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

I'm Suzie_Wand, stuck in an incredibly boring office in Nottingham,UK.
I am new to H2G2 and still haven't worked out how I can contribute, what knowledge I might have that would be of use to the universe - it could take along while! So in the mean time I just thought I would say Hi, to a fellow Hitch Hiker!

Hello! Welcome to H2G2. Be warned, this place is addictive. And vast.

I've been here almost a year, I think, and I still haven't worked out how best to contribute... so don't feel you have to rush!

This *is* a rush, to be honest - it's 9pm in my personal timescale, and time I went to bed - but I'll reappear tomorrow sometime... I might even be able to say something useful when I'm awake - who knows?

Ivan.

Hello again.

I'm awake now, more or less, and have looked at your space. What sort of boring office are you stuck in? My boring office is a government office, and I'm not there now so I'm relatively cheerful.

If science fact is your thing, then A413876 might interest you - it's the H2G2 Astronomy Society. I'm not sure how active it is, but there might be some people there who share some of your interests...

Feel free to drop in here anytime - the time difference might be a bit of a nuisance at times, but I will get back to you when I can.

Ivan.

Hello


I am in a boring office of an International software company called LogicaCMG. I work on a helpdesk, not very exciting but I can't complain too much. It's Autum here, and getting darker every morning and a little bit colder every day, and it's raining at the moment, but I should be grateful that we don't get extremes of weather in this country like the hurricanes and tornadoes that have been ripping towns apart recently.

I have never been to Australia, but like most Brits know lots of people who have visited or emigrated or have relatives there, one guy who use to work with me has just emigrated there at the end of July, last I heard he was trying out a job on a dive boat. Not much call for dive boats around this neck of the woods, although I can't think why!

Suzie

This is a flying visit... The sad thing is I've just been at the pub with my ex, and is stopping me from typing anything worth reading... I'll reappear tomorrow.

In the meantime I'll just note that I've never been to Europe, but most of my friends have; one of them went to the UK for a few months, and several years later she's still there, happily married and living in Hampshire. I must get there one day.

Ivan.

Hope you didn't suffer from a hang over the next morning!
Are you near a beach? Do you go surfing, or is it a misconception that every Australian male has a surf board on his roof rack and isn't afraid to use it?

Suzie

There wasn't a hangover that time, or since for that matter. This might be bacause I've hardly touched since then.

I'm about 2 hours from the nearest beach. I don't surf; I don't have a surfboard - or a roofrack - or a car, for that matter . I'm an urban type, and I'm fond of being inside. (I have very fair skin, you see - it's safer to remain inside or in the shade.) I should add that I swim like a rock.

I'm not interested in sport, either.

Are there any more stereotypes you'd like me to shatter?

How have you been since we last spoke?

Ivan.

Just a quick note as I am about to brave the rain to get to my car!
Outside it looks more like dusk than 2:30pm it is so dark! I can't think of many more steriotypes you can dispell (afer all even I have watched the odd Neighbours episode) - so I know all Aussies don't walk around in hats with corks - just like all English men don't walk around wearing bowler hats - they would get some very funny looks if they did!!

Maybe we are all loosing our national identity?

Speak to you soon.

Suzie

Which brings me, naturally, to wondering what 'national identity' is. My father's family has lived here for 170 years, which makes me pretty much as 'Australian' as it's possible to be without being Aboriginal. However, Mum's family only arrived here, as refuees, in 1949. I have no British ancestry and my first language isn't English... So - am I Australian? Sometimes I am. Other times, I observe this place from an outsider's perspective.

Sorry, I got all introspective there. It's a side-effect of yesterday's migraine...

Ivan.

A foot in both camps - well that could explain the surfing thing!
What is your first language? I would love to by bi-lingual, but every time I try to learn another language it just fizzles out, without practicing it regularly I quickly forget most of what I have learned.

I suppose I would consider myself about as English as you can get, although I have been told that my Maternal Great Great Grandparents came over from Ireland , so even I am not a pure English , if there even is such a thing! Our little Island has been invaded so many times over the centuries, and imported or taken in so many people from so many different countries that we are a very diverse lot these days!

Suzie

English is now my language of daily use, and the one I feel most comfortable in, but the first language I learned to speak was Estonian. Mum switched the focus to English before I started school, so that I wouldn't experience the racism that she had to cope with. This almost worked. These days I sometimes think in ungrammatical Estonian, but as nobody here speaks the language I'm gradually losing the ability to speak it. Once my grandmother dies, I'll probably never speak it again. (English is her fifth language - I only use Estonian with her out of courtesy, and we usually switch to English after a few minutes.)

So - Mum's Estonian, with some German ancestry. Dad's family started out as Jerusalem-based rabbis with Turkish connections who moved to Amsterdam in the 18th century, and to South Australia from there. Dad's mother was half-Danish, and her father was from Namibia. Despite all that, I look German. So yes, I'm a true Aussie. Whatever that means.

Wow, what an eclectic mix of genes you have! I would think your family tree would be far more interesting than mine to research. Have you ever tried to write it down? If not it might be an idea before your grandmother dies. It would be a shame if you forgot how to speak Estonian, can you not speak to your mother in it every so often? Have you ever visited Estonia? I suppose it would be a long and expensive journey from Australia.

I was watching a natural histroy program on TV last night, and was surprised to find out that the UK only became separated from mainland Europe about 8,000 years ago. I don't know if this was a good thing or a bad one, being an island probably saved us from German invasion during WW2, and has acted (so far) as a natural barrier to rabies, but I am sure we would have been a very different country if we had still been joined to France - we would all probably drive on the same side of the road for a start!

Suzie

I don't speak Estonian to Mum, by mutual consent. She prefers English these days. Besides, English is more flexible. I haven't been to Estonia - until 1991 we couldn't go without the danger of being arrested. (The Russians claimed us as citizens, you see.) Mum has since been back, for 8 hours - she couldn't stand it. Too many memories and associations... For the first time in decades, everyone looked like her, and sounded like her, and it bothered her.

The family tree - I can't do anything about it while my grandmother's alive. She doesn't know that my father was of Jewish origins, and she'd be appalled if she found out. My actual grandfather - well, I only just found out his name, and it looks like he did his bit to get rid of the Jews. It's all complicated, as you can tell.

There are advantages to living on an island - we don't have rabies here either. The sea keeps out a lot of unpleasantness. However, it does make it expensive to leave.

Hi Ivan

Just recoving from a nasty cold and catching up with everything. You certainly do have a very interesting family background, but I can understand now why, for the moment at least you want to leave things alone.

The nearest I have got to Eastern Europe is Prague. There is some lovely medieval architecture there, and a wonderful clock in the old market square with moving figures every hour. It is starting to get very westernised now though, I even found a McDonalds and Pizza Hut there, but if you wander down the side streets you can still find little restaurants and bars selling tradional food and drinks - it reminded me a bit of a scene from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Although we are an island, being so close to the rest of europe, and having the channel tunnel, means that it is not that expensive for people these days to travel to most of Europe from the UK. Last year I went to Munich which was very nice, I am not very adventurous with food though, so McDonalds came in very handy yet again! Luckily you can buy chocolate just about everywhere

Suzie

Nasty colds are no fun. - purely medicinal, I assure you.

I do get a bit jealous about the ease with which people in Europe can go somewhere foreign. A couple of hours, and you're Somewhere Else. Blimey, it takes at least 16 hours for me to get home from here by road, or a couple of hours by air.

Then again, I can head down to Sydney any time I feel like it. That might get a few Europeans jealous to some extent.

Yes, I think that gets me a bit jealous. Although the UK is quite a small island, I live about 2 hours from the nearest beach, and half the year it is too cold and windswept to go to, so I don't get there very often, but I do love just sitting on a beach watching the waves ahhhh... so relaxing. Enough of the relaxing it's only 7 weeks to Christmas! , I will have to get into some serious shopping very soon!! - back to steriotypes - do you leave your christmas shopping to the last minute?

Suzie

Once upon a time, I'd start the Christmas shopping in early November, get halfway through, get bored, and stop. Then I'd panic in mid-December and finish the job. These days I don't have all that many people to buy things for, and with the family being so far away we have an arrangement that we don't bother. Instead, when we're actually in the same place we do random nice things for each other - it's much more practical, and more fun. There's no sense of obligation with it, you see.

I haven't sat on a beach for almost a year now... I must do something about that, next time I'm in Sydney. Last time I was at a beach it was far too cold to sit down.

Wow, 2 weeks since I last signed in, doesn't time fly when you're in a panic (no, not busy Christmas Shopping!), our landlord has decided he wants to come back and live in his house, we have until 22 Jan to find somewhere else. It came out of the blue, and has been quite a shock.
You never know what's just around the corner. It has taken my mind off the Christmas shopping, but like a true (stereotype) woman, I am getting back on track now. I normally rely on the shops, but this year for the first time so far I have done most of my shopping over the internet. I am even considering trying to get rid of some stuff over the internet on e-bay, have you ever tried that? I hear someone a few weeks ago managed to sell a supermarket carrier bag they got free with their groceries for £4 on e-bay, hope they are as keen to buy my stuff!!

I like the sound of your way of sharing with your family. Sounds like it's more personal and spontaneous.

Suzie
Suzie

Oh, there you are. *waves* You've missed all the fun; since we last spoke I've had pneumonia... Hideous, it was.

Good luck with the housing situation. That's one of my recurring nightmares, I admit, but it hasn't happened to me. Yet.

I've bought stuff online - mostly from Amazon, and a couple of appalling but irresistable glasses from despair.com. (They have a line etched halfway down, with the words 'this glass is now half-empty'.) I haven't tried to sell anything online yet. I tend to think of my stuff as either irreplaceable, or complete rubbish, and I can't bring myself to sell rubbish - I'd sooner give it away, one way or another.

Hi

Sorry to hear you have been ill . Hope you are fully recovered now. I have never had pneumonia myself, but I remember when my father had it when I was (alot) younger, and it was very nasty.

I still havn't got round to selling anything yet. I am a horder, and find it very difficult to get rid of anything I think might possibly be useful at some point in the future .

I have decided to sell a fish tank, but at the moment it is still full of fish, and would be a bit difficult to sell over the internet, so I am starting with work colleagues and will probably graduate to the local paper's for sale column - some things are still better done the old fashioned way!

Suzie