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

I've not been to a single meeting since I lost my previous job, so that's very odd...

I'm afraid I've not seen any Paralympics, but as we don't really have television reception now, I don't really watch television much. I think the last thing I tried to actually watch was the ED603 documentary.

This weekend my family are heading off to see my father-in-law's after school tomorrow, although I'll be staying home to look after I will hope to see a galleon tomorrow, and possibly do Guildford parkrun on Saturday, all weather-dependent.

Do you have plans for the weekend?

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That is odd... I hope things are starting to settle down for you As expected my projects are all bunching up now the deadlines are approaching - people are starting to do things, but I think some of them could have started earlier

Ah, yes - not easy to see the Paralympics without proper television reception... Not quite as easy as the Olympics for me, as it isn't on the BBC iPlayer, but I've been finding plenty to enjoy by flicking between channels on the TV and then watching the highlights programmes

I hope you have good weather at the weekend for galleon and Guildford Not sure what I'll be doing - there's another event on at the botanic garden that might be good, and maybe I'll go on another bird hunt (also weather-dependent)

Glad your galleon expedition was good, with bonus yellow car I hope your Guildford expedition was also good

I did the event at the Botanic Garden and was overall glad I went. It was a flowers, vegetables, cakes and photography show. Only about 16 people entered exhibits, so I made a difference and won a couple of prizes for my photos. The only sad bit was that the organiser decided to read out the names of all the prizewinners at the trophy presentation but when he got to the photography section some people came in to the room and had to find a seat so he got distracted and turned the page without reading our names out. Not a problem in the great scheme of things, but it was a bit of a disappointment as the winners in other classes got their applause. He asked for feedback on how to make the show better for next year, so I will respond - I have some ideas for how/where the show can be publicised to encourage more people to enter

I did a bit of birdwatching while waiting for the results of the show and saw a Kingfisher flypast, so that was good. Not easy finding it when it was perching in a tree, but I did get a very vague record photo, so I will add it to my list

The weather's been very changeable - when I arrived at the galleon it was raining, with a very grey sky. There was a spitfire flying overhead, as there usually is over the Isle of Wight, although I only saw it for a second and didn't get a chance to photograph it. I did see the PS Waverley pass behind the galleon though, so that was something. I'll have to sort through the photographs I took - I took a number before going aboard, and then afterwards as the weather was better, tried to recreate many of the shots I thought had worked earlier.

This morning I had a successful trip to Guildford with the club for a club parkrun - I was 5 1/2 minutes slower than when I previously did it, but the weather was over 90% dry, so can't complain. At the moment my family have gone to visit my father-in-law to see his new house as he finally moved, but of course I'm needed here to frequently medicate the .

Might be meeting a friend for a run tomorrow, but the weather isn't supposed to be great so possibly not...

Hope you get good weather and are able to get out and about!

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Yes, very changeable weather - was sort of the opposite here, that it was bright in the morning, then grey and rainy in the afternoon. Great to see your photos, especially the ones showing the vessels from different eras

Glad the Guildford trip was good and the weather was reasonable for the run I hope your father-in-law is settling in OK to the new house

The weather today wasn't what would usually be called good, as it was very wet. However, the spoonbills considered it to be good (unlike the hot weather the other week) so they were out and about - I found them at last Also plenty of house martins zooming around and catching flies, which was surprising as I would have thought insects wouldn't be very active in the rain. A good number of Great White Egrets and Herons were out and about, too, so it was a pleasing trip

I do apologise, I seem to have missed your second message yesterday.

Glad you enjoyed the Yellow Car I spotted at the galleon And excellent news that you won photography prizes
Definitely disappointing though that the organiser didn't read out your name. Were you aware who had won on those pages, or were you left in suspense? Hopefully feedback will be taken in the manner in which it is given and that the event will be better and bigger next time.

I did enjoy Guildford parkrun, it is an okay course - running two laps round a park half on grass, half on tarmac. Not the most interesting and fairly undulating. We went to a nice cafe afterwards, and it is nice to run as part of a club as that's why I joined a club in the first place. I won't be doing parkrun this weekend, though, as it is the annual camping/walking trip.

My father-in-law seems to be settling into the house okay. It is much smaller than his previous one, which as he wished to downsize is what he wanted, and is not far from my brother-in-law. Difficult for my wife to find on her way up in the dark on Friday, as the one road that she knew how to get to it from was closed and as it is a brand-new house, the postcode doesn't exist for her to type into Google or satnav, so apparently she drove around for 45 minutes trying to work out where it was. It isn't in an area we've ever really been to. But still they went up and back and it all worked out.

My son today has been given his third timetable in the space of a week - he's now to go in three days a week rather than 1 1/2, which is more reasonable. They keep claiming that everything is because of the merger with the other colleges. I can't say I believe them at all.

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Luckily the Key in the bottom right hand corner told me you were replying to the first message, so there was no problem Glad the second message appeared eventually

Yes, I am pleased to be picking up a few prizes for photos these days, so my skills must be developing (pardon the pun) Also pleasing that my spoonbill photo featured on the Dee Estuary website for 8 September http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/ as nobody else was taking photos that day, what with the weather being so wet and grey!

I did know who had won the other photography prizes, yes, as I had looked at the cards that we had to put with our exhibits - the cards had a number on one side, and then people's names on the other side. I was Number 42 I must admit I'm surprised they did another Flower Show, as last year's wasn't well organised, with exhibits getting mixed up and stuff, but I'm glad they plan to do another one next year - I'm sure they can do a great job if they focus on organising it as well as they did this year, and promoting it as well as they did last year

That is good that your parkrun was a good social event as well as a run Glad your father-in-law is doing OK. Scary about the road closure (I know that situation, of only knowing one way to somewhere and struggling with diversions) and extra tricky with the postcode being brand new, but glad the trip worked out well

Hmm, yes that does sound like excuses to blame the merger - glad the timetable is looking more reasonable, but that is really poor to cause so much disruption and confusion for the new students... All the best to your son and I hope the lessons are enjoyable once they get going properly

I managed to get one set of minutes done today, but only by working late. Cabin Pressure Zurich Part 2 will be a happysad reward for when I get the other minutes done plus the various data reports I've been tasked with this week

If points mean prizes, does photography prizes mean points? If this was Wreck It Ralph you'd definitely have your own penthouse
That is pleasing that you've had a photo on the Dee Estuary website, definitely worthy no matter what.

The club parkrun trips usually involve meeting up at a central point about 25 minutes' walk from home at about 7am (or however long is required to get to wherever in plenty of time before 9am), groups of 4 people sharing a car and then meeting at a prearranged car park, doing the run and then having a relaxing social in a cafe after. There's another this coming weekend, but this is the camping weekend so I'll be missing parkrun.
I have worked out that I need to run on 2nd and 16th November this year for my upcoming Date Bingo, and those are the only remaining dates in 2024 I've not run on.

My father-in-law seems to be doing well, but he has very much thrown almost everything away. My wife was upset that he's thrown out all the old family photographs, for example. And of course once they're gone they can't come back. You can't buy a replacement copy like you could a or CD.

Today my son came home and said that he's been given a 4th timetable to replace the one he was given yesterday . In good news, we've arranged for my daughter to not have to do PE this year, so that's a victory.

Hope your week is going well and that you enjoy Zurich - bittersweet as it will be, being the final episode. But at least it had a proper end despite Benedict Cumberbatch's fame.

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"If points mean prizes, does photography prizes mean points?" Yes, it is an honour for a photo to appear on the Dee Estuary website, as the website is useful to so many birders in the area

That is good that the club trips are well organised and sociable All the best for the camping weekend of walking rather than running

Date Bingo is an intriguing challenge Gives people extra incentive to go out on particular weeks, I see

Glad your father-in-law is settling in OK to the smaller house, but that is sad that he didn't give his family the option of taking some of the family archive before he moved

Wow, that is bad organisation that your son has a 4th timetable already I hope things settle down very soon Glad that's good news for your daughter, too, so she can settle in better, too

I didn't manage to get the second set of minutes done, even though I worked late, because I did some data reports and also handled the usual pile of queries that I get at this time of year as we approach the deadlines for data returns... Try again tomorrow

And for you tomorrow is Gorman Day I'm sure you'll have an excellent time

Minutes completed and Zurich listened to I am very impressed by how exquisite the episode was - no need to feel sad at the ending, because it so very cleverly looped back round to a new beginning

Thank you for the recommendation Not many programmes can combine laugh-out-loud with pleasing characters and poignant moments - I would say (for my particular taste) that's the best one I've encountered

Dave Gorman's Modern Life Is Goodish was very good – no ish about it. Strange to be seeing the show looking down on Dave when the camera is usually looking up at him, and because he was rehearsing timings, every now and then he would say 'See you after the break'. The episodes didn't have titles yet, and of course I wouldn't want to give anything away, but the first episode rehearsed heavily featured crosswords and the second concentrated on celebrity – and those themed descriptions don't give any jokes away so your viewing experience shouldn't be spoiled. Is there an iPlayer equivalent for Dave? I still have no reception....
But hopefully we'll both be able to enjoy the 4 forthcoming episodes in the near future!

Hope you've had in battling and minutes.

You're right that 'Cabin Pressure' had a very suitable ending and finished with a high, pleasantly at the end of the alphabet. It also combined comedy and character perfectly, so it never felt forced that people would break character in order to set up a joke.
Are you continuing series 9 of Souvenir Programme now?
I also hope you had a good weekend, shopping successfully and spotting wonderous things.

Camping - well, that had ups and downs. I arrived early at the campsite, unpacked and discovered my tent had disintegrated in the year since I had used it last – it was covered in mould and had ripped. So I messaged my friend Ben who owns multiple tents, and he said that he'd already packed but would put his family-size tent, which he'd just got back from a friend, in the car too. When he arrived later in the evening and we tried to put that tent up in the dark we discovered that it didn't have the tent poles with it, so that was 2 tents we suddenly didn't have. Fortunately he and I were able to stay in the smaller 2-man tent that he'd originally packed, but there wasn't room for Will, who was forced to stay at the Air BnB that other friends had booked and fortunately actually had a spare room.
The walking itself went well. As the coastal path east of Ventnor is still closed due to erosion I plotted a route from Niton to Ventnor again via the smuggling tunnels, St Catherine's Point - the southernmost point of the Island - and the Cripple Path, with the word 'Cripple' in this context originally meaning 'narrow passage'. The path is very scenic but vertical up a cliff, then beneath an overhanging cliff and then up a narrow gap similar to what the Devil's Chimney used to be like. We saw at least three spitfires during the weekend and also the PS Waverley every day too, including twice from the campsite.

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That is interesting that the preview show literally gave you a different perspective on Modern Life is Goodish I could imagine Crosswords would feature, as I saw DG's e-mails mentioning he did some crossword-setting during Covid lockdowns UKTVPlay is the iPlayer for Dave, I think

It has been an epic few days for me but is moving OK A scary moment was when I discovered a couple of people who had had to reapply for their jobs earlier in the year had been deleted from a mailing list so they hadn't received any of my communications from the last few weeks. Luckily they were glad to hear from me and were able to help me with quickly. Today I managed to get some reports written and issued quickly, so I didn't have to work late for a change as I'm now waiting for responses I'm out later for a quiz night, so that should be good What with working late, I haven't done much crochet while listening to the radio, but I listened to the News Quiz at the weekend. I look forward to listening to more of Series 9 and am sure the second episode will be easier to get into

I did have a good weekend - got a haircut and just about managed to shop successfully (the powers that be moved everything around again, so I didn't realise until I got to the checkout that I hadn't bought anything to go on my sandwiches... Luckily I bought some jars of spread last time the exact same thing happened so I can have one of those instead ). Birding was a bit quiet, as the weather was very wet in the morning, even though it brightened up in the afternoon. No new species, but it was interesting watching coots diving for food - the water levels in the Mere had risen so much that their favourite island had disappeared. One of the bird hides at Burton Mere was disintegrating, and it had been repaired since I last visited, so that was interesting to see, too - visibility is much improved

Glad the walk went well and you found a suitable route avoiding the erosion. That was bad luck about the tents... Glad you managed to make reasonable alternative arrangements by squeezing into the non-malfunctioning accommodation options.

The Quiz Night was funny - I met the nominated quizmaster last week, and we had a chat, saying 'looking forward to the quiz next week', etc, but the conversation was such that the quizmaster didn't remember that she was the quizmaster and I didn't know that she didn't know Not a problem, though - everyone had a good time on the quiz tables chatting to each other instead of doing a quiz I met someone I hadn't seen before, and we got on well, plus I got to have a catch up with a friend I haven't seen in a while

Ah, that's poor showing that you've had people having to reapply for their jobs and be removed from mailing lists, I hope it is all working out properly now. And that despite the loss of an island the bird hide has been repaired and visibility improved - hopefully you'll be able to access it without being blocked.

And I'm glad that you had an enjoyable Night (even if the quiz night lacked the quiz...)

This week we've recorded the puppet Christmas play soundtrack to rehearse along to.

This weekend - specifically Sunday - we are getting kittens!

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Yes, it's a tricky time - the restructure was fairly amicable as it was musical chairs and there was a chair for everyone who wanted one, but the people whose chairs changed weren't fully able to pass on all the knowledge they had so a lot of stuff slips through cracks... Definitely more of a scramble to gather data for my data return this year, but I hope my colleagues feel slightly less bad knowing I'm doing my best to help I worked late again yesterday and today but did take a break to finish off some crochet jellyfishes ready for the Octopus for a Preemie meeting (while listening to Brain of Britain)

Glad the Christmas soundtrack has been prepared well in advance of Christmas to give more time for rehearsals

Thank you for sharing the photos of the Trail Glad you had good weather for the excursion. Sad to see the poor mouldy tent. Fascinating to see the Cripple Path under the overhanging cliff. Good to see the Geocache and the Gate, too

Wow, exciting about

In my new team many of the key tasks were performed by two members of staff who were made redundant, and so left without a proper handover. So we're getting a lot of tasks that we're not sure if they are ones we do or not, and if they are, we don't know how to do them. I've been spending most of my time helping out with roles that aren't mine...

I did spend International Talk Like a Pirate day doodling Saint Peter and Sir Isaac Newton, as well why wouldn't you?

Did you know that Charles II walked the Cripple Path one day? And that the Niton Tunnels were built for smuggling, with the path built to be hidden from the surrounding area so that local fishermen could bring ashore barrels from France without being seen by Customs.

Only one more day before

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It is much worse when there aren't enough musical chairs in a restructure... Glad you're able to help others, too and hopefully all goes as well as possible

I saw the doodle - excellent artwork

I didn't know that about Charles II There are some smugglers' tunnels around the Wirral, too, as the Mersey was another important waterway for imports

I had a successful Octopus for a Preemie meeting - excellent to catch up with the team I helped out at the Coffee Morning today and did quite well on the cake table - had a good laugh with my fellow cake-table supervisor, as we went on the tombola and both won Marks and Spencer orange-flavoured gin Snowglobes with lights in the bottom of the bottle They definitely count as 'gifts' rather than 'presents', as Dave Gorman would say, so we weren't surprised that someone donated them to the tombola... The person who received them as gifts probably said, 'I quite like gin' and wasn't expecting that I don't like gin so will have to find another tombola to donate mine to

Episode 2 of Series 9 was easier to get into, but still poignant - reminded me of the time some years ago when my dad sustained a head injury in the house somehow, and it took him many months to recover. Didn't affect his Scrabble skills, but it didn't do him any good - eg one day he was standing in the kitchen struggling to eat his breakfast, and he said he felt sick if he ate standing up - my mum persuaded him to sit down and then he was OK with eating after that.

I just happened to be watching the sitcom Miranda that is being repeated on the BBC, and heard voices with a familiar timbre - they were revealed to be John Finnemore and Margaret Cabourn-Smith cameoing as a loving couple

All the best for Day

You've probably guessed that my news is that we have kittens! Two, Milo and Calico, half pedigree Maine Coon, half random Tom. They're very sweet and play lovely together. So far we've kept them in my son's room to acclimatise to the house slowly, which means they haven't yet encountered our other cats. So still not sure when that will happen or how we'll go about it.

There was a degree of frustration on their arrival in that Red Funnel ferries were over an hour late due to a broken linkspar preventing their ferries from docking. This really is a continuing issue with them. The trouble is that Red Funnel has been bought and sold by different owners hoping to make a profit on it and sell it for more than they bought it, so to maximise profit in the short time they own the company, they have cut down on maintenance and sold off the spare ferries. The thing with Red Funnel being a ferry service is that their expensive equipment spends most of its time in corrosive, salt water - and therefore regular maintenance is essential. But because it has been cut, Red Funnel frequently breaks. And of course because it is seen as unreliable, regular Solent-crossing businesses have gone to Wightlink, which means that Red Funnel is not getting lucrative contracts renewed, which means less money coming in, and so to save money they do even less maintenance, making them less reliable and lose more business and cut maintenance more, in a downward spiral. Very short-sighted thinking, but if you only plan to own a company for the short-term there's no motivation to really invest or build.

I've been listening to an episode of the souvenir programme a day and got as far as series 6 now. I think the different approach was that as lockdown meant that they wouldn't be able to record with an audience, and that therefore they wouldn't be able to perform to a live audience, then there wasn't any point in writing to get laughs as there wouldn't be any, but to try something more experimental instead. Which I think worked brilliantly, but does take a couple of listens.

Hope you enjoy!

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Congratulations on collection That's good that they're being acclimatised slowly - my sister does that, too, and her three new ones have been well accepted by the other three now

That is sad about the vicious circle Red Funnel are in Wouldn't be so bad if these companies were just profit-playthings, but when people rely on them it matters that they should be able to do what they are supposed to do...

I had a good day at work today - intense but very satisfying In January I suspected there was a problem with a spreadsheet, because the results looked a bit off. In May I had a meeting with the owner of the spreadsheet, and we looked at it but couldn't see any particular problem. On Friday I found a 'loose thread' and started tracing it through the formulae, but didn't get anywhere. Today I picked up the thread again and found the proverbial needle in a haystack aka the rogue formula in a spreadsheet of 10,000 cells

I'm sure you're enjoying your Souvenir Programme relistening I salute John Finnemore for creating something distinctive in response to audiences not being able to gather for Series 9. 'Enjoying' is not the right word to describe the sensation of me listening to it, but 'compelling' is a good word - I am wanting to continue with it, even though Episode 3 was another difficult listen The inflatables inflated by someone's late wife reminded me of D's dress and her perfume, and the bag I have that used to contain D's scent but it is nylon so the scent disappeared quite quickly, but I kept the bag as it reminds me that it used to remind me of her scent... Tonight I listened to another Brain of Britain while doing some crochet, and it was pleasing that there was a contestant from Mastermind on it alongside one from Only Connect

Yesterday Mum and I went to the duck pond, intending to do 'Feed the Birds, £5.99 a bag' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOtwEoFzqW4 but weirdly there was only one gull and a few mallards, coots and moorhens, so they weren't very hungry (and the Buff Orpingtons weren't there so I didn't add to my bird list). We did meet one of the volunteers who helps to maintain the duck pond, though, so that was good - he told us about how the team had gathered bits of leftover building materials this year to create new nesting platforms for the birds

We hope to try and gradually get the s used to each other's smells so hopefully when they finally encounter each other face-to-face. The plan is to do this by getting things like tea towels with their smell on and move them to close to where the other cats are.

Glad to hear that you've had a successful day and found the issue with the spreadsheet - with an issue that size you must have felt a well-earned sense of achievement when you discovered the error.
At work we had a Vice Chancellor's briefing, and no-one was made redundant. We have been officially renamed back to 'Southampton Solent University'

The VC's press release said,
"As we embark on the new academic year, we’re thrilled to announce that Solent University is adopting a new name that reflects our deep connection to the city we proudly call home. Starting today, Tuesday 24 September, our official name will be Southampton Solent University. This change underscores our commitment to our local community and aligns with our renewed focus on strengthening our role within it. To celebrate this new chapter, our Vice-Chancellor, Professor James Knowles, commented:
“We are proud to have over 160 years’ experience working with our communities, providing education and training, and transforming lives in our home city of Southampton. Today’s news reflects our ongoing commitment and our mission to promote economic and social prosperity for the communities we serve. As we welcome a new cohort of students, I want to ensure that we continue to serve as an anchor institution within the city and champion Southampton and the wider region nationally and internationally. By placing Southampton at the forefront of our name we demonstrate our pride in our city, whilst continuing to build upon our triple Gold Award status in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), appealing to students locally and across the globe.”
In 2025, we will mark the 20th anniversary of achieving university status. The decision to include Southampton in our name is a significant step in celebrating this milestone and reaffirming our dedication to our students and the community."

Erm, is it just me, or does that release at no point mention the fact that the university's name used to be 'Southampton Solent University'...?

The last series of Souvenir Programme is definitely poignant, with perhaps the most moving moment happening in the first episode, though audiences don't yet know it.
The way I approached it was to listen out initially for who to me were the key characters and concentrate on their stories - so siblings Newt and Gallie, Vanessa, and Jeremy aka Jerry. But find an approach that works for you.

Our neighbour's been by as I was typing this, to sort out roof repairs not only for us, but also 90 and 92 all at the same time, as he believes that there are leaks between our properties and if we all work together it will work out cheaper, so hopefully the leaky roof issue will be resolved and will leave us only with the damp in the kitchen/bathroom issue.

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