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

Hi Neal,

Happy New Year, I hope this one brings you lots of and friendship. Plenty , with enough , or to keep you happy. Good s, some s to watch (or even something more exotic)! And the end of your problem

Lorraine

Hello Lorraine,
Many thanks for your wishes, and apologies for the delayed reply. New Year sniffles
May I wish you a very special, belated New Year, and that any resolutions you have made are a doddle to fulfil.
May your walks be easy with the sun in your face and the wind at your back. May you have more time to enjoy your social activities, particularly specialist and exclusive word-games.
Here's to an enjoyable end to the year, and the making of New Friends, and here's to making more.
Take care, stay warm and I am looking forward to more fun and friendship in the New Year. Regards to your daughter as well.
and Happy New Year.



Neal x

Hello Lorraine,
and a very special Happy New Year. I hope it is a good one for you. May the Sun shine on your face, and the wind forever be at your back.
I did send a message earlier, but the server has been very temperamental today. Not a good start to the year. also had head cold, but survived until 04:30.....Just

Take care and





Neal

Hello Neal, and thank you for some wonderful New Year wishes .

I'm not too sure about those resolutions - unfortunately I'm with Oscar Wilde when it comes to temptation , so I gave up making them years ago! However, I *have* promised myself that I'm not going to be too lazy this year - I'm going to try to do a few more things that I want to do instead of putting them off (which got to be a habit when Grace was younger & it was harder to do things).

But yes please to all those word games, and friendship's always a great thing to have.

Sorry to hear you're , I hope it doesn't last too long, and I hope it didn't put too big a dent in your celebrations. Did you go to see LOTR again? I still haven't made it - an old knee injury has flared up over the last few days, and I think 3 hours in a cinema might not help it too much , with a bit of luck, I'll get there next weekend.

I'll post again soon, and no doubt bandy words with you on a thread or two . Take care, & get well soon

Lorraine

.....and a medicinal

Hello Lorraine,
Yes, back on the road to recovery, and now back at w*rk after 4 days off, and feeling like I need more time off....*Ooohh, I'm on holiday next week...*....yes, been overdoing it again. Gigging last Saturday, which was good, for a 60th Bithday, and then Washing/Ironig Sunday. Trouble was I had 3 weeksworth to do, so it beat me. Monday I went Clearance shopping, to personalise my flat, and got a pair of lovely wall lights at £20:00 each. I also splashed out on a couple of Curtain poles, one of which was half price at £49:00 Ah well, it's only .
Stuck to the usual resolution, not to make any...works every time.
Hope your knee improves soon, and that we get reasonable weather over the next wek, as I still haven't got out to see the birds. Didn't even get to see my mate, and have a ride on his Traction Engine...

Take care, and will meet you soon,





Neal x

Hi Neal,

A very quick post, sorry I haven't replied until now, I've had a truly awful week because of stuff at home, so I haven't had the chance, or been in the right frame of mind.

Have a good holiday this week, and enjoy the meet tonight (if you're going that is)

Talk soon

Lorraine

Hello Lorraine.
to hear things aren't too good at the moment.
Hope things improve soon. A and for now, and maybe a later?
If it helps, it seems to be the week for it, but I'll catch up later. Suffice to say, no London Meet tonight.
Shall get up to date, when you are ready.
Take care of yourself, and hope things improve.



Neal x

Hi Neal, how was your holiday? Did you get up to much?...and why didn't you make the London meet?

Lorraine

Hello Lorraine,
Lovely to hear from you.
Things have been rather samey here. As you know I've been on holiday, which didn't really come to much.
The main thing has been a general spring-clean of the flat, especially the 'Glory Hole' where the water tank is. It has, over the last couple of years, turned into a dumping ground, so that had a complete revamp. I also made room for the woollens etc. in the bedroom. I sized up and priced the decorating for the bathroom and bedroom for my next holiday, and bought some new curtain poles, one of which I had to exchange today, as I couldn't adapt it to fit. . It was nice mahogany coloured one as well!! I put a new blind in the bathroom that had to be tailored to fit, and did second time around. Loads of washing and ironing and that has been about it. Unfortunately I have been feeling exceedingly tired, and reckon I need to see the Quack.
It is probably to do with the reason I didn't get to the London Meet.......
*Now to precis a very long story into a very short one*
I work as a 'Telephonist in the Audio & TV Department of Peter Jones, as you know. This entails fielding calls from Customers, and either directing them to our Service Department if the goods are faulty or involves a delivery/installation, or dealing with the Customer personally.
6 months ago it was announced that the Telephonists of Audio and TV would amalgamate with Large Electrical (white goods) Telephonists, and the Branch's own Call Centre, ie:- one "Big Happy Family"
However it meant changing Department, location and Management. What realy ed us off, is we were not given an alternative. After 13 years spread over 4 occasions in the Department, that really ed me off.
Then to add insult to , our hours were changed, not in the overall working month, but start and finish times. There is to be no eating or drinking at the desks, and phones must be manned constantly, except for designated breaks!!!! not even loo-stops
To cap it all, last week was the last week under our previous Managment. Our Manager duly came to see us and wish us well, presenting us with a Bottle of Sparkling Wine (from our Sale selection) which if a Colleague hadn't mentioned our leaving, may well never have transpired. Finally, it is customary for departing Colleagues to get a leaving card, and usually a send-off. We didn't even get a phone-call !!!!
You bet I am ed off, so Saturday I was in a mood, as you can appreciate. I also had to clear out the area we worked, so all our gear was ready for Maintenance to transport to our new Office, in the Branch, on the Sunday, by which time I'd had enough. Ultimately I guess I am going through a form of depression. Hopefully it will clear after a period of time. I am just hoping the New Setup isn't going to be too Schoolish, but it appears to be.
Anyway, enough mithering from me. You intimated that you had been having rather a torrid time. Hope it has drastically improved, and is now and you are ready to 'Rock n Roll' with the best again.
Maybe insufficient and , after the Festering Season. Withdrawl symptoms maybe?
Anyway, hope you improve. Must go, as I need to check the new Pole to ensure it fits.

Take care, stay warm and keep in touch. I'm only a mouse-click away, even if it is in VL, rather than RL.



Neal

Hello Neal,

And thanks for the cake - I seem to always be thanking you (mental note: stop wingeing) . Yes, it was grim, nothing to do with over or under indulgence, but hopefully mending now . I'm glad to be *back* though, I've missed talking to you & Jen.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through such an awful time at work. Re-organisations are bad enough when they're handled well, and it doesn't sound as if your firm is making a good job of it! Will you be moving very far from where you are? You won't have to move house will you? You're obviously not buying the 'one big happy family' idea, can't say I blame you, I'd hate to work in an over-controlled environment. Fortunately for me, I can go my own sweet way most of the time, mainly because the firm I work for is very small, and also because I'm so brilliant at what I do ! I've always found that the worst part of anything like that is the feeling of having no control. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think, though I admit it doesn't sound too promising. And it'd be easy for me to say try not to get too down about it, but I know how unsettling it must be for you

You've certainly been busy at home though, haven't you? I'll offer you even more sympathy for that, because, as you know, me & decorating don't exactly get on .

I'm busy looking for a new cd player just now. My old one has got into the habit of only playing the bits of cd it likes, it can even turn a deaf ear to my yelling at it & threatening to throw it out of the window. Problem is, although the system I've got is seperates, and it'll be easy to get something compatible, the one I have now is midi, and apparently no-one makes them any more. So I'm going to have a full size cd player, and midi everything else - ah well!

Anyway, I hope you've managed to get that curtain pole sorted out, and you're sitting back with a admiring your handiwork


Speak soon

Lorraine

Hiya Lorraine,
Sorry for the dearth of postings recently. Still settling into the new place. Still no real contact with the old department so ppffffttttt to them. Nice to feel respected. Must admit that so far it is here. I have been set up as Training Co-ordinator, which I hope will be interesting. It is for me to glean info on products and pass on to the team, and also to see what training sessions are available. I shall watch this space. Luckily it is still with the same branch at present, just a different building. It's about 10 minutes from where I was.
Tomorrow is Burn's Night, so I shall be celebrating at my local. The Landlord and Landlady are Scottish, and always celebrate it. I am standing in for the 'Piper' and shall play in the Haggis. There will also be a number of the London Welsh Male-Voice Choir, so should be a good night.
Yes, I managed to get the Curtain poles up. I had to return one as it was too long, which I knew, but it couldn't be adapted. So I changed that and had a rearrangement so that the Bedroom one went in the lounge, and the replacement went in the bedroom. So much nicer, especially as the curtains swish instead of groaning on a bit of plastic. I also got the blind up in the Bathroom. The major upset was I had to take back a lovely pair of waal-lights, reduced from £79:00 each to £20:00, as the fittings in my flat were illegal, and have been condemned, so they had to go back. It appears a previous tenant had installed them running of the ring main, creating a major fire hazard.
Oh, the trials and tribulations.
Anyway, I hope all is well with you. Hope you have got plenty of provisions in for next-week's major blow, chains on the car, and thermos in the boot? Hope you don't get it too bad. I've heard various things, including temp's of -6C. Don't believe that!!!
All the best, have a weekend and will post soon. On lates next week, so here until 19:00. Maybe catch up on RL?



Neal x

Hi Neal

Lovely to hear from you - I was wondering if the new regime had stopped you posting to this site! At least it sounds as though it's not as bad as you first thought. How did your Burns night go? It sounds like a great idea to have a fiddler instead of pipes - gets my vote every time. But I have to admit, I like the Northumbrian pipes - maybe I'm prejudiced, but they have a much more tuneful sound. Sorry to hear about your wall lights, I think I'd have been too. But at least you found out before you wired them - that could have been nasty.

This has been the first chance to post this week - Monday was parents evening for my daughter, and last night a friend I haven't seen for about 3 years rang - we had a good chat & arranged to go out for a meal next week (weather permitting) Yep, we have a spot of the old weather again . Which means the car stays at home, and I go by bus. We had a real blizzard today for a while. I work right in the centre of Newcastle, and I've never known the roads be covered with snow midday through the week, but they were today. I was beginning to wonder if I'd get home . I think the temp must be below freezing just now - the paths were icing over when I was leaving work, so it's thermals and some very unattractive shoes for me, but I'm not too bothered, as long as I can stay upright. What's it like where you are?

On Saturday, I actually managed a walk! We did our usual - walking blindly for a bit, then checking the map & finding we were in completely the wrong field . A bit further on, we were standing in the middle of a farmyard debating about which way to go, the farmer's wife came out , she pointed the way & we had quite a good talk. It made a nice change, as lots of farmers aren't too friendly (can't say I blame them, I don't think I'd like loads of strange people wandering into my yard . She didn't invite us in for tea though

Anyway, I'm off to look at the threads - hopefully I'll see you on one of them

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,
Just a very quick note, as I finish soon. Job at present, although too early to tell. Am self-appointed Training Co-ordinator, (might have already mentioned that if so )
Snow has cleared. was horrible yesterday! Slippery as h*ll. Tubes up the Spout on Wed. Not through snow, but suspected fire. 40 minute journey took 2 hours. Working tomorrow as one of my colleagues is on a 6 month paid leave holiday. She has done 25 years, and so gets it automatically. 8 years to go You get less for murder.
Anyway, stay well and warm, and shall post more tomorrow.



Neal

Hi Neal .

Sorry I haven't been around much, I've been catching up with jobs at home, and working up some time at the office. Add that to the fun & games caused by the weather, and it hasn't left me much time for myself . The didn't stick around very long, but yesterday, we had torrential rain for most of the day, which made getting around interesting, to say the least , lots of roads here were flooded. Needless to say, I didn't do any walking. Back to normal today, bit of sun, bit of cloud, now more rain - (oh god, I'm beginning to sound like John Kettley).

Anyway, I'm glad to hear the new job's working out well, when you managed to get there - isn't our transport system great? I have to admit though, that I didn't really have problems last week - buses were a little slower with all the white stuff lying arounbd, but it could've been a lot worse. Good luck with the training. How's the decorating going? Have you decided on a colour scheme yet?

I'm off to have a look around, I'll post later in the week & maybe catch you in rt? Take care

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,
Yes, still in the land of the living. Very quiet here, and rather boring. Had problems with my computer here at work, ever since the move. The network operaters are totally fed up with me, so I'm now known as the "Cyberkiller".
Had a worry today. One of the staff had a fit, and was out for 5 minutes. Never seen one before. Luckily I made someone call an ambulance, while I tried to calm her down. I was very worried she was having a heart-attack. When the paramedics arrived, they confirmed my suspicions, and took her for checks, only for her to have another seizure in hospital. Very worrying, and a trifle upsetting.
How are you? I hope all is well. I understand Prideth is awol at present, so limited on chat front.
Anyway, take care.



Neal

Hi Neal,

Sorry I haven't replied earlier, my daughter's been using the pc most of the time doing her coursework (or so she tells me), then last night she was having big problems. We did just about everything I could think of - virus scan, defrag, disc cleanup etc...still no joy. Then I found the problem - the mouse was ed (which I was blamed for!)- so you aren't the only one with pc or rodent problems . Anyway, after a quick trip to PC World today, all looks back to normal.

I hope you're still coming online here, it seems like ages since I was here - I've missed our verbal sparring on the threads, and the messages on here too. I think Venus has vanished, since they've now stopped access for digibox users. I've read the thread - I won't say exactly what I think of it all, because I'd probably be banned as well . I hope she finds a way to get back - I'll miss her.

How's your Valentine's Day going? Plenty of cards and ? Or are you the same as me? A nice billet-doux from the gas board? . Anyway, my daughter's away next week, so I *should* be able to spend some time online, and I hope we can catch up in rt - in the meantime, take care, and watch out for those arrows!

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,
How lovely to hear from you, and to you.
Glad you managed to sort out your PC problem. I am still in vr, and also hope to meet you in rt too . Work changes have slowed down my access unfortunately, and I also have to be more careful, as I am now in the open which means others can see what I am writing. We aren't allowed to post to "chat-rooms" although I don't consider this as one, but they would .
Well, I did get post on Valentine's day. My New Scientist. Not the most exciting! However, I think the of my last ex. is dead. I received the 'Dear John' from her 10 years ago on 14/02 so I think it is time she died. Yes, I know I'm an old softy and Romantic at heart, and when I fall in , it is 'Big Time'. No wonder I don't chase anymore. The ex who came to visit was hassling me to get out and....hhmmm....get l**d , so I put her straight in no uncertain terms. Received a Valentine's cybermail headed "3 words for Valentine's Day" and I quote...'I GIVE UP'. Do you think she has got the message ?
Anyway, I can now get on with life, and ignore her. Serves her right for using Friends Reunited. Not always a good idea chasing the past!!
I am also sad to see Jen off-line. Hope she can catch up occassionally. I did give her my e-mail address, so she could contact direct if nec., although the address will hopefully only be live for the next 6 weeks, as I hope to get a new e-Mac, if the annual bonus is any good. Hoping for 10%, ie: £1,000. Probably optimistic. I'm getting too much spam, that is clogging up Internet traffic. I may keep the old one just for non-personal e-mails, and use the e-Mac for personal stuff. I shall have to see. Also got to keep £500 for a Bookcase I am hoping my Sister's boyfriend is going to build. 11' across and 9' high. He may decide against it.
Hhhmm, looks like it will have to be plastic bank notes

Anyway, thought I'd send a shorter one today. Surprising how much chat builds up over time.
As for those Arrows, maybe I'll lower the shield a liitle, and glance over the parapet a little. I shall see.
Well, Lorraine, take care and will speak soon.



(Here is a belated Valentine from your Southern Cyber-mate )

Neal xx

Hi Neal,

Lovely to hear from you . I'm home from work early due to the miracle of half term - no traffic on the roads, bliss. Though I'm absolutley shattered (I only got about 5 hours sleep last night - couldn't get to sleep, then woke at 5am and I knew it would be fatal if I went back to sleep, so I stayed up. Early night for me I think.

Your Valentine's day was about as successful as mine I als got an ecard, from a friend who took pity on my sad, cardless, unloved state , still, that's better than last year. And we both seem to be suffering from recurring ex syndrome - mine has been calling me off & on for about 4 months now. I find it quite strange, but I do have a theory (which is not too flattering, so I won't divulge ). I hope you get your bonus, and the new mac. I told my friend at work (she's our it manager) about my mouse saga - she found it very amusing, and my daughter is now calling me the rodent slayer. Still, if anything's going to break, I'm happy for it to be the mouse, I can't afford a whole new pc. I *have* lashed out on a new *toy* revently though, a new cd player. It's a Cambridge, and sounds pretty good - good old plastic money eh?

You're lucky you can log onto here at work - I coouldn't, partly because of the way my pc faces, and partly because I don't get time, I spend most days running to stand still. Well, I'll finish this off, and give you the chance to read it if you're still around. Oh yes, I meant to ask, did you watch the wildlife programme a couple of weeks ago about re-introducing birds of prey? Ospreys and red kites -

Bye for now



Lorraine

Hey Lorraine.

RL? Wahay!!!!



Neal xx

Neal?

are you making me an offer?