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

Good morning/afternoon, good lady. How is life and health treating you this week?

Early afternoon... I'm just off to class actually so not much time to talk, but it's nice to see you around here!

I have a bit of time each day for here, and it is easier than leaving e-mails all over the world.

Enjoy your day, good lady. Another time.

Yeah, especially with folks like me that tend to just forget about them, eh?

Good evening, sir.

Awww, you never forget them. You just give them slow and considered thought ...

I'm home early, having not slept well several nights in a row. Nasty leg-cramps. I guess it comes with age.

And in our military, it was only the commissioned officers that were 'sirs'. I was just a nom-com for 21 years. I worked for a living.

I don't think I called anyone 'sir' after Basic Training - which was one of the more ridiculous and useless times of my life, but luckily only lasted three weeks. We called our CO by his first name... same as other officers (except for those that had nicknames of course, which we called by their nicknames), up to the Base Commander.

If anything, the 'sir' would be carried off from the HHH bar, where I do call almost everybody sir/ma'am... *shrug*

My recruit training was 11 weeks (in 1977), and our military is mostly fashioned after the British. So the folks wearing the Queen's commission are sir and ma'am. And first names usually didn't extend more than 1 or 2 ranks above or below. Don't want too much familiarity, etc.

Ah well, it was a trade, a career and a living for a number of years. And here, voluntary.

Yeah, I suppose the army thing is very different here, isn't it?

Off to dinner now, see you later!

Ours has been so starved by the government for years, it's literally a blend of army, navy and air force.

Do enjoy dinner, my lady. We'll cross paths another day.

Just dropping by to say goodnight...

We've got the airforce and the naval forces as part of the army too - I suppose because it's not a very big army (though it's pretty big considering the size of the population).

See you tomorrow, I guess!

From Canada's population of about 32,000,000, we have a total military of 51,000. And fully a quarter of that is "headquarters" staff. Pretty small proportions in my view.

Yeah, that's what I was saying, I think... I have no idea what size ours is, but there's a population of 5-6 million to start with so obviously proportions are quite different.

You also have far more pressing concerns all around you. We've become the UN Boy-Scouts of the world. A totally different function than even 20 years ago.

But enough of that. How's days at the library? Any really novel clinets to entertain you?

I usually don't work at the reading hall, I'm at the department cataloguing books or something like that... today I was dealing with books that came back from re-binding, which is pretty boring usually. I'm planning to go to sleep soon - I'm just trying to get a bit of backlog taken care of before...

Then do tidy things up and get some sleep, dear girl. I vaguely recall your age and know that I never slept enough. Passed-out drunk doesn't count.

Good night, friend. Until another day, peace.

Yeah, I hardly do sleep enough... but I don't really drink, so don't pass out drunk either.

(and so it isn't vague - I'll be 22 next Tuesday)

Good night!

Which puts you at somewhat less than half my age (45 last month) and just under my daughter and son-in-law (both 23) A good age to be, old enough to have some wisdom yet young enough to find so much that is still new.

Should I miss you, an early happy birthday wish for you, good Lady P.

Ah, you're not _that_ old! Younger than my parents anyway.

This I know. The wrinkles are few though the hair is dusting somewhat. (Perhaps 25-30% silvers) But I can readily get on the floor with the grand-kids and a couple of younger nieces, so I know I'm lucky.

Have you any notions, or perhaps someone special, to celebrate your birthday with?

Well, Monday I'm going with my family to a nice Japanese restaurant... and I'll probably meet up with my friends around the weekend. There's quite a lot of us with birthdays in November, so we've been meeting up quite a lot.