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

Hi Jen,

Shall we amalgamate (spelling?) the two then?

I was wondering what your "deliberate mistake" was and had to read it a few times.
Did you mean that bit about visiting London in the sixties?

I'll have you know that I was WORKING in London at that time. We had an office in Shaftesbury Avenue, and we spent all our lunch-hours in Soho.

Trouble is now, I can't remember what you said in your thread. Oh yes, about "One step forward-two steps back", it was about one of the first ones I learnt and since I've got a tape with that on I still dance around the sitting-room to that one quite often. I just like the music, do you?

It reminds me of the time we were learning this and a friend of mine and i were practising on the patio. A young man came to maintain the boiler and he must have thought that we were two lively ladies and asked if he could bring his friend along!

We declined.

May see you to-night.

Love

Catharina

Hi Catharina,

I am not sure if I have replied to you or not. I thought I had but perhaps not. I have had problems with the pc lately as we were infected with some virus. Thankfully, all seems to be all right now.
Weather has not been brilliant here.
Sunday was lovely and we gardened and planted seeds, some of which were out of date. But I flung 2500 seeds to the wind so some are bound to come up. Just hope I don't dig them up as weeds ! I don't have very green fingers I'm afraid.

Did you see the eclipse of the moon last night ? We saw nothing. Admittedly we were in the pub with 4 friends having a bar meal and forgot to have a look out until about 10.30....

I have just had a phone call from one of my husband's old school chums. He is coming to stay with us tomorrow night. It will be lovely to see him, but the house is a tip and I don't feel like cleaning and cooking today !

Any news ?

Jen

Hi Jen,

I wondered what had happened to you. Isn't it miserable when things won't work?
My Sky digibox keeps stopping and nobody knows the reason. Guy is coming this afternoon to have another look. He'll make it work and go away and tomorrow we're back to square one.

I've been shoping this morning. Spent far too much in M & S, but (luckily?) half of it's got to go back.
Bought some lovely, white, very thin cotton pyamas. Hope one day it'll be warm enough to wear them, although I only wear them when I get up. How daft is that?

Tere's been a lot of schemozzle on the R2 board, I don't think it's quite over yet. Clout came back and was even boasting about it. Then there were others impersonating someone else, oh, I lost the thread of it all. Just want it all to get back to normal, don't you?

Is there any news of your spot? (That was you, wasn't it? I get in a muddle)

Weather here has been dreadful. Last Sunday I was gardening, but nothing since.
I haven't got green fingers either, it seems all I keep doing is "weeding" and cutting things down.

Hope to see you at CB soon.

Love

Catharina

Afternoon Catharina ! It's Monday 10 May here. Yes, I had a letter from the hospital last week and it was good news. The letter said my skin lesion was a virul wart and harmless. It may reappear but if so it will be all right for me to go to my GP and have it removed again.

So my husband and I were very pleased and celebrated with a few little drinks.

I see there has been some fighting over on the R2 boards, and have noticed the sleazy messages between xx and yy. I am being careful over here on h2g2, as I was attached to someone's journal which I think means I get all the messages, and I saw that Penny had had words with a certain person. So I quickly unlinked myself as I don't want to get involved. You forget don't you that everyone can see what you write - should they be interested !!
But I cannot be bothered to write anything nasty and I would be upset if I opened an e mail and found it was something unpleasant.

This week end I am off to Torquay for a line dancing week end. (Have I told you this already ?) The theme is 'green' because the guest instructor is Irish (!). I am already visualising a ballroom full of middle aged leprechauns. Oh joy.
The weather is lovely here just at the moment, although a friend has e mailed and said to expect thunder later. Had my lunch in the garden surrounded by my 4 cats. Begging for food they were, but I told them they didn't like salad.
My other half is playing golf so he has a pleasant morning for his game.
Yesterday we went for a lovely walk with the dog and grand daughter and saw a yellowhammer. He was beautiful. We all looked at him for ages through the binoculars. We also saw a heron which my grand daughter kept referring to as the 'heroin' I carefully explained what a 'heroine' was ! She's only 7 and I hope she doesn't go into school today saying she saw heroin with her grandparents ! Hopefully if she does she'll remember it's either a bird or a female hero !

Line dancing tonight, need all the practice I can get,

Jen

Hello Jen,

It's Monday, 9-41 by now.

And I expect you're absolutely knackered after the line-dancing.

Great news from the hospital, isn't it? I know we try and believe people when they say: "It'll be O.K. You'll see", but it's still a worry. So happy for you.

I wondered when that line-dancing week-end was coming up. I envy you, it's going to be great.

Do you have a professional teaching you? I still have a lot of "papers" describing the dances but I always found it difficult to look at the paper and dance at the same time. I used to lie in bed thinking about the dances and, in my head, I could do them easily.
Well, there were no distractions in bed.

Yes, I know what you mean about the fighting.(On R2) But sometimes I feel I should supportPG more because I'm so much on her side. I feel a bit cowardly not doing or saying anything.
But people can't send you nasty e-mails unless someone's given them your address, can they? SC can't pick them up through our messages, can he?
Are we getting paranoid?

BTW I told Helen in an e-mail that she could give you my address, you don't have to use it, of course, but it's nice to be able to saywhat we think.

How funny, you saw a "heroin".

I've bought a new bird-bath on Sunday. It is quite big, stands 3' off the ground and it had to cover a drain-cover. Looks really nice, but the birds don't trust it yet. I lost a lot of my regulars when I had to have my oak tree down, but now my favourite blackbird serenades me from my roof. That makes me so happy.
Yesterday I had two magpies gobbling up all the bread I'd put out and I thought: well, as they're eating bread maybe they'll leave the babies alone. Haven't seen any youngsters yet, have you? But they must be there because the parents collect such large beakfuls of bread.

Talk to you again soon, Jen

Lots of love

Catharina

Hi Catharina,
13 May, 22.40

I am off to Torquay tomorrow for my line dancing weekend. I am driving a couple of friends but have told Helen I will try to have the radio on. I would like to hear if Eric the Red is on Jeremy Vine.
I am a bit paranoid about things I know.
Someone I know reads the message boards and I don't want her to know that I write on them. She's not into H2, so I feel I can be a bit freer with what I say here.
We have a husband and wife team teaching us line dancing. Liz is a junior school teacher and her husband is retired from teaching geography. On this coming week end, there is a professional dancer and teacher coming to the hotel. Her name is Maggie Gallagher, and if you are interested, you can probably look her up on the internet.
Also this week end there will be games and quizzes so it should be fun. I shall take a couple of bottles of wine with me for pre dinner drinks !!
Last year we went to Bournemouth and it was really lovely. The hotel was great, plus I think B'mouth is a lovely place.

I have been out in the garden quite a bit of late. The days have been so lovely. I've 2 bird baths, where the birds, my 4 cats and next door's 2 cats all come to quench their thirst.
I don't like magpies. When my daughter was living at home, she greeted the first magpie of the day with 'hello Sorrow' She moved to the inner city where there are no birds other than pigeons and sea gulls.
We have all sorts here. We had a sparrow hawk in the garden demolishing a little finch. Oh it was awful. Sorry, I am smiling now, I just thought of Dick Emery.

Speak soon.

Love

Jen
x

Hello Jen,

Hope you catch this before you go. A beautiful day here and I'm sure it will be in Torquay. Hope you have a lot of fun, I'm sure you will have.

I'm doing my house work to-day. (This is a good start, isn't it?)

I know how you feel about people reading your messages. The anonimity of it all is the great thing, isn't it? When I first joined CB it was under my own name, I didn't realise it would be shown and I was horrified. I changed so fast, I couldn't think of anything other than FBN. Wish I'd called myself "darling" now, rather than Fly.

But, even here, I know there are people reading the messages over our shoulders, which doesn't matter, it's a free-for-all and yet it gives an uneasy feeling. On the CB though, everything is very open, isn't it?
You could always change your name.

It seems that Clout has been found out at last. I know the boards have been quiet lately, but that was only because he saw everybody off. Hope they'll all come back now.

I had a sparrow hawk in the garden last year. I wondered where all the half-eaten birds came from, I was blaming the cats, but then this hawk came down on this pigeon before my eyes. It flew off with it, after biting a big hole in the bird's neck.
Sometimes "nature" is horrible, isn't it?

Wish I could go into the garden now, sun is shining, looks lovely, but the dust is settling a bit too high by now.

I was just thinking. If it hadn't been for Clout we wouldn't have known about h2g2 and I would have been modded for being overlong and boring on the CB.

Have a WONDERFUL time, Jennifer.

See you when you get back.

Lots of love

XX

Catharina. XX

Hello Catharina.

Torquay was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Only thing was that from my point of view it was too hot for dancing. But some of them were up dancing their little socks off until 3 am. I obviously don't have what it takes !
The hotel was very good, and there were lots of dancing groups there. Ballroom, Latin America, Rock 'n' Roll, Hip Hop(!) Everyone was really friendly as well. Some guy asked me if I was with the Rock Bottom party !! Now what does that say about me I wonder.......

You could call your self Darling Fly could you not ? You could put an announcement on the CB saying you'd changed your name. Wasn't there a film called 'Darling' with Julie Christie?

I think SC has gone for good now. But I think he made a brief appearance as Tony Ferreira or something like that. Yes, none of us would have known about H2 if he hadn't crossed swords with several of the contributers.
Have you heard anything of Becky - BDG. I hope she is all right, she was a fun poster wasn't she.
Lots of sunshine here and it looks set for the next few days. We went out for a meal with friends last night and sat eating looking at the sea. Well, only the Bristol Channel, but it looked lovely ! Out swimming tonight with my ex work colleague so will catch up on all the office gossip.
No other news, have a good evening. Speak soon,

Love

Jen
XX

Hello Jen,

How lovely to hear from you. I've been feeling quite lonely without the CB. I tried earlier on to leave a message, as they didn't say the boards were still closed, but nothing's come up, although the message went as far as "click here".

I can imagine you were too hot for line-dancing. When I used to go, even in midwinter, we had all the doors and windows open. I used to be boiling, and then didn't dare to stop dancing in case I caught my death of cold. The people who sat out a dance were freezing sitting in the draught.

Glad you had a lovely time and apart from the dancing, you couldn't have wished for better weather, could you?

I had a most frustrating week-end. Last Friday my computer crashed and I just had time to tell Helen and PG that nothing was working normally. Helen said she'd send me an e-mail, but by then I couldn't send or receive e-mails. I'm still not sure if it's all back now. I have lost all my e-mail addresses and all the information I had on my hard disc.

I still haven't got "Word", but the expert who I bought the stuff from is coming tomorrow, I hope.
But I am SO lucky. Sunday-afternoon a neighbour spent all p.m. getting me back on the Internet and Monday ,the chap from our corner-shop was here all afternoon to get my speakers going again and one or two other things. I, myself, fiddled around getting e-mail back, but nothing is back to normal yet.

Had a lovely day out with a friend to-day. Went to some beautiful gardens, they were quite a climb, but the views were fantastic.
Then we went to a Carvery for lunch and afterwards to the seaside, had a walk and then a cafe right on the beach where if you sit upstairs you can "people-watch", my favourite pastime.

Don't know if SC has gone. Last Saturday on R2 came a 1st post from somebody who called himself "windbag" or something, sounded remarkably like our friend and someone said: "I thought you were barred", so I wasn't the only one suspecting him.

I shall be glad when I'm back to normal.

What am I saying? Back to normal? That'll be the day.

Speak to you soon, Jennifer,

Love

Catharina

Hi Catharina,

Just got back from swimming. There was only 1 shower working with 25 women queuing to use it, so I have come home smelling of chlorine. Shall shower in a mo.
My swimming friend has recently been on holiday to Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo, and had brought along her photographs. All three places looked lovely. Have you ever visited ?
I have 'posted' 3 messages on the boards today. I eventually realised that nothing was happening and the whole place was stuck in limbo as at 16 May. (Wonders if they're all right now). My husband is off golfing and is due back about 10.30pm.
There's a message from my sister in law on the ansaphone saying she is coming to stay with her husband for a week in June, so am looking forward to that. Lets hope the weather is as warm as my Torquay week-end.
Have not seen the 'wind bag' poster, but see on Johnnie Walker someone is asking about a record about wind !!!
I love to people watch. I also like to listen into other conversations when I'm out; I am a source of great fun to those who know me well !!

You made me laugh with your back to normal. It's like we're living in a twilight world of key boards and message boards. Sorry to read of your problems. I get quite paranoid when the pc is down and e mails aren't coming through. How annoying that you have lost e mail addresses. Unlike phone nos, which we all tend to write down, e mail addresses stay on the computer don't they ?
Had a warning e mail from my service supplier today saying another virus had hit the computer. However when I ran the Norton anti virus everything was ok.

Speak soon,

Love

Jen
xx

Hi Jennifer,

You brought back a lot of memories talking about Nice, Cannes and Monte Carlo.
Years ago, when my husband was still working, business trips were a real adventure. We went in two planes to Nice, one from London and one from Manchester. It was January and we were staying in Monte Carlo. We were there five days and never sobered up. On the last evening we all went to the Casino and I put 1 franc in a one-arm bandit and hit the jackpot. Out came all these francs and I had nowhere to put them but in my evening bag. One of our party took my photo and then we all got slung out because taking photos was forbidden.

Those were the days!!!

At the end of the trip we got stuck at the airport because the plane couldn't leave Gatwick, it kept getting iced-up. There was nothing for it but to eat and drink more. Then the pilot suddenly appeared.:"I've got the plane here but if you want to come, we've got to leave right away, otherwise we'll get iced up again. We all filed onto the plane. Free champagne followed and we were singing all the way home. There was a comedian on board who had entertained us at the hotel, Ive forgotten his name now, he used to make chicken-noises. Oh dear!The pilot got clapped and cheered when he landed us successfully.

Ys, I've missed the boards so much. I suppose if my computer was going to crash it chose a good time to do it. I've got Norton installed now, but my e-mail isn't as it should be. I keep getting disconnected, it's a real pain.
Chap who put me right has recently had an operation for a brain-tumour, and I wonder if he is quite back to where he was.
I'll see.

We had a lovely thunderstorm this evening, it's freshened everything up and saved me having to water the garden.

Is your sister-in law married to your brother? Must be, I suppose.
I had three brothers and they're all dead now. I miss them so much. People you've grown up with are so special, aren't they?

See you again soon, Jen

Love

Catharina

Hello Catharina.

I eventually managed to get on the R2 boards just after 9.00.

You have such good memories of your husband. Your life together sounded so much fun. You must have been very happy together.

My father died when he was in his early 50s and it was devasting for us all. Do you know, I only ever heard my parents row once when I was a child, and I was so frightened because it was out of the ordinary. They had their little spats but nothing major.

My sister in law is my husband's sister. He has one sister and I have a sister. My sister and her husband - my brother in law - live in central London and have no family. Although we speak on the phone, we don't often meet up these days.
When our mother was very ill, my sister also developed cancer in the form of a rodent ulcer on her lips. She virtually had her top lip removed, but decided not to go ahead afterwards with cosmetic surgery because she just couldn't face it. Also, her husband was not bothered about her looks. She has since had her lymph glands from her neck removed, and part of the colon. Also a kidney transplanted from my mother, back in the 1970s.
But, my sister is still the fun loving person she always was. She has a truly kind disposition with masses of friends. Oh, and a wicked sense of humour !! She is very funny and witty, and she and her husband adore each other.
You must miss your family. Yes, I agree, those who have known us from when we were young are very special. I think it is only as we get older that we appreciate that fact.
In January I went back 'home' to the North of England and as usual did the rounds of visiting the relatives. One of my elderly aunts didn't recognise me at first. I had brought her a lovely bouquet of flowers and she though I was the lady from Interflora.
I am laughing now, but at the time I cried !! I kept saying 'it's me' but she hadn't a clue for at least 5 minutes. In the end she recognised me and we spent a pleasant morning indulging in one of her favourite things. Yes, drinking large glasses of sherry !
She poured my husband something like a triple whiskey as well. Oh, and then we had home made cake. Lovely.
Then on the afternoon to another old aunt for stale biscuits and coffee. She asked if they were all right and of course you just say everything is wonderful. And again, I only see them once or maybe twice a year. We are just so far away unfortunately.

I have arranged the bike ride for tomorrow. It's amazing what we can do without much effort isn't it ? In reality I will be off to badminton, husband at golf, and tomorrow night I will be line dancing.

It rained here at about 5.30. Afterwards I drove to Tesco's and could smell that smell of dry pavements. Do you know what I mean ? We didn't have enough of a shower to freshen things up.

Jen

Hi Jen

Friday, 12.35 afternoon.

Thanks for your message, Jen.
I never thought of your husband's sister being a sister-in-law.Isn't that stupid? I suppose because my husband didn't have any sisters.

That reminded me. He had 2 brothers, the oldest one, Fred, was always getting into financial difficulties and when Fred's wife died he shared the house with a couple he met at his work. They kept writing to my husband about the bad financial state Fred was in and hinting that we should help. But we weren't rich either and when we asked Fred he always said everything was alright.
Then Fred died, he developed an aneurism and had to be operated on. He made a kind of will himself. But he died a few days after the operation and the hospital didn't contact us. We went to visit and were told he had died the day before. Furious that we hadn't been told, they said that they had contacted his SISTER. The woman living in Fred's house was on her own by now, her husband had died and she was living with Fred, (unbeknown to us) but for "decency's sake" had told everybody that she was his sister. Claimed all his belongings, all my husband mother's jewellery, at least, she said Fred had given it to her. They were both in debt by thousands of pounds on goods from catalogues and both had been taken to court several times.

You just don't know about people, do you?

I had three brothers who are all dead now, my favourite brother died last year, but his wife was always so jealous of our close relationship, she didn't really want me to visit. When my brother insisted and I went anyway, you can imagine, it was not a happy time and I was always glad to be home again.

I actually love being at home and I don't mind any more being alone.

There are times when I feel lonely, that's wwhy the boards are so good for me. I have a lot of friends and very good neighbours, but, in the end, it would be nice to be "no.1" to somebody.

My e-mail is still not working properly and I must send a message to Helen who is trying to help me, but she doesn't realise how computer-illiterate I am.

Perkins seems to think he and I couldn't decide who was going to steer the tandem, but I'm quite happy for him to be masterful and I'll follow and then I can see if he's stopped pedalling.Am doing all sorts of odd jobs to-day. Would much rather sit here and chat. I've already phoned three friends. Nothing gets done.
I've got the heating back on again.

Wehad terrific downpours last night, lovely, didn't have to water the garden and everything smells so nice and fresh. I love that smell of rain on dusty roads that you described. I am meeting a friend tomorrow who likes nothing better than walking in the rain. "It's so nice and cleansing" she says. We get soaked to the skin sometimes and I wish for a bit of dirty sun.

Speak to you soon.

By the way, forgot to answer you in a previous message. I, too, like listening to other people's conversations. Men never do that, do they? I don't know why, it isn't even that we have their undivided attention all the time, I suppose they're thinking of football or something. Sometimes when you're walking in town you hear snatches of conversations, or just a sentence or a few words and it would be lovely to know the rest of the story.

Must go.
Starving!

Lots of love

Catharina

Hi Jen

JUst thought I'd have a little chat with you, as I'm going on holiday for a week next Sat.
You have been very quiet, are you worn out with all the dancing?

I saw your birthday message to Jason and I wondered when YOUR birthday is, since you remembered he is a Gemini and I wondered if you were as well.

My manic neighbour has the most enormous bonfire going, it's quite frightening and makes me wish I'd upped the House Insurance a bit, it makes me wonder if there will be anything to come back to as he has a fire nearly every night.

Hope you are O.K. Haven't seen you on the boards much lately.

I went out to lunch with three friends to-day, one of them had a very severe stroke last year, just out of the blue, she was cooking dinner for some friends. Now she is paralysed all along one side and in a wheelchair. Being with her in her home makes you realise how little all the grumbles matter as long as you are fit and well. There's so much you can't do with only one hand, even doing up your bra. I don't know if I would be as brave as she is, she wants to attend everything that's going. I wonder if I would say: "Just leave me at home with my book and T.V.) I don't know.

Gosh, I'm maudling and I haven't had a drink yet. Will go and get a glass of wine.

Speak to you soon, Jen,

Lots of love

Catharina XX

Hi Catharina,

Just a very quick reply, and I will write more later. It will be something to come back to on your return from Spain !

Have a WONDERFUL TIME !!

I am all right, but was not so well a couple of weeks ago. Won't bore you with all the details. I had blood tests and an ECG yesterday, and go back to the docs next week.
I am fine, I know I am. But there are a lot of things going round in my life at the moment, and it just upsets me. So, I am just a little bit down. I was always a drama queen !!!!

Speak soon, my dear,

Love

Jen

Hi Jen,

I had the feeling there was something wrong. I do hope the tests are all favourable. Main thing, if you FEEL all right, you probably are.

I am an awful coward and I just won't go to the doctor. When my husband was here he just drove me there, even without telling me. But now, I just always hope for the best. I have no idea if there is anything wrong like high blood pressure or whatever. I suppose one day I'll just "go".

Don't ever think you will bore your friends with things you want to get off your chest, that's what friends are for. And especially cyber-friends, we do get a lot of support from each other, don't we?
So, please, Jen, if ever you want to talk, I'm here. When I come back, and if you want to, I could ask PP to give you my e-mail no.

I shall miss you all.

Lots of love

Catharina.

Hi Catharina !

Welcome back from sunny Espagne !! Did you have a lovely time. I certainly hope you did.
We have been to the Costa del Sol a few times. My husband goes with his golfing chums for an annual long weekend. And then we go together and always stay at our friends apartment. Which overlooks a golf course - naturally !

I feel fine in myself, but basically I think I am maybe getting a little bit anxious and worried about things. It's probably all stress related. I was ill in January where I couldn't breathe without pain for a couple of hours, and that was on the morning we were due to go on holiday !! I was fine after 2 hours, but when I had the same symptoms in Torquay and they lasted nearly 24 hours. I thought it best to visit my GP. Plus my husband is concerned as you can imagine. I do hate worrying other people though, so tend to make light of most things.
Ignorance is bliss, Catharina !!

Penny has had some upsetting news about a young friend of hers, and reading of other peoples cares puts things into perspective doesn't it.

No other news. No line dancing this week or badminton. Last week I lost 2lbs but 2 Chinese, 1 Indian and a fry up later, the weight is back on. I shall go swimming with a friend on Wednesday and maybe play badminton on Wed am.
My grand children are off on holiday again with their mummy and other grandparents. They are beside the sea so will be having a lovely time.

Do you like the sea ? So relaxing, unless the jet skiers and banana boaters are about. Ugh !

My PC's tower is making a hell of a noise, so I am going to switch the whole kit and kaboodle off and see a man who knows about these things. I wouldn't want to blow up !!

Speak again sooner or later,

love and very best wishes, Catharina,

Jen still