearest, who have to try and look after her in the most heart breaking of circumstances. Her husband sounds like a wonderful chap, but even he is frustrated and broken, to use your words. And not surprisingly: that situation is hard for anyone to cope with. "What does not kill me makes me stronger"? I think Nietzsche may have been wrong about that.

At least she has had a good and relatively long life, filled with much love, by the sound of it. That is something to be thankful for.

Good night...and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

I think I believe in angels, because there have been times in my life when I was unaccountably rescued from threatening circumstances, as if borne up or protected even though I called not for help.

As for philosophers, Tickle, I have not studied them at length, though I confess an admiration for their clarity of thought and analysis.
I find Nietzsche to be a mite negative and depressing, though no doubt very clever and quotable.
I used to devour Bertrand Russell's stuff when I was a young man.
I would write essays to myself as if I was the philosopher. A very pretentious and young-mannish sort of behaviour; mostly young people imagine they can make changes in our flawed world and it is us that will be remembered for our greatness.
Then comes responsibility and real life has to be faced. Our dreams must be put on the back boiler. At my age all the dreams have faded and I don't know what to believe any more. My American sister is deeply religious and has it all cut and dried. I envy both her and her believing friends, as I envy the total non-believers.
I am stuck in the middle with agnosticism.

My bro-in-law is indeed a splendid fellow with a strong work ethic. He is also very positive, optimistic, and holds in his heart and mind the Canadian version of "The American Dream".... a bit like the belief that in every squadie's knapsack there lies a Field Marshal's baton.
He has certainly made great strides in he face of adversity, and I would say that both he and Mary have led "great lives". They, like myself, both had religious upbringings, but have lost their faith along the road of life.

Now we all need our our own inner strength, since we have no God to call upon

Maybe there is a God who carries us through bad times. This the hope that the agnostic holds in lieu of blind faith.
I thank you all again for your kind wishes.
fxx

Frank, you said:
"As for philosophers, Tickle, I have not studied them at length, though I confess an admiration for their clarity of thought and analysis."

That reminds me, of a great book I read some years ago called 'Sophie's World' (NOT Sophie's Choice which is altogether different). It's by Jostein Gaarder, a Norwegian philosopher, and you can read a bit about it on Wiki. It is basically a guide to philosophy, covering virtually all the great philosophers of the ages. A family friend of ours, a PhD in The Philosophy of Sport and Human Leisure , and who is now a lecturer in Philosophy at Gloucestershire Uni., reckons it is the single most important book she ever read.

It might also make you think about God a bit, too, including, as it does, Jesus of Nazareth as a great philosopher.

Which leads me to your last line:
"Maybe there is a God who carries us through bad times"

This is just the thing covered in the famous (amongst Christians) story of 'The footprints' by Mary Stevenson Parker.
You can find it on

http://www.geocities.com/Nell_46/Footprints.html

One of the most inspirational of pieces

Good afternoon to each of you.

I have been very busy sorting out all that I will saying at my home-group (I'm 'chairing' the evening tomorrow night). I have thoroughly enjoyed doing my homework and seem to have spent hours looking through the Bible, the concordance, and various other books that I have on Bible commentaries. All tremendously interesting. Not at all a chore. I am taking a break for a while as I am so tired. The Piriton puts me to sleep! I still look spotty! My eyes are so red. I noticed that the little midges are still in the garden. I'm afraid to go out there!

Frank, each of us deal with sorrows in our own way. There is no rule to follow. But without my faith I would most certainly be utterly lost. You must follow your own star when it comes to grieving. Fear, tears, anger etc. are all natural human ways. Each heart is different. Individuals cope differently. I go to pieces. I cry often. I long for 'what was' or 'what might have been'. ~~~~But "...underneath are the Everlasting arms" .(Deuteronomy 33:27)

My father wasn't saying anything about there being a 'right' time to die, Folly and W4aT. What he was saying was that if my mother had lived to be ancient, we would still have had to say goodbye to her one day. That day of grieving comes to each of us eventually. With my brother it was far too early (he was 37), and I miss him daily. I had to say goodbye to him far before I was ready too. But sadly it is a part of our human condition. I grieve every day, and long for them to be here with me, but their bodies were tired and worn out.......


We have had so little rain. There has been none today. I thought yesterday was meant to be really wet. But it wasn't! And tomorrow is supposed to be full sun.
I had to miss my London trip to the H. Of P. because of my sleepiness and spotty face.

Anyway, love to each of you.
A big hug to Frank.

Polly

Hi there everybody, Coping by emailing the family, and posting lots of silly nonsense rhymes all over the place. Phone calls to Gib and Canada, America and London...answer-phone only in London....maybe they're busy. Any more people like nonsense rhymes? http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F13477098?thread=6570535&post=79967135#p79967135 All sorts of rubbish there but I need some new contributors. I have almost given up on Mornington Crescent, I still get emails telling me my posting has been removed...tee hee. They didn't like my poem about apes. Only one pint in 8 days now. What a good boy am I! Good night Polly my dear, may your healing face smile again soon. fxx

We've had quite enough rain here to be going on with, if not as much as expected, given the weather forecast. A few more heavy downpours today, although fairly brief. Just as well, as I had 1200 magazines to deliver. Had to take shelter two or three times, with the result that I didn't get finished until 6:45, which was an hour or so later than I had hoped. Just 900 left to do now, so might get them finished tomorrow. But the forecast is quite good, so the weather will probably be bad.

The Philosophy of Sport and Human Leisure sounds an interesting subject, although I'm not sure it warrants a doctoral thesis. But my question is, if all the exercise machines in all the gyms in Britain were linked up to the national grid, how much power would be generated? And how much power might be produced by 100 hamsters running round in a great big wheel connected to a turbine?

Mornin' all. A very early morning as, for some reason, I awoke at 4.30 and felt bright eyed etc. Nice morning out there - watery blue sky with a hint of red to the east. Is that good or bad?

No, I'm not sure what use the thesis is, Tickle, except Emily - or Dr Emily as she now is - did her phD in Bedford Uni, which does have a long history of PE as it is a successor to - and on the same campus as - one of the top three PE colleges in the country - along with Loughborough and Borough Road, London.

What a terrific alternative energy source, Tickle. Let's take this a step further.
So, what we've got to do, Tickle - and the rest of you might like to join in this business venture - is start talking to all the rip-off gyms (sorry, fitness gyms - but the prices they charge is surely a rip-off) around the country and Powergen or whichever of those companies run the national grid, and link them all together.
We could make a good few quid out of that and Tickle could give up delivering, Rikki could retire, Polly could get some really expensive cream for her blotches and some double glazing for her windows and I could retire to Spain never to be seen again. That only leaves Frank, who could use his income to set up a nonsense verse publishing house.

There. That's our futures sorted.

I know....But I can dream can't I?

This hamster wheel duty, can I be excused? You can wire my brain up to the National Grid if you like, still plenty of activity there,tee hee.
fxx

"I know....But I can dream can't I? " - You can on this thread, Folly.

It was lovely and sunny here first thing, but is clouding over now. Still, I finished my delivery yesterday, so I don't mind too much if it rains now. (I trod the steep and rugged pathways of Easthampstead yesterday. Not altogether rejoicingly, but quite happily - and courageously, of course.)

I heard someone say on R4 the other day that MPs now rival merchant bankers in public affection and esteem. This made me wonder, and you've probably all asked yourself the same thing, how many MPs are bankers? I'm writing some new lyrics for My Old Man's a Dustman:-
Chorus -
My Mp's a banker, he's worth a million quid
He says that he is honourable, but who's he trying to kid?
Alternative chorus -
My MP's a banker, he's got a flippin' cheek
His daily expense claim's for more than I get paid a week.

I have an idea that many MPs have second (third, fourth...) jobs, which may be lucrative consultancies (sometimes on the strength of their Parliamentary position). Seems to me that such people shouldn't be eligible for much in the way of expenses. Probably shouldn't be getting a full MP's salary, either.

Must go and cut the grass, hang out the washing, etc.

Have a good day.

Verse

Some folks are getting restive
'cause they treat us like fools
Although our MPs tell us
It's all within the rules.
One constituent got nasty
And to his MP wrote
Then went round to his second home
And drowned him in his moat.

The chorus should be longer, n'est-ce pas?

My Mp's a banker, he's worth a million quid
He says that he is honourable, but who's he trying to kid?
He looks a proper dandy in his pinstripe suit an' all
But now the truth is out he could be headin' for a fall.

He found a house for sale one day
outside Boreham Wood;
He said "I'd like to buy it,
I only wish I could."
The fees office then told him
he could put in a claim,
And now he lives in luxury,
ain't that a flippin' shame?

One day whilst out in Surrey
He bought a trouser press
He said "it's rather dear, but
someone else will pay, I guess."
He knows that as an MP
He has to be prepared
To serve his country selflessly
So no expense is spared.

My Old Man's a Speaker
He wore a silly suit.
Turns out he was a squeaker;
"I'll have to go, Old Fruit!".
He was an old tin basher,
Who didn't do a thing,
To curb excesses rasher.
(Now I've broken a banjo string!)

Now here's a little Tory
And his Labour Lib-Dem mates
Who give their all for glory
And join in great debates
Some people make a fortune
Others earn a mint
My MP don't earn much
But he's flippin' rollin' in't.

Almost finished now:

Though my MP’s a banker
He hasn’t got a clue
About the world economy
Or what we’re goin’ to do
We said “Ere! Hang on half a mo,
What's happened to our jobs?”
He said “Don’t worry about that,
I’ve made a good few bob”.