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

It never hurts to keep options open You’re right that you need to have a job that's interesting and it isn't just about the wage…

Alas my Mum got rid of things she thought I'd outgrown, especially all my Lego, which I was very upset about. She also threw away a lot of our VHS tapes too. But she decided to move house and then, a couple of years later when she went on holiday to Turkey, she returned and announced she'd bought a house there and was putting the house here on the market, which was a bit of a shock. Especially as I was living in Leeds with my inlaws at the time (before they were the inlaws). That was a panic…

Hope you enjoy the sisterly standard-length weekend!

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That is sad that someone else decided what you had outgrown rather than you yourself deciding (indeed my sister and I enjoyed carefully playing with some of my mum's toys that she had kept, so I think it is nice to keep some things).

I did have a good sisterly standard-length weekend - I hope you did too. It was interesting that we went to A87855880 and found they have changed some of the displays.

I was quite sad that the Chinese Room had been refurbished in line with 21st Century Museum standards, as I did like the old eclectic room all full of furniture and items rather than only a few items being on display in glass cabinets, but that's probably because I have very fond memories of sitting in there with my partner while she reminisced about her holiday in China...

The worst room, though, was the one in which they had... replaced all the labels with a computer The room was so bright with lights on the ceiling, I could hardly see the screen anyway, and the queue soon built up, as you very well know it does... I submitted my feedback, so we'll see if it has any effect... After having done that course, I'm pretty sure it won't, as that seems to be a way to bring the 21st Century into the display whether people like it or not but we never know...

I've had a good day so far - the dreadnoughtus is 6/7ths in its envelope, so I'm very pleased and hope to sort out the last 1/7 this afternoon, now I've had a good lunch break I hope all's as well as can be expected for you.

I've just had an e-mail to say that what I'm hoping will be a stylus that'll enable my record player to work has just been dispatched. It seems that the manufacturer who made the one that broke doesn't exist anymore, so the make and number that I have are invalid, but a different company sell similar ones, so fingers crossed it'll work. I never realised it'd be so difficult to get a needle for a record player – next time I'll stick to needles in haystacks (especially if I can borrow a metal detector).

Sorry to hear the museum's changed – it is a shame when things are modernised but not actually improved. You know my views about tried and tested labels vs unreliable technology, and how having touch-screen displays just makes visiting a museum like going to a bank.. I was tempted to quote about big enough levers moving the .

My weekend was good – visited family and had a good catch-up, and spent a little time in Godshill, which is one of the Island's most popular villages with tourists. I wanted to meet Godshilla, the famous dinosaur that has been making international headlines.

This week is continuing to file, which is interesting when the files are spread all across the city.

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I spoke too soon about the good day - lunchtime was an illusion just after I pressed post and now I'm getting bombarded

Yesterday:

Today:

I'm sub-editing Aardman A87866202 - don't forget to subscribe!

Just checking - Greebies and Gleebies are different things?

So today you're able to bombard others? Glad to hear it.
Still filing and wondering why none of the files are where they should be…
I also did singing at lunchtime, but the songs aren't ones I enjoy so it isn't as much fun as it used to be.

Sorry – 'Greebies' should be 'Gleebies'.

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If 3 people send 1 thing each to 1 person, that's bombardment, but if 1 person sends 1 thing each to 3 people, that's delegation The dreadnoughtus is fully in its envelope so now I just need to wait for the archaeopteryx-sized tasks to arrive

Filing is hard work - I try to delegate that as much as I can, but it is amazing how files can hide when you're looking for them... Sorry to hear you're not enjoying choir so much at the moment. I hope the needle arrives soon and fits well, so you can enjoy more singing along with the Beatles

It was good to see your photos with Godshilla

I don't understand the Gleebies paragraph very well...

"Their first break came when were commissioned to make a clay animation short entitled 'Gleebies' in 1975 for the BBC's Vision On series... Morph had evolved out of characters called the Gleebies, featured in Why Don't You..?

Did the Gleebies only become popular when they moved from Why Don't You..? to Vision On, or did something else happen?

I wish I had assistants again. The team has assistants, but the way the team is structured means that none of them ever seem to affect the people our end of the corridor, only the ones at the other end.

I must admit I'm losing interest in the choir a bit at the moment – I enjoy the singing, but the songs really bore me. It is all very 21st Century X-Factory songs when I'd prefer more classics. Maybe a bit of Beatles or Queen, or at least songs with understandable lyrics.

Any day now the needle will arrive, and fingers crossed it'll be the right one Does this look like a record:

I hope to go back to Godshill soon and take the kids, especially as my aunt's made many of the fairies on display in the Old Smithy, and I think they'd love the model village. As well as the dinosaur! Had you seen that news story before?

This week I'm Futurelearning about the RAF in the Cold War, which is quite an interesting course that is so in-depth I'm a week and a half behind and only on week 2. Still, why rush when you're enjoying yourself? It is based on the RAF's museum, so ties in quite nicely with the Museum one. I'm also doing a course on Innovation, which is a bit basic. How are you getting on with Moons?

Aardman:

You're right, probably best if we re-word that bit to make it clearer and less confusing. As we can't cover everything, 'Why Don't You…?' is probably an unnecessary distraction.

Their first break came when were commissioned to make a clay animation short entitled 'Gleebies' in 1975 for the BBC's Vision On (1964-1976) series, co-hosted by Tony Hart. Sadly Vision On ended soon after, but in 1976 their experience led to their creating their first successful Claymation character, Morph. He was first seen in children's art shows starring Tony Hart, such as Take Hart (1977-83) and Hartbeat (1984-1993).

What do you think?

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That is strange about your assistants I am my own assistant, but I do have a fellow assistant I can call upon for doing the filing, especially for the files out of my reach. I did some filing today in sympathy with you, mainly because it was a from before I got this post so it made me feel better that I didn't do such a bad job last year by myself

Glad you're enjoying futurelearning, but sorry it sounds as challenging as the Museums one so far - hopefully you'll have an easier week in between like the Museums one did. I didn't start Moons in the end, because it was too soon after Museums, but I've put my name down for a future session. My next one is in May - the one about food, which I really hope is good and not disturbing, although if I don't like it I don't have to read everything, so it should be fine.

I got my certificate in the post for Museums the other week - it looks good, but is disappointing that the Liverpool Museums logo isn't on it. The Leicester Uni logo is on it, though, so I'm still pleased with it and enjoy looking at it on my home desk

I saw the Godshill story when you posted it, yes - it does sound well worth a visit for your children

It would be better to have a more mixed programme for your choir so there's something for everyone... Are you one of the older members of the group, or are the older members just trying to be hypermodern by choosing those songs?

Thanks for rewriting the paragraph - I've added that in, so if you're happy with the Entry now, I'll send it on its way

Why the assistants only assist some and not others is another divisive issue at work – I just try and get on. I'm having lots of fun writing the minutes for this morning's team meeting, in which we were told we're having a vote about whether we want to go task based or not. Apparently the vote is going to be anonymous but not counted by an independent adjudicator, and that those higher up reserve the right to overrule the results of the vote in any case. So why are we having a vote?

I've signed up for a food Futurelearn course too – 'A History of Royal Food and Feasting' in June, although I hope it doesn’t involve food preparation. I don't really do cooking, you see. You can't trust ingredients, especially tomatoes, strawberries and bananas, and you can't trust food as it cooks. I'm never entirely sure whether the fact all food I cook ends up either undercooked or burnt is because I'm colour-blind; I can never see the difference between food being undercooked and overdone, but I could just be really, really bad at cooking. I do often burn food that I've been staring intently at without noticing that it is burning.

I'm glad you got your certificate. I've done 11 courses now and have 2 more in progress, so dread to think what that would cost in certificates… The next section on the RAF will cover Black Buck.

Which reminds me, I got to see 'Despicable Me 2'! The kids saw it in the cinema at a Kids AM showing, which takes place on Saturday mornings when I'm doing Parkrun, and so I don't get to go. Alas, my daughter found it too scary as she didn't like the minions turning evil, but I managed to watch it now. While they were at my inlaws they saw Disney's 'Zootopia' which my wife said was really good but my daughter said was too scary, so I don't know when I'll get to see that. At least there aren't any parents dying in that film, which both children really hate. I've not been able to watch 'Muppets Most Wanted' because she says Constantine (who is an evil version of Kermit) is too scary.

I'm probably in the middle age-wise in our choir. It is led by someone who is probably in his early 20s, though, so the music is very much geared towards his taste.

I've read through and I'm happy with that, so feel free to press the button!

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Yikes, that is rough for the powers that be to be going through the motions of communication and openness while blatantly not being communicative or open... I can give our powers that be due credit for being simply uncommunicative and authoritarian, and the only problem is that they still expect everyone else to pick up the pieces if/when things get broken... I'm looking at it as a challenge, anyway, because things have been messy for a long time, as I found out today, so our situation is an opportunity to look at things from the bottom up and put them back together again in a different shape.

Yes, you can't trust bananas indeed (although I know the Minions like them) - the smell is the worst for me I know what you mean about not being able to trust food as it cooks - "watched pots never boil" etc. I'm quite a lucky cook, that if something doesn't cook quite right, I've mostly been able to rescue it. For example my omelette went funny on Monday, but it actually tasted good even though it wasn't very neat after getting stuck to the pan, and the pan fried cod the other day was also tasty even though that stuck to the pan before I realised it was ready!

I'm impressed that you've done 11 courses so far It is good that you can do them for free no problem, as £340+ would be a lot of money and would discourage participation (as it has done elsewhere - I used to go to a local college for hobby courses every now and then, but they were more than £34 each so they were not well attended and the college closed in the end).

Glad you got to see Despicable Me 2 - very topical! The evil minions are scary, I agree, but just the right amount of scary for me to enjoy I hope you get to see Muppets Most Wanted somewhen - I enjoyed that when it was in the cinema I've seen the trailers for Zootopia, but it did look like a dystopia to me, so I'm not too sure whether it would be something I would enjoy. I'm not surprised your children don't like 'parents dying films' - that is a horror film plot for a child if ever there was one... Reminds me I still haven't watched Frozen... My sister gave me some Pixar DVDs, though, so I might do some full Entries to go with your Ultimate Guide Monsters Inc has a great double layered scene in it where on one level it is just toilet humour (the yellow snow) but on the other level it is perfectly choreographed body language humour so most children and unsuspecting adults wouldn't notice, but I did

Button pressed

The vote is probably because we now have 'Solent Values' since the restructure. No-one believes that anyone higher up takes the blindest bit of notice of them other than in lip service, but they like to give the illusion they do. I always have to remind myself that the core values aren't Hesitation, Repetition, Deviation, Style, Control, Damage and Aggression – that's 'Just a Minute' and 'Robot Wars' – but apparently are actually Respect, Ownership, Inclusivity, Engagement, Integrity and Teamwork.

I don't trust bananas because I find it difficult to distinguish between a bright green banana and a bright yellow banana, or a greeny/yellow one and a yellow one. With an apple, you know what it'll taste like.

Your diet definitely sounds more varied than mine – I tend to go for the 'what can I cook within 20 minutes' approach. That way I get to do more interesting things in the evenings; last night I replaced the needle on my records player I can now listen to the record, so a BIG THANK YOU!

Ever since they were applauded for the emotional scene at the start of 'Up', Pixar and Disney seem to like making films in which a parental figure dies. Both parents in 'Frozen', the brother in 'Big Hero 6' - I could name some more but don't want to spoil them for you. I'll look forward to the standalone entries

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Ah, I see... "Respect, Ownership, Inclusivity, Engagement, Integrity and Teamwork" - I.E. RIOT

My place is definitely taking lessons from yours - today someone from a different department told me I've lost some responsibility for -herding, but I haven't heard it from my own department yet Now I'm worried - I had thought the restructure was looking more positive there for a while, but this would be a negative development as the person who told me is the one who used to herd s at a higher salary grade... Ah well, we'll see what communication we get next week

Not been a good day overall, as that followed from me finding out that my boiler is on its last legs, so that's another task for me to sort out...

Ah, I saw a trailer for Up, and it didn't appeal to me that much at the time - it would be difficult watching for me now, as the scene about the firefly who became a star in The Princess and the Frog was too much for me, never mind anything else

But never mind all that - it is a good cheer up for me to read that your search for the needle in the haystack of shops was successful

Yes, I quite like things that I can put in the oven and leave for a while then come back to them when they're ready, or things that only take less than 20 minutes to cook so as to leave time in the evenings for h2g2 etc. I am a big fan of pan-fried food at the moment though, as that is quite quick while the vegetables are being steamed in the microwave. I like pasta with sauce as a quick meal too (as I cheat and use pre-made sauce).

Another week at work that's begun with resignations. It seems Portsmouth Uni is the destination of choice – quite possibly because admin staff have the same holiday entitlement as academic staff. Bit too far for me to commute by bike, though…

I hope you've had a chance to hear some more about the -herding. Not good if it was a task that was once a higher grade and you're doing it for less. Sorry to hear about your boiler, hope that's repaired or replaced at not too great a cost. Our other fence is now leaning quite a bit, which isn't good.

Hope you had a good weekend. My son did his first ever Parkrun in Salisbury – where we were visiting my wife's cousin for the day – and he seemed to enjoy it. We'll see if he wants to do another one. I'd like to arrange a gathering of friends for my 100th Parkrun, but my wife keeps trying to do things on weekends, which means I'm not entirely sure if I'll be able to know which weekend it'll be, or even whether I'll have time to celebrate the 100th before having to dash off somewhere…

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What a time at work... I did hear about herding, and it turns out a message had been scrambled, so that's resolved for now - phew. The lower grade thing is a different matter, but there we go... I like my mammoths so that's half the battle

Yeah, just got to get some quotes for the boiler and hope for the best... I've had a couple of recommendations from neighbours, though, so that's a starting point. Good luck with your fences, too - the weather hasn't been the best for all this stuff...

I did have a good weekend - I went A87862198 and did 1km round the track which was relatively easy but quite sufficient so I've got a way to go before I'm ready for the ParkRun Congratulations on your son's first success I hope you do get to celebrate your 100th well - 500km is an achievement indeed

I'm glad that you've uncovered the truth behind the -herding and you've not lost an enjoyable part of your job. Today I've had a few queries that I used to be able to answer myself, but now I've had to refer the questions to a different department to get an answer before I can let the students know. I'm still not sure how splitting everything up so that no-one can answer anything themselves helps students.
I also have new glasses at last! Did I tell you my glasses got scratched and I couldn't see through them, so for the last week I've been wearing my old glasses, or possibly my old-old-glasses. Fortunately my eyesight's not changed for a good decade or so.

Well done on the 1km around one of the Wirral's wonders. I've looked and see that if I'm ever in Leeds and fancy doing a ParkRun there, I could catch the 6:44am train which should arrive at 8:29am at Birkenhead Park station. I've done 97 ParkRuns now – when I was at Salisbury it was strange as no-one was wearing ParkRun shirts except for a few children with 10s. Apparently it was only their 46th Parkrun, so I stood out by wearing my 50 t-shirt. I looked at the stats page and of 346 runners, I'd done the 4th most; three runners had done over 250 runs, and then there was me with 97, and no-one in between, which I've never seen before.

We’ve worked out that we've got enough Tesco vouchers this year to get an annual pass to Legoland, largely thanks to Blue Peter Badge winners getting in free. So the family's very keen to go there as often as we can, but if we went on Saturdays it would mean no Parkrun. Inexplicably there isn't one in Windsor.

Less than two weeks until the Southampton Half

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Yes, that is something that I think is an asset, to be able to answer questions rather than having to send people round and round in circles trying to find someone to help... Sorry you aren't able to do that, and I'm very worried that they'll end up making it so over here too, as the discussions are still ongoing...

That would be dedication for you to do a ParkRun in Birkenhead from Leeds Doable, though! That is funny about the gap from 250+ runs to 97 with nobody in between - as another example, you've stretched ahead on http://www.h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/classic/solo but still you're less than 100 ahead of GB...

I don't think I did know you'd been wearing your old glasses, but that's good that you could see OK with them anyway. I have old prescription sunglasses that give me a bit of a weird view (as one of my eyes has got more short-sighted over the last few years but the other has improved in compensation) but not too bad.

Wow, that is good about the Annual Pass Shame there isn't a ParkRun in Windsor, but there definitely could be one set up around Legoland, as there must be more than 5km of paths in there...

Is it the Southampton Half this weekend coming up?

Alas, I lost my bet as to which senior member of staff would announce their resignation next… I've got another interview in a different department next week, so I'll keep fingers crossed.

Tempting though the ParkRun in Birkenhead is, I'd prefer to have a greater margin, so I'd be confident I could get there in time even if a train is cancelled or running late. I missed the Parkrun on Saturday due to Legoland, which means my 100th will be 7th May, so I'm looking forward to that!

Yes, the Southampton Half is on Sunday, so I'm very nervous about that, particularly as I've not done as much training as I should have. If I survive okay I might be tempted to sign up for the Winchester Half Marathon or even, if I feel brave enough, the Great North South Run, which is a 19 mile run from north to south coast. See: http://www.greatnorthsouthruniow.co.uk/

The Annual Pass is good – it was a cold, wet day on Saturday when we were there, but it was actually quite relaxing. I noticed we didn't feel pressured to do as much as we could, as before we've saved up for up to 18-months to get in and felt the need to do all we can. This time we knew we'd be able to go back. We got to see a 4D short sequel to 'The Lego Movie' about Lord Business' younger brother, Risky. That was good fun. Next time I must remember to take my gloves, though. And one of the kids' favourite rides (next to the new hotel) has gone, so I don't know whether they'll upgrade that ride, replace it completely or expand the hotel? Have you been to Legoland at all? It's funny to think how it has changed in the 5 years since we've been going.

I'm glad you had a good weekend, one with family time and DreamWorks DVDs sounds good to me!

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Ah, sorry to hear your situation is still... challenging... By the time all this change has finished, your department will be back where it started at this rate...

Yes, it would be very easy for a cross-pennine train to be delayed, so that is cutting it fine - you could run from the station, but then it would make it a long parkrun!

That is good when you don't need to cram everything into one visit and can return at leisure I went to Legoland a few years ago, and it was good - the model village is excellent and the 4D video was good (this was pre Lego Movie, but I can see why they made a full feature as the short film was action packed and very entertaining). My mum and I also found a nice quiet hut to do some Lego building together!

Yes I did have a good weekend Good to get out and about, but also good to stay in with a DVD, so a bit of both was very enjoyable