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

Morning

Well it's the first day of Henley Royal Regatta today which means that the cloud base is building nicely and the traffic around town is too!

The main advantage is that you will encounter 100's of the fittest people in the world wandering around and if you're really clever, like some of my friends, you can even persuade some of them to pay to come and stay in your house. The food bills are shocking but apparently it's worth it for the improved view at breakfast!

We went to check out the 6th form college where the lad is hoping to study AS/A-levels last night and it was really great to meet up with so many nice teenagers. They get such a bad press but we had a really good laugh and were 'adopted' by four extras for the evening!

He's hoping to study Business Studies, Spanish, Philosopy and Classical Civilisation the lucky so and so. I almost wish I could go back to school now that the subject choice is so varied. In fact the humanities teachers were trying to persuade Pondboy and me to take up Philosophy ourselves .

Hope all is well with you and your world.

PG

Hi lovely to hear from you this morning

Aylesbury sister has been promising a trip to Henley for several years when we've been staying with her, but there are so many other places to visit in the area, and my sister is always at work part-time in the mornings when we visit. Maybe this summer... Though, before we visit, my sis has got to clear up all the building rubble from new windows, conservatory & kitchen tiles.

So, who's fitter IYHO - Matthew Pinsent or Lance Armstrong?

I admit I've been woefully ignorant of the cycling scene ever since Channel 4 dropped the T.d.F. I didn't even know Pantani was dead earlier this year, and he was one of my favourites. Thankfully I now have Freeview, so I can watch the race on ITV 2. It makes my blood boil (to coin a phrase) when football commentators talk of the "courage" of Rooney or Beckham, when you consider Lance Armstrong's recovery & achievements.

Nephew & niece should have finished their A-levels by now. As is often the case, nephew thinks he did well in the subject he hates (Physics) and badly in the one he loves (History). Seems he'll be off to Canterbury in the Autumn, and making weekly laundry runs back home... As for niece - still hasn't made up her mind yet about college.

My own A-level subjects were the very boring Maths, Physics & Chemistry. I panicked when I got the results: an A and two Cs, instead of the required B, B, C. But I needn't have worried. In those days (mid-1980s) colleges took anyone with any old results!

Still don't know how I managed a 2:1 at Imperial, after I'd been given a warning talk about poor results after my first term.

I see there are 3 Imperial College teams at Henley this year - give them a wave for me!

Hi Rich

Have to say I think Lance Armstrong is an absolute hero. We've followed the T de F for many years, I used to work in a bike shop (no silly jokes please!) and we always had the telly on in the shop for the duration. Steve Redgrave is probably more of a rowing hero than Matt Pinsent because of the health probs (serious asthma) he had to overcome, and James Cracknell is def the better looking one!

A 2:1 from Imperial is an impressive degree result. Did you ever use it? I only ask because I was talking to my 24 yr old wandering nephew yesterday, who got a 2:1 at Edinburgh in Neurosciences a couple of years ago and he now wants to get into the film industry!

Speak soon, have a good weekend.

PG

Hi PG

I noticed that Imperial coxed fours beat Cambridge on Thursday. That's the extent of my rowing knowledge I'm afraid. Might've known you would go for James Cracknell, but couldn't remember his name when I typed the previous post!

As for the TdF this year, the race director wants a "transparent" drug-free tour this year apparently. Meanwhil, the French press will only be satisfied when Lance Armstrong fails a dope test. There are rumours going around that he asked an assistant to dispose of some needles and then cover up the track-marks in Lance's arms. This race could get very depressing...

My degree - did I use it...? Yes and no, really. The degree was highly theoretical, cutting-edge for the time (mid-1980s), emphasis on artificial intelligence, animation, etc, rather than anything you'd find in your average British "software house". The industrial programming language COBOL was especially frowned upon by all students & lecturers. When I went for my milk-round interviews, I asked cautiously "Will I have to use COBOL?" and received the constant reply "Oh, no, no, not COBOL..."

My first job was at your average British software house in Harrow, where I was put to work writing...COBOL programs!

My college roommate was luckier - he got a job at BT's research labs near Ipswich and he is still there & still using the maths-based programming he learned in college.

Login session running out - enjoy the rowing!

Hi

I ought to add that my degree was BSc Comput-ING Science.

The "ING" was very important as it referred to the heavy programm-ING component of the course, as opposed to Comput-ER Science degrees which are more oriented towards comput-ER hardware!

That's the reason the lecturers gave anyway, but it didn't stop all the other engineering students wondering why Computing SCIENCE was part of the City & Guilds School of ENGINEERING at Imperial (as opposed to the Royal College of SCIENCE). Of course, City & Guilds had the best Annual General Meetings & the loudest anthem:

"Boomalaka boomalaka, who are we/We are, we are C and G!/Oooooay! Oooooay! Oooooay!/Rahrahrah!/Hurray!!!" etc etc...

I guess I shouldn't come down too hard on the theoretical nature of my degree course. Yes, the course was probably designed to produce future MScs and research assistants for Imperial, but in my first year at the software house in Harrow, I did come across four or five familiar faces from college who'd also been employed as COBOL programmers. One of them even had the same dodgy (ALLEGEDLY) landlord as me.

Overall - college gave me the best years of my life so far, and the chance to live in South Kensington (first year), Chelsea (second yr) & Earls Court, all dirt cheap.

In a good mood today (Sunday) after Maria's victory & Lance 15 seconds ahead of Ullrich.

Would you believe - it's Kids' Drum Lessons Day at the library today and the floor is shaking!