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

The uni used to use Quercus, which was a good record system until it was bought by Ellucian, who decided to cut costs, fired all the developers who knew and understood it and instead outsourced development to India to take advantage of the cheapest possible wages, and sadly the quality went downhill rapidly.

Last week Ellucian bought Tribal, the company behind SITS...

Sadly there isn't much support for what to do if you're not sure what to do. He'd like to pick and choose elements from different subjects and avoid areas he dislikes, but sadly that's not an option. We've another college visit this week.

Yes, the CC6 was good - I was right at the back but enjoyed the run nonetheless. We also got clothes washed with the help of a friend, and hopefully the new washing machine is due tomorrow.

That really is a problem with shops at the moment, them closing. Since the summer two bike shops I used to use have closed - I only found out as my bike was glassed and wanted to see if the shop that had stopped opening Mondays was open again - and discovered it wasn't there, and my back-up bike shop closed down for good last month. So I dropped my bike shop off somewhere I've never been at nammettime and hopefully it will be available later. The bike shop is about 25-minutes' walk away in the middle of an industrial estate and located up some steep, narrow stairs above a garage, so not the easiest place to go to (and not anywhere I'd've ever passed by) but it is still there, and I do need my bike as my main form of transport.

One of our really likes the Lick-e-licks things. The other one did too, until she realised when we were using them to put medicine in and so has started to avoid them. Which is actually helpful as now she doesn't try to eat Maxy's medicine.

with your shopping & hunting!

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Ahahaha! I don't work directly with SITS these days, so I missed that news... Reading online, Tribal seem positive about the deal, but it sounds risky indeed...

That's a shame that there's not much support for options... I see the Connexions service, which was good, has gone... The replacement http://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/help-with-choices isn't the easiest to use, but might just have something of interest.

That is sad about two bike shops closing in quick succession Glad you found another one hidden away somewhere - I hope the repair went well

Aha - that's interesting about the Lick-e-licks Clever but glad it works out

Glad you had a good run and successful clothes wash I hope the washing machine installation goes smoothly tomorrow so you can put a wash on in the comfort of your own home

Today's been a day of small victories.

Firstly I got my bike back and it seems fixed! Admittedly getting it mended cost about £5 more than I used to pay, but then I dare say that costs have gone up and, to be fair, that bike shop is still there and the other three I used to go to (including Cycle Republic) that charged less aren't there any more, and I'd rather have a bike shop still in existence than a fiver.
Definitely in a dodgy part of town, though - not that I'd want to take my car to be serviced in an area with burnt-out vehicles left outside.

Secondly, this morning my bin was completely emptied - no more maggots or dirty bin bags, hurray!

And best of all, our new washing machine has arrived, been installed and has now successfully completed a wash. It is a 9kg rather than 7kg machine, so larger, and also quieter and quicker, and more environmentally and economically friendly. Admittedly I did end up paying an additional £100, but I wanted to get a good quality one that should prove reliable.

So I look forward to not needing to ever make any negative comments regarding the washing machine ever again.

Talking of shops closing, Wilko has gone. That seems a shop I probably would have regularly visited growing up, only there weren't any. So it isn't a shop I'm going to miss, but I get the impression it was a Woolworths-esque shop - there was a little one near my inlaw's house and we went there to get pick & mix before going to the cinema.

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Congratulations on the small victories

Yes, not the most reassuring to see burnt out cars when taking a car to be serviced, but glad your bike was able to be repaired. Yes, L5 extra is not too bad in this day and age.

Glad your bin was able to be emptied too - strange indeed that the bag previously didn't eject, until you put something underneath it, but at least that somehow sorted out the problem Hurray!

Your new washing machine sounds promising Excellent that you get extra capacity and speed for the extra price, and being more economical should save a few over time

Yes, I heard about Wilko closing, too I'd been in it a few times when it was Wilkinsons, and it was more of a hardware store (if I remember correctly) with an eclectic mix of home and garden stuff. I didn't go in when it was Wilko, but my sister bought me mini craft kits for Christmas from there for the last few years. Some of the kits were disappointing (eg making a Rudolph Christmas decoration using wool, but there was no red wool in the box) but some were good - I enjoyed making stained-plastic decorations last year (and there was more than enough paint in the box).

Ah, Woolworths - yes indeed that was a classic shop. I got some pick & mix from there, and also enjoyed browsing the toys and games section on many an occasion, or buying music cassettes in later years

When I hear the name Wilkinsons I assume that they sold swords...?

My grandfather had a tortoise bought for him as a child from Woolworths, which I remember in my teens, so that was a good quality gift. They really did sell everything and I did much of my Christmas shopping in there. Mainly as they were the largest shop - and, apart from Gateway and Boots, the only chain shop - in town. I too bought many a cassette, CD, VHS and DVD from there, plus screwdrivers, and stationery.

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"When I hear the name Wilkinsons I assume that they sold swords...?" - The Wilkinsons were from Leicester, but I see the Wilkinson Swords were from London

Wow, that is an eclectic mix of stock to have tortoises in Woolworths... Glad it was good quality Yes Woolies was good for Christmas shopping even when it wasn't also a pet shop

We've had all the weathers here so far this week - summer sun on Sunday, spring breeze on Monday, autumn winds on Tuesday and today was grey and wintry. I went into the office, but had to go outside in the drizzle as one of my newish colleagues got lost going to the meeting, but we all managed to get together only 10 minutes late! Still plenty of building works going on, so our meeting was disrupted a few times by the sound of drilling, and one of the lifts was unreachable due to the corridor having no floor surface, but luckily there was another lift I could use to get to the meeting room

Sorry to hear about the disruption of building work. Is that overrunning summer building work? We always had disruption July to September as as much of the maintenance as possible tended to be crammed into the summer when the students were away - they usually always set off the fire alarm by rushing and cutting through wires or something at least once. I only went into the office on Monday this week, as Tuesday I had to stay in to wait for the washing machine. I'll probably be in twice next week as normal.

Been quite quiet here today, all in all. Except that the finance department and income department have realised that we have access both to Cherwell and to Jira, and the finance and income team each have access to one, but not both. So they're sending us messages on one system asking us to put it on the other system for them and send on to what I would have thought was the same team? Surprisingly enough, we're not going to do that.

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I think it is continuing building work here - the student areas were finished just before term started, so now it's the staff areas that are being drilled into... Thankfully no fire alarm or power cuts as a result, so it was just noise that was the disruption...

That is fascinating that finance and income use the systems you use, but don't have access to each other's systems like you do "Surprisingly enough, we're not going to do that." - I can imagine!

Mixed weather day today - the morning was dark and drizzly, and now it is sunny and bright!

I hope you all have a good weekend. I have some accounts paperwork to do, but the good news is that I received notification today that we filled in the second form correctly for Dad's account (third time lucky), so we're just waiting to see if the third form was filled in correctly Hopefully I'll be able to get out and about for some birdwatching, too

Hope you had a good weekend and managed to do the paperwork (with present and correct form filling) and all is sorted, allowing you to enjoy birdwatching. Titchfield Haven and the building sale has been on the news here a bit. Looks a sadly messy situation.
The weather here has been dreadful over the weekend, though it didn’t rain when I did parkrun, but was very muddy. It was also quite cold, so I’m thinking I’ll have to try and find winter clothing, trail shoes, fingered gloves etc. Especially by the end of the month when it is darker. Of course as it is getting darker, more and more roads are being dug up….

So no new news here. We’re liaising with B&Q to get the damp situation sorted and been given more forms to fill. The new washing machine has been fine, and everything else continues to work. I’ve done some more doodles related to the strike, won’t put them all on though. Some will save until the next - just when I finally finished the work-related one as well.
Hopefully my mind’s emptied of those now so I’ll be able to get back to what I was doodling before.

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I did have a good weekend. A bit faffy with the accounts, because I did some prep the other day, but then lost the file somewhere in 'the cloud'/'the ether', but luckily the prep helped me to redo the file from scratch much more quickly. I then saved it to the hard drive where I can see it, rather than whatever invisible folder the computer decided to put it in...

The weather was strange, but we were comparatively lucky. Mum and I drove to the superresourcecentre in the sun, then went round the roundabout and into darkness as a big cloud was over the shop It chucked it down while we were in the shop, but then was dry when we had finished Yesterday was excellent for birdwatching - strangely the fieldfares and redwings weren't out and about, even though they were seen on Saturday, but I did get good views of the cattle egrets (previously they had been sitting much further away from the hide).

Glad parkrun was able to go ahead, albeit muddy. Yes, definitely colder now, especially being such a contrast from 22 degrees to 12 degrees in the space of a week... Good luck with the search for winter clothing that meets the specifications (I know that can be tricky, with so much choice but so little that really fits the bill...)

Glad you're in dialogue with B&Q about the remaining issues - good luck with the form filling Glad the washing machine is up to standard and the doodling went well Coincidentally I happened to be talking about bins with my mum (as we do), and she mentioned a bag hadn't been emptied out from the bottom of hers for the last few weeks, too Fortunately the same remedy as yours was successful - putting another bag under the 'stuck' one solved the problem

That is a sad messy situation about Titchfield Haven I'm hoping to visit this weekend, but it's going to be difficult without the facilities offered by the building...

Sounds like particularly good timing to avoid the rain in the superresourcecentre and managed to do a bit of cloud spotting. Even if the cloud you spotted was a big dark one that looked like a gurt big patch of darkness. Which is a description for ‘the cloud’ where your file’s vanished – bit worrying that. Was it taken by the vanished redwings? Perhaps fish are reading it? For when they talk about ‘the cloud’ in an internet context, most of the time they mean ‘underwater subsea cables’. I suppose the Atlantic could be described as a particularly low-lying, dense and damp cloud…?

Yesterday I had a particularly good browsing session in Oxfam’s music shop, where I managed to pick up ‘Jazz’ and ‘Sheer Heart Attack’ and Steeleye Span’s ‘Bedlam Born’, ‘The Journey’ and ‘The Lark in the Morning’ on CD, ‘Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits’ as well as ‘Now That’s What I Call Music II’ (a good idea for an album, I think they should make more of ‘em) on vinyl as well as 1950s classic comedy ‘The Court Jester’ on DVD, so I was very pleased.

Alas I am in London on Saturday and Sunday to see ‘Larkin Poe’ live in concert on Saturday night (and tick off another London parkrun) but if you do come down I’d be delighted to see you on either Friday or Monday…? I should be able to get time off. We’re about a third of a mile from Eastleigh station here if you ever want a cuppa. (There is a bridge over the railway but other than that access should be quite easy).

It really does seem a bit of a tricky situation at Titchfield Haven. I signed the petition last year, but have been surprised they've not had a fundraising campaign. But I suppose that buying a property is different to securing vital habitat that they've done in other cases.

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Ah, yes that makes sense that my prep file is in the dense low-lying Atlantic cloud swimming with the fishies

More form weirdness here for us - I received notification today that our forms were processed on 11 September. We only posted the second batch of forms A, B and C a couple of weeks ago, so the original forms must have been accepted after all I've lost the plot, but at least it's progress We're just waiting for a formal account statement and then it will be a nice Christmas present to us from Dad

Wow, that is an impressive charity shopping session Queen music doesn't often show up second-hand, so two classic albums in one day is a good haul Now That's What I Call Music is a good idea for an album What year was II?

Sounds like you've got an excellent weekend planned, too - I'm sure you'll enjoy the concert and parkrun My trip hasn't been the most well organised, sorry, what with Covid and stuff changing the plans since August, but if you would like breakfast in Park Gate on Monday you'd be very welcome I would like to plan an Eastleigh trip soon, maybe to coincide with the Model Railway Exhibition if it is on - I look forward to visiting you for a cuppa then

Yes, a strange situation about Titchfield - I think there was a consortium with a wildlife trust that already had some funds, but their offer was turned down. Maybe if they had fundraised they could have made a better offer, but yes buying property is different to saving habitat...

So you were informed that the former form you formulated in a formless format far from the foregone forfeit forecast fortunately was informative and formed the formal formula for forward, forthcoming fortune.

I forgot what I was saying now....

I'm definitely up for potentially meeting on Monday - I've asked for the day off now and hopefully it'll be granted. Presumably you mean where we've met before?
Next week is half term too so I hopefully will also be able to spend some time with the family.

'That's What I Call Music II' covers late 1983/early 1984 - it opens with 'Radio Ga Ga' and ends with A87841687

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Yes indeed! That formulates the form format faff firmly

That will be good if you can get the day off for a micromeet followed by family time for half term Yes, I'm booked in to the PI where we met before

Ah, TWICM II is classic tunes indeed

My car's MOT is tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well

The weather was quite warm and sunny this morning, but it is raining quite heavily now - hopefully not too disruptive in the next couple of days

Good news – I've Monday off, so I can meet you in the morning. Is that the day you're travelling back? If so I assume it'll be an early start and I won't mind if you need to dash off. I remember the way – up the hill and keep going, one long road so nice and easy. Lots of people on the parkrun tourism group nickname Premier Inns 'Purple Palaces' – I hadn't realised they were purple, I thought they were blue. Same with Cadbury's. But anyway, if you know what sort of time you had in mind I can check the train times – though there seems to be one direct train an hour.

I'll be travelling by train a fair bit this weekend, what with going to London to and then see Larkin Poe live. (Still trying to work out whether I should take a bag with camera, or not. As if I take my camera in my bag I'll be able to take photos, but I won't be able to run with it at parkrun and if it gets nicked I'm stuck. I'll need to take a bag for change of clothing.)

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Excellent Yes, I'll be setting off for the train station at about 10.45am. Would approximately 8.30am work for your train times?

Yes, it is tricky travelling with stuff and balancing travelling light with travelling with everything that will be needed... You have a camera in your phone? Not as good zoom, though...

I've just been told my car is ready for collection, so hopefully all went well

with the car!

It looks like if I catch a 7:25am train that'll get me there in plenty of time for 8:30am.

I've found out that the Mediaeval Baebes are coming to the Isle of Wight in December - so I must admit that I bought myself a ticket, and for my sister too as a Christmas present.

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Mixed news today. The car was all good, and the MOT was cheaper than expected, too, so that was a bonus! The weather overnight was dreadful, though, so my trains up north to down south aren't running... I'm hoping for the best and going to try tomorrow instead but I'll keep you informed about whether I can get to breakfast at 8.30am on Monday!

Ooo - well done for getting the Mediaeval Baebes tickets - I'm sure that will be excellent

Ah - good news about the car, but disappointing with travel - with travelling tomorrow. Will you be able to stay down a day longer to make up for losing a day if you make it, or will you be trying to squeeze it all before Monday?

The Mediaeval Baebes are performing in a church in Ryde, so I imagine that will quite atmospheric - especially if they do a Christmas set (as their tour is in December, that seems likely).

with it all - I'm all packed for the weekend and ready to go. Not sure I'm ready to wake up in time for the 6am train, but I'm packed.

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My journey was a total washout, as there was more rain overnight The trains I had booked for today were officially cancelled at 8am. The news showed how bad it was http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2023-10-20/storm-babet-heavy-rain-causing-transport-issues-across-the-region

We did get a bit of sun this afternoon, and one or two lakes drained away, but there was still one lake on the road to the supermarket. More rain has been falling this evening, though.

I hope your journey was smooth, and I hope you had a great day