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

Hello Kifperran!

Cornwall - I am already in tears! My cousin owned a bungalow in Hayle and we always said we would retire down there together when I reached 60 (just under 3 years to go). However, her circumstances changed, and she had to sell it

We have spent the last 10 years visiting that bungalow as often as possible for holidays and really getting to know the Lands End peninsular, and the Lizard. We seldom strayed further east than Truro when down there, perhaps an occasional trip to Falmouth and the Roseland peninsular, but mainly kept west.

The tea room at Helford; the Minack Theatre; St Agnes; Presingol Barns; Godrevy; the Towans; Penzance; Mousehole; the Little Chef on the A30 at Hayle; the new Lidl; The Quay Inn; St Michaels Mount; Mount Haven hotel (although I preferred it the way it was before, not how it is now); The Giant's Nose cafe in Marazion; oh I could go on and on..... but for me, they are now all gone

I have so much enjoyed reading your journals, and it has helped to bring back such fantastic memories.. even where you just mention the mist in the morning - takes me right back! I am going to add you to my list of friends so that I can read your journal whenever you write it, I hope you don't mind - but then you'll know you've got at least one reader!

Me? I am a Granny (there's no Grandad) to three lovely little ones, via two daughters and their husbands, who all live quite close to me so visits are regular and never dull!! For the sake of this site they are Pebbles (5 year old girl), Bam-Bam (her 3 year old brother) and Dino is the only child of my youngest daughter, but a demolition partner for him is being planned!!

I work full time as a night shift supervisor, so I am only on here at night, although I can access the site at home, but I am normally sleeping during the day, or gadding about with a grandchild or two (or three).

Will stop rabbitting on now and take this Granny clutter off your space!

Take care, Universal Granny

Hallo U.G
I am so pleased that you find my scribblings enjoyable. I never thought anyone could be bothered to read my stuff. I write it because it easier than keeping a diary and as I am too old (and too honourable) to have secrets I don't want the world to know, you are very welcome to read my journal.
We visit all the places you mention. We hardly ever leave Cornwall we love it so much. A few weeks ago we did break out and go to London but our holiday before that was four days in a hotel in Falmouth which was wonderful.
Aren't grandchildren the greatest fun? We spoil our four to death and enjoy every minute of their company.

Kif

Hello Kif!

I'm glad the cousins' visit turned out OK for you. It sounds as though you had a lovely day for it too.

Weather wasn't too bad here today either, and I spent most of it rearranging the garden ready for the good weather, and planting out some of my bedding plants - just hope there isn't a late frost!

Grandchildren are great!! My three are all so different from each other, and each a delight in his or her own way. I enjoy having them separately, but they are good fun in bulk too!!

Will stop wittering now and get on with some work - we have mountains of it in tonight, and the lads need a bit of encouragement!

Take care, Universal Granny

Hi U.G.
where is 'here' and why would you expect frost now? Also I am intrigued as to what a granny does with all those lads. Is it a secret? I am a nosy fellow!

Kif

Hi Kif

"Here" is just south of Heathrow airport - and yes, we have been known to have a frost as late as mid-May, not often, but it would be just my luck...! I know you would not get one down in Cornwall because we found that that end of the country was always a lot milder - perhaps being just that few more degrees south I suppose.

You're not nosy, but it would not be wise for me to put what I do on such a public forum. Suffice it to say that I supervise the general running of a team of 8 lads (fluctuating to 12 depending on the day of the week), who actually don't need me to tell them what to do, but rely on me totally to deal with situations such as flooding from the upstairs office, a hit and run at the factory next door, a heart attack from one of the members of staff, and the fact that the coffee machine is either stealing their change/ not giving out coffee/or sulking completely and spitting out tomato soup whatever button they press!


Anyway, off to read your journal for today now, see you tomorrow!



Take care, Universal Granny

Hello U.G.
I cannot bring myself to call you Granny 'cos you are much younger than me altho' it is an honourable title.
I hope you get spoiled by your lads. I was once the only chap working with a crowd of girls and I loved it until a younger and prettier lad came to work there, I soon found myself being neglected
yes we do have a much warmer climate here and I had forgotten that we are almost sub tropical compared to some parts of the U.K.
I guess Heathrow is pretty noisy so I can understand why you appreciate Cornwall so much.
It's great to hear from you

Kif

Hi Kif!

I read your journal first today before coming here and I am sorry to hear about your blood pressure. I'm afraid I already suffer from that and am on medication, but when I first learnt I had it I thought the world had ended!!

I went along to see the doctor again, and asked what the prognosis was i.e. should I start putting my affairs in order, saying goodbye to people etc. etc. and she said that blood pressure was only dangerous if it was left untreated. Once the right medication is established, life can go on as normal. It took me a long while to believe her - until I realised that life HAD returned to normal and I am now as energetic as I ever was.

UG is fine - most people who know me on the threads call me that and a < hug > from UG is often called for!

I am fortunate in that where I live in proximity to Heathrow is south, and the planes take off east to west (or west to east, depending on the wind direction). I used to recognise Concorde's engine, but it was not because it was too loud, just because it was different. In fact the Queen suffers more aircraft noise than I do because Windsor Castle is on the flight path!

No, I just love the scenery in the extreme west of Cornwall. I love the ruggedness and the places where I can be perfectly still and relax. The one place in Cornwall that I wanted to visit and did not manage on our many trips down there, was to climb to the top of Trencrom. We discovered the car park (eventually), but never actually managed to climb for one reason or another. Have you ever done it? I like the idea of being able to see both coasts at the same time (mists permitting), and overlooking Hayle harbour as a whole.

I'm afraid the lads don't spoil me because the culture in this business is that the women work alongside the men and lift, move and organise identical weights with no deference to either age or sex. It's an old organisation which did not welcome women into its workforce, and so refuse to acknowledge the fact that there are two different sexes at work. Even the uniform is trousers all round, although there are skirts, but they are not comfortable for the job we do.

And so saying there is another despatch just turned the corner into our yard, so must away and sort it out.

Good luck with the doctor,

Take care UG

Hi U.G.
Trencrom is one of our very favourite places. We haven't been up to the top for a while but we have spent some wonderful times there. When the boys were small we would take a picnic and climb to the top and play a game I sort of invented called 'oggy 'oggy 'oggy, one of us would run off and hide among the rocks and the seekers would shout 'oggy oggy oggy and the one hiding would shout back oy oy oy. it was not simple to find the one hiding because the rocks up there lend themselves to lots of echoes. We have camped there in the past (not allowed now) and if you can recall the little row of cottages at the bottom, it was there that our friends Rod and Char gave the best wedding party we have ever attended, because after the civil wedding in St. Johns Hall we went to the cottage for a reception and after we all had a little sleep we drove to the lake district and spent another week whooping it up which culminated in a church blessing of the wedding in Rydall.
The reason I was so bothered by my blood pressure being high is I have been on medication for high pressure for two years and like you had no trouble, it stayed normal until this week and I have to admit I am a bit bothered by it. I am not scared of popping off, after all the Bible says three score years and ten, but I had a friend who spent two years unable to speak because of a stroke and that does bother me.
I have an e mail address that I never use, as well as the one I do use. If you would like me to send you some pictures of the scenery around here I would be prepared to put that address on here for you to send me an address I could send pics to.It wouldn't matter if the address got swamped by spam because I would ignore all except one with a word in the 'subject' that I would recognise as being from you. I do go on so!
I suppose it is a good thing that women are now generally accepted as being just as capabable as men in most things but I am an old fashioned guy and would find it hard to stand by and watch a lady lifting heavy stuff without offering to help. I hope that doesn't make me sound like a chauvanist!!
kif

Hi Kif!

I see now why you are worried about the blood pressure, but I am sure they will just be able to adjust your medication and you'll be all right again.

I like the idea of an e-mail address for photos etc. That way, too, I can talk to you about things that I am not prepared to put on a public site. If you would do that for me, we can agree a key word in the e-mails I send. Thanks, Kif, you're a star!

Got to keep this short tonight as work is manic and the lads expect me back on the floor very shortly.

Take care of yourself, UG

'Allo U.G.
if you were to send an e mail to [email protected] and put the name of the island castle just offshore in the subject line I would know it was from you and not delete it.
We have had another splendid day here. The Boss and I went to Praah sands for a couple of hours.
I am feeling much better today and not so worried about the visit to the surgery as I was.
The Boss had much more to put up with last year, she had three major and two minor operations on her bowel so I should put my little problem into perspective.

Kif

OK, got that. I wasn't on the site at all last night (because I am not at work on a Saturday night) so have only just picked up this message. Will send an e-mail tomorrow (Monday) when I get up.

Oh, Sunday lunch at the Wyevale . Do you realise that if you have been doing that for some time, it is entirely possible that we have been there at the same time, because we nearly always had Sunday lunch at the Wyevale.

I am glad you are not feeling so worried about things, that is often the very thing that raises the BP anyway - worry.

I have had a good day today too. Weather has been lovely, and my youngest daughter celebrated her 30th birthday, for which the eldest daughter held a family party in her garden with us all providing a plate of food and myself managing to muster a reasonably passable birthday cake. All three of my grandchildren were there, as well as my sister's grandson, who is 4 and fits in with the age range quite nicely.

Right - must get my head down to some work now. Will e-mail tomorrow (rather today for you by the time you read this).

Take care, UG

Hello Kif!

Just seen you've got "eyes" so presume you're about the place. Haven't caught up with your journal yet, but just thought I'd pop in and say hello.

Weather's glorious here now, although it rained all morning. Hope it's good down there too.

Take care UG

Hi U.G.
did you get the picture of the castle on the island

kif

I did! I did!

In fact I think I even recognise a couple of those rocks at the beginning of the causeway!! Like seeing old friends again!

And,of course, the giant's heart forever embedded in the climb up to the castle was a "must" to discover whenever we summoned up the energy to climb to the top and look down on that beautiful seaward facing garden.



Take care UG

If the weather is O.K. The Son will be taking me around the island in the speed boat later this week. If I can I shall get some pictures of the sea side gardens and send them on. Somwhere I have some good pictures of hayle estuary and I will sort those out as well.
I do hope things are getting better at home,

Kif

Have just come over from your journal of today. I couldn't agree more, I preferred it when the Big W was Homeworld, but, on the other hand I am glad the building has been occupied by someone, it looked so lonely when it was closed before Big W opened up.

And Poole market! As you go in the door there is usually a stall where they will engrave dog tags etc. and I had one done for my dog so that she could wear it whilst we were in Cornwall (no point her being lost down there with our home number on her collar). Well, I usually strike up conversations with stallholders/shopkeepers/bus drivers etc. etc. for reasons that I am happy to discuss later, but are not relevant at the moment. It turned out that he came, not only from my town, but the next road to where I live! We discussed many common facets of local knowledge, him with great interest because he had not been back for 15 years. Like you, he loves Cornwall and saw no reason to leave it!

We also used to visit the tannery, just half a mile away, and found that good for Christmas presents.

I will be getting a new tank put in on Wednesday, so normal service will be resumed, but what with the Bank Holiday an' all, I haven't been able to sort out insurance yet, but thank you for your wishes.

I never could pluck up the courage to take the trip round the island, I am not a very good sailor, and an even worse swimmer, so I have never seen the garden from the seaward side, only from the tower above, so pictures would be lovely, but please don't fall in, in the attempt!! And the Hayle estuary would be very welcome too.

However, must stop rabbitting and do some work. Hope the weather brightens up for you.

Take care UG

'allo U.G
there will be an e mail when you get home with the promised picture of the estuary I hope you like it.
It is just a thought but as I write so much about my family in the journal would you like to see a pic? it was taken last Jan 2nd The day The Boss came out of hospital after her last and biggest meeting with the surgeons scalpel. it is the latest family pic we have. We all look much the same now except for The Boss who looks so much better
In no way will I be ofended if you would rather use your imagination and not see us.In fact I find it difficult to take offence at anything people say these days. People say something I don't like I always think they are feeling a bit under the weather and giv 'em the benefit of the doubt and a
I went to bed an hour agocouldn't settle found myself>so bounced myself back down here and now I am going to try and find someone to play with!
kif

Hi Kif!

Yes, I'd love a piccie of you all, and thank you in advance for the estuary one awaiting me.

Sorry you can't sleep - wish I was in that position, am trying to keep my eyes open and look alert so that the lads don't suspect I hardly went to bed today (had the new cold water tank fitted).

I have a friend on holiday in Newquay who rang tonight and said the weather down there had been lovely today . It's not been too bad here either, but it doesn't have Cornwall.

When I get my scanner up and working, I'll send you a few snaps of my own.

Take care UG

We are all now lurking on your computer at home

UG