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

Mothers' Day is sometime in May, I think. I usually miss it - with Mum's consent - as it's just a commercial frenzy. I'd sooner just be nice to her at odd moments, when the mood takes me, rather than be sucked in by consumerism.

(Yes, I am a bit of a lefty. )

Soon after her marriage, Mum decided against a really nice house close to everything because it was far too close to her mother's place. Before her marriage, she'd applied for a job in Darwin on the grounds that it was about 2000 miles away from her mother. She ended up only 400 miles away, but that was a comfortable distance, she says.

Mothers day may be commercial, but at least it gave me an opportunity to make a hand made card for mine, which was great because I enjoyed making it, it saved me money, and was far more personal for my Mother which she appreciated.
The daylight hours are starting to get noticibly longer now which is great. It's so depressing getting up when it's dark, and when it gets dark early I just want to shut myself indoors and stay there! It might help me with my photography course as well, as it will give me more opportunity to take pictures, and hopefully get more exercise at the same time.

Appart from Gardening, do you go in for any other outdoor activities? (I remember that surfing's not your thing).

Regards
Suzie

Outdoor activities? Well, not really. I leave the house to go to w*rk, or the shops, or the pub - does that count? Probably not.

The days are clearly getting shorter here - soon I'll be catching the bus before dawn, which isn't a lot of fun except when it's the middle of winter, below zero, and there's kangaroos at the bus stop practicing looking incongruous. I can't wait for the clocks to go back to normal; that'll be sometime around the end of the month.

Even better - three more weeks of w*rk, and I'll have two weeks off! In the meantime, there's Easter, and another public holiday, so there's really only 12 w*rking days for me in the next 5 weeks. It's a lovely feeling.

I sympathise with your days getting shorter, this week a few days have been sunny and warm enough to be out in a thin jacket without feeling cold and light now until afer 6pm now. I think I must be solar powered because I have felt like doing more that the days are longer!

We also get a couple of extra days off at Easter which is great, hopefully get a chocolate boost as well!

Have a good weekend.

Suzie

It's now getting dark at about 7pm, so it's good that the water-use retrictions have been eased a little. Until a few days ago, we couldn't water gardens until after 7pm, and the notion of watering the garden in the dark is a bit strange.

In a fortnight or so, we'll come off daylight saving time too, so it'll be dark by 6pm. On the bright side, that'll bring the time difference between here and the UK down to 9 hours rather than 11. There will be less backlog to cope with on h2g2.

There's now only 8 w*rkdays until I'm on leave!

Hi Ivan

We put our clocks forward last weekend, so it's now light until well after 7pm, but the weather has been dull and quite wet over the last week or so, so I have not had the chance to make the most of it yet.

I assume it is this weekend your leave starts, are you going anywhere special? I would stear clear of Indonesia at the moment, still seems a bit unstable (from the tectonic aspect).

My Easter break was nice but all too short, visited a disused steel works which has now been turned into a science museum. Some fascinating interactive exhibits, but I was left with a feeling of regret that this site, which was once a thriving steel mill providing a livelyhood to 10,000 people in the area, is now employing 50 to 100 poeple at most, and the machinery that has been left in situ only 'comes to life' with a few pyrotechnic and sound effects for 2 minutes every hour during opening hours.

There was a guide there who had worked in the steel industry for 40 years (since the age of 14), and talked with such passion about the various parts of the machinery, going into great detail about what each piece did. Sadly it went straigh over most people heads (including mine!), but it did remind me of my father, who having worked in a power station for years, became a station guide after his retirement. At least he got to show people the 'live' machinery on his tours, and he only stopped when he was physically too ill to do it anymore. (oops getting a bit heavy there aren't I!)

Well, where ever you are going I hope you have a great time

All the best
Suzie

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be of to Adelaide for a fortnight. I'll see the family, and visit wineries, and catch up with friends, and spend a couple of days on Kangaroo Island as well. (It has that name for a very good reason. I plan to finish writing a Guide entry on it, one of these days.) There's also a wedding on 9 April - that's the official reason I'm going to Adelaide now.

What I really wanted to do was go Somewhere Else for a couple of weeks. I mean, Adelaide's a nice place, but ever since I left it I've been obliged to go back there for holidays far too often. If people want to see me, they can come to me instead...

Just at the moment I'm clearing my desk, and leaving things so that people here can do some w*rk for me while I'm away. Everythings in colour-coded folders, with instructions, and there's a list of current issues on the whiteboard. Somehow, though, I still expect things to be an awful mess when i reappear on the 18th.

In about 40 minutes I'll get out of here and rush home to organise things. The suitcase is packed, so I'll do something about clearing the fridge. I also need to write a note for my ex, who has agreed to be the house-minder this time. It is nice, having a civilised friendship with an ex. I'll see you on or after the 18th....

I'm back now.

I'll be writing a few journal entries about the trip sometime over the next couple of weeks, so I won't ramble on about it here. You'll be able to find the entries on my space once I've written them, if you're interested.

How are you?

I have not been on the site for a couple of weeks - busy catching up on my college work. I am onto my final unit now, and as the course work needs to be in before the end of May I have got to get my skates on!

Hope you had a great holiday/wedding.

Weather hot and sunny one day, cold and raining the next very peculiar (even for the UK).

Must Dash

Suzie

The wedding went well, the holiday was good, but somehow I've been unable to write anything about any of it yet. Writer's block. A terrible thing, isn't it? I'll be trying to do something about it at intervals until I finally break through.

Good luck with the coursework - I never could get that sort of thing done on time, either.

Right now, I'm just hanging on for Monday morning, when I'll find out if I have to be at a meeting in Brisbane - about 2000km away - on Tuesday morning. I wish they wouldn't do things like that to me; it makes it impossible to make plans in private life.

Did you have to go to Brisbane? If you travel that far with your job do they put you up somewhere nice overnight?
I will have to go to London later on this month and that's only a few hundred miles away, but I am not looking forward to it. I hate catching the early commuter trains and after a 1.5 to 2 hr train jouney I will then have to find my way around, and will be expected to be at the office by 9:30 ready for a full days training, then do it all in reverse - making it a very tiring day! I also don't like the fact that I will have to pay for all the travel first and then claim it back, which will probably take weeks
I suppose I should not moan, I don't have to go as far as you, and I did volunteer (silly of me I know).
I have been busy taking pictures for my last project. Took a lovely shot of a fungi (Coprinus plicatilis)yesterday, it was very delicate and only had a life span of a few hours. Taking photographs of things really makes you notice your surroundings more!

Regards
Suzie

The Brisbane thing has been rescheduled for 19 May. The bizarre aspect is that it will only be a day-trip. I'll fly up in the morning, meet people, have lunch, meet more people, then fly home. Exhausting, that'll be. I have a day off on the 20th at least - but that's so I can have some medical stuff done. All things considered, I don't think this month will be a lot of fun.

(Usually, though, w*rk trips do take more than a day. I get paid an allowance, and I get to make my own accommodation arrangements. This usually costs a bit more than the allowance, but I'm not complaining; it's still subsidised travel, even if it does involve w*rk.)

I have some photos of fungi that I took when I was in Darwin (on a 6-week w*rk trip). It's so dank and steamy there for half the year, and that was of course the half I got to experience... The fungi were just bizarre.

Well who would have thought we would have Fungi photography in common I am sure yours are more spectactular than mine, as the one I photographed recently only lasts for a day so was very small and delicate. That's the fun part of my course over, I still have to get all my workbook completed by next Thursday - that's the not-so-fun part.

Enjoy your trip next week, I don't go to London until 25th.

Regards

Suzie

I don't make a habit of photographing fungi, but if they're there, and they make interesting shapes, and my camera's handy - and if it has film in it - I'll happily take a few shots. It's better than having to eat the things.

This Brisbane trip is looking more nightmarish all the time. I can't wait until it's over. It'll generate enough paperwork to keep me busy for a month, but at least I'll be able to do that at my leisure, and by myself. Teamwork's a marvellous thing, but I wish the boss would understand that sometimes things are best left to an individual... I can either spend a day liaising with people, or I can work it out in five minutes with a pencil. I expect I'll be instructed to waste a day. Never mind, at least I get paid for it.

Sorry to be a bit bleak - I'm sure I'll be happier once this Brisbane thing is over and done with.

It's that time of the week when my thoughts turn to Leisure not work (or at least not PAID work). There is the usual list of jobs to do at home but as least I am my own timekeeper there! I handed in all my couse work last night so I now have an extra evening free, at least until September when all the college courses start again, and tomorrow I pick up a new car (well new to me anyway)so I am quite excited about that.

Hope your weekend is a good one!

Suzie

It was my lucky week. I was ill - which meant that, oh drats, I couldn't go to Brisbane. Such a shame. I've had a week off w*rk, and not even having no voice and feeling generally macabre could ruin it for me. I've always been a fan of lazing about doing not-very-much...

The downside was having a blood test on Friday. I don't cope brilliantly with blood tests. Let's just say that I ended up as a quivering creature in a cold sweat, and now I have an interesting set of bruises. But at least it's over.

Back to the office tomorrow, alas - but then again, I could probably do with some sort of purpose in my days.

Hope you are fully recovered and the blood tests results were OK. I went on my 1 day course to London last week. Found my way on the Underground which always smells like stale air and makes me want to dash for the surface!
We have been told not to use the internet at our desks at work anymore, which is a real pain as it can get very boring without something interesting to look at on the internet (when we are not busy of course).
Started planting out my bedding plants last weekend, as its a rented place I have put most of them in planters, hopefully it will add a bit of colour in the coming months.

Take care.
Suzie

The blood tests gave better results than I'd hoped, which is nice, but now I've picked up another bug and am having another week off w*rk, with various forms of medication and a sinking feeling that this is The Beginning of The End. Or maybe I'm just being morbid and introspective. At any rate, I feel rather unwholesome and macabre.

The practical upshot of all of this is that I don't have a whole lot to say for myself. I'm renewing my acquaintance with daytime TV; I'd forgotten how dire it could be. After 'Sesame Street', the intellectual stimulus fades to nothing at all...

Hope the tablets are working and you are feeling better. The weather is lovely here since the weekend, all I can do is sit bored stupid at my desk and look longingly out the window

Oh well at least the another weekend is fast approaching! Has your time at home given you the opportunity to read some books? I thought you had quite an eclectic mix of books in your home.

I have pre-ordered the next Harry Potter book, it might not be very intellectual, but as a lover of fantasy I am really looking forward to reading it.

All the best

Suzie

I've been back at the office this week, but starting late and finishing early so that I can still do some resting. Being here is a little grim, but the junk food machine in the foyer now has Toblerone in it, so there are compensastions.

I did a lot of reading while I was off, but I can't remember exactly what I read. Whatever it was must have kept me entertained, though.

This weekend, my new bookshelves will arrive. I'm merrily rearranging things to make room for them, and then I'll while away an afternoon putting books on them. I'm looking forward to this, and to seeing what the spare room looks like as a fully-equipped library...