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

H iya, Delays via London - yes, I know all about that after Friday You can read all about it in my journal (assuming you've nothing more interesting to do - like watch paint dry) http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F151314?thread=733230&show=20&skip=0#pi1 The return leg was brilliant though. There is still no way I'd go the cross country route via Cambridge - it takes too long and I'd die of boredom Good luck in your new life with PGS I look forward to tales of domestic blitz, I mean bliss. Liz ~

Getting from Hemel to Newcastle was an interesting one. Had to go via Birmingham and it took about 7 hours. And the air conditioning was broken . Ah well, it should have been my last train journey for a while . Now PSG has the type of job he wants I'm focusing my job search on around Newcastle, otherwise any jobwould have to have a very high salary to make up for the more expensive rent. (As Peter's dad is our landlord, rent for us is less than half the normal rate). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed your visit sufficiently to make up for the excessive amount of public transport usage

Not really had any arguements yet, fortunately we agree on most things like paint colours and the such like . He disagrees with me slightly on what broadband provider we should get, but after doing a comparison and finding my suggestion better on all accounts I think he's changing his mind . Other than that my main job hopes lie with DEFRA, as this particular area has thirty posts, so I stand at least a vague chance.

Laura

I had a nice time with Jon and Liz and they came and stayed at mine the following Sunday, en-route to Dover and their holiday in France (they come back again tomorrow - where does the time go?) The train journey back from Brum was so good that I would probably go by train again, but not if I go at Christmas as I will have more to carry, so car hire will be necessary. And if I ever manage to get hold of my French friend to arrange a visit to her, I will have to use public transport to get to the airport (now that is a scary prospect!)

Make the most of that low rent! I lived in married quarters for five years and our rent was ever so cheap, and yet we still never had any money as my ex-husband was extremely good at spending. When I think of all the money that I could have been saving up if he hadn't been drinking it all...

I hope your job searching turns up something soon. Are you doing anything temporary or part-time while you search for a 'proper' job?

Liz
~

My next big trip will be going home for the weekend, but fortunately PSG is driving . He's not overly looking forward to it, especially as we've been given the task of running the party games at the twin's birthday . Driving back on a bank holiday won't be too much fun either, but at least he doesn't have to get up at a silly time in the morning anymore . I really could do with picking up my stuff, but that will be sorted during the trip.

We'll pay more rent whilst I start earning, but it'll still be a large reduction on the average house prices. Considering there are three bedrooms and a garden, it's a lot better than renting a small flat in the city which is all we thought we'd be able to do.

I'm trying to get a temporary job but a degree in environmental science isn't very useful when what they all seem to ask for is 'at least six months working in an office environment'. My main hopes are with DEFRA, but as the application only closed Friday, it'll be a few days until I hear from them. Otherwise I've applied for a different civil service job locally which would be fine to keep me going . Meanhile most my time is being spent decorating. Quite a lot of the house was green not long ago, and we are steadily changing this

Laura

Oh dear, green walls are never good. My Mum has a mania for painting everything that sort of insipid green so beloved of schools and hospitals. DIY can be very time consuming (in my experience, everything always takes longer than you expected) and I find it extremely tiring too. You'll be going out to work for a rest

I hope you enjoy your bank holiday visit home. It's never an ideal time to be on the roads. I'm going out for the day with a friend on Saturday and we are supposed to be going up the coast - I suspect the traffic will be heavy.

My parents came down last weekend and we had a really nice time and now I won't have to do any more 'parent duty' for several months

Chat soon.
Liz
~

Well, one shopkeeper said when I was puzzling over how much string I needed to tie a parcel 'take how much you think you need and quadrouple it'. This has since formed the basis of my time management . The decorating is coming on well though, the annoying bits are those hard to reach places that somehow double the amount of time it would normally take

I'm expecting the traffic to be heavy too, and it's a long trip. I do need my stuff though, I can't really miss the twin's birthday and PSG can't really get time off at the moment as he's only a few days into his new job. We'll just have to take plenty of tapes . Hope you enjoy your trip to the coast

The longest gap between visits I've ever managed to get away with is two months.

Laura

I've been to see my parents twice this year and the've been here twice too. I think we've done our usual annual visiting quotas in under nine months. My plan now is not to see them again until Christmas if I can get away with it.

So, when will you be inviting your parents to visit you at your new home 'oop North'?

I had a really nice day out with my friend yesterday. We did lots of walking on Dunwich Heath and we also went to Walberswick and Southwold. According to my step counter, we did in excess of 25,000 steps. Considering I've got a cold (kindly donated to me by my germ infested parents last weekend) - I think that was pretty good going While we were at Dunwich, we saw a very small lizard sunning itself on a fence. As I'd never seen a lizard before, this was a bit of a highlight.

I hope your trip to Hemel went OK.

Liz
~

It's my parents 25th wedding anniversary on the 25th October, so we'll probably meet for that. I don't expect there'll be another visit before Christmas though, it's just too far especially now both PSG and I are working. I don't think my parents will visit up here, they really dislike long drives.

I love lizzards, great little things . I've only seen about 5 in this country though. In Spain there were lots of them if you knew what to look for

Trip to Hemel went fine. The trip back was quite chaotic and I forgot several important things but apart from that it was fine

Laura

Afternoon,

How are you? I hope you are still enjoying your new life up north.

I’ve just installed a new smoke detector. I’m rather proud of this achievement because I don’t actually own a drill and the holes from the old smoke alarm (which I managed to break last week) didn’t line up with the new one. I screwed in the new smoke alarm on one side using one of the old holes and then I used a sharp tool to poke a new hole in the ceiling. This is an old house and the plasterwork is knackered so it wasn’t that difficult to screw in one small screw even though I had not drilled a hole. It has to be said that the newly installed alarm sits in a somewhat wonky position, but who cares as long as I don't get burned alive

I've booked my transport to Stansted Airport today for my trip to France wich is now only 10 days away . I have booked on a little mini bus service that picks you up from the door. After my experiences of getting to Birmingham on the train in July, I decided to check out alternative means of transport for this trip. On the way out, I will be picked up between 2.15 and 2.45 pm – if I was going by train, I would have to be on board before 1.30 pm to be certain of getting to Stansted by 4pm. So that is another thing sorted out. I’m almost looking forward to it now (in between the bouts of sheer naked terror).

Chat soon
Liz
~

Oop north still all fine , get paid Friday, which is nice . I've managed to make a friend locally now too, and I've been in contact with the Brownies and I should have a new pack to help with soon.

PSG got his dad to fit the smoke detectors , he was too worried he might hit a wire. A notable acheivement, drilling without a drill.

Alternative transport sounds a very good idea indeed, I hope you have no travel problems and don't feel too apprehensive

Laura

Hello,

It is Wednesday lunch time and I should (all being well) be collected by the Airport Transport in around two hours time

I don't feel too bad at the moment (I have invested in some Kalms tablets and I do believe they are having an effect), although that may be due to the fact that I still don't actually believe that I am going.

My suitcase is all packed, as is my hand luggage and, apart from needing to eat some lunch, I'm pretty much ready to go.

I had the opportunity to go out yesterday evening, which I took as I thought it would be preferable to sitting at home fretting about my travel arrangements. I went to a staff quiz at the college and my team came second.

Anyhoo, I should go and make myself a little something to eat. But first, I must have a paranoid attack and look up my flight on Stansted's website to make sure it is going to happen!

Chat next week.
Liz
~

Well, I hope you've had a fantastic trip . Nothing much has happened here, apart from me starting Brownies again.

Laura

You're a glutton for punishment, aren't you? New brownie pack, new job, getting up in the middle of the night to go to work. Are you not able to relax woman?

It sounds like you are settling into your new life extremely well - good for you.

I had a lovely time in France and I have written one of my long and winding journals about it, which you probably don't have time to read with your busy new life.

There's not much going on in Liz world at the moment, not now that my holiday is over with. So I'm using a quiet evening to try and catch up on some hootooing. I don't always feel like using the PC after a day at work, so I thought I would get on here while I was in the mood.

Chat soon
Liz
~

Relax? Well I read during my lunch break and don't get up before 8am at the weekend.. Actually we went to see the new Wallace and Gromit film at the weekend, it's fantastic, took some time to stop laughing

Great, I'll have to give it a read after I've made the cakes for tomorrow's lunchboxes (if I haven't crashed by then ). PSG's cooking tonight actually so maybe I could bake at the same time.. hmm

To be honest I rarely feel like going near a computer after work. I hope you enjoy a nice relaxing evening

Laura

Oooh, I'm jealous - I'd like to see the Wallace and Gromit film. 'A Grand Day Out' was on the telly again last Sunday and I watched that again (it's still my favourite).

Cakes in the lunchboxes? You two live it up! I hope you have lots of fruit too (especially in your condition).

I know what you mean about not wanting to use the computer after being at work. Sometimes I do, it just depends on the sort of day I have had. Today I am using the computer at work, as I don't seem to have very much to do. I've been a bit bored at work this week.

I hope you have a nice weekend.

Liz

That little robot thing on skis is so cute .

I always put two pieces of fruit in, though PSG admits he eats the cake before the fruit .

I've no internet access at work, I can only get onto the intranet. Work's been ok this week though, none of the systems crashed . Last week it didn't work fully on any of the days. I feel sorry for the people in building 4 though, they were meant to start proper work 2 weeks ago but a problem in getting them liscenses to the databases means they've been on post duty all that time which consists of folding forms and putting them in envolopes .

Thanks . Not got many plans yet, though we'll need a shopping trip for some larger clothes and PSG's been put in charge of getting some RAM for his parent's computer. I hope you have a good weekend

Laura

I spent a very domestic kind of weekend. I bought myself a rather girly little six volt drill so I could put a couple of things on the wall. Then I thoroughly cleaned my lounge, hoovered, washed the floors, mowed the lawn and defrosted the fridge-freezer. I felt like I was going back to work for a rest on Monday.

Work has been dreadfully dull this week (I'd rather be at home doing the housework). We are all going on a 'Customer Services' course tomorrow. Sounds thrilling

Work was dull last week, we had no work to do so had to pretend to work as the seniour managers were visiting . Ah well, seems the problem s sorted now . The weekend for us was spent in Hemel, family reunions are quite tiring, and though it was nice to see everyone it's very nice to be back . We're off to the cinema later in the hope of missing the trick or treaters.

Laura

I only had three lots of Trick or Treaters call on Monday evening, so I got to eat some of the myself.

My work continued to be dull for the first half of last week (on Wednesday I had to resort to asking my colleagues for stuff to do for other departments), but then it suddenly went mad on Thursday and Friday. I am currently "enjoying" (!) my first experience of checking part-time registers. It should be a reasonably straight forward job, but I've only had about three with no queries and the rest are a nightmare! One tutor send back two registers that he hasn't even filled in. Aaargh! I have more of this to look forward to this week

You seem to visit your parents an awful lot more often that I visit mine. I have hired a car for the weekend in two weeks time so I can go and see them and this will be my fourth visit this year, which is two more than I usually manage. I'm only going because I'm bored and I fancy a drive.

Anyway, I'm off to see if I can answer any more messages while hootoo is still co-operating with me. I've had a heck of a job doing anything at all on here this weekend.

Chat soon
Liz
~