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

I went on a three day leadership course this week.

It reminded me of who I am and that I sometimes allow the wood to get in the way of the trees.

My job is to get work done and trying to be all things to all people, and failing, is not particularly helping. Not everyone likes me. I know this, and I should be comfortable about it. My job is not to be liked, it is to get the work done.

Dear Zarqhon
Am I correct in thinking that I met you yesterday? - just as we were leaving. Sorry I did not meet you before. It would have been great to talk about your many interests. Kind regards AR1

Yes! I remember you well. Your son was with you.

You had to leave before the end. You had the amazing head of hair - so thick and abundant.

I must also visit your site (which I can do now, I'll just click on your name) - but not tonight. It'a getting past my bedtime.

Hi dear Zarquon Thank goodness I remembered your name. It was the singing fish that did it!!. Fish and I have a strange affinity. I would love to talk to you about Tai Chi - but when you have time. Go well. Sleep tight. AR1

Hi AR1!

Well, my computer problems aren't getting any better. It took me over an hour and a half to be able to get to h2g2 from turning on my computer today - not good - although I was trying to get my e-mails at the same time. What with those and my on-line anti-virus subscription (it did an update whilst I was trying to get on-line), I'm beginning to think it might be time to get a better/faster computer.

Do you do T'ai Chi at present? I've studied it for over 10 years now, and although I've not been able to get regular teaching for myself for some years now because of child care issues, I have been teaching basic T'ai Chi and Qi Gong for four and a half years during my lunch hour, once a week, at work.

If you don't do Tai' Chi, what is it that interests you? (You can do it in a chair, you know!)

I don't know if I told you, but my original teacher, a remarkable man, had a stroke. He was unable to do anything (even swallow) except move a little finger. By use of T'ai Chi and Chinese medicine, he regained his speach and the majority of his movement. He told us that he was doing the excercises internally and moving chi around his body.

Qi Gong is energy excercises. You can do Qi Gong properly without doing T'ai Chi, but you can't do Tai' Chi without doing Qi Gong.

It was nice to meet you too.

If you're interested, there is a book, T'ai Chi in a Chair. It's available from WH Smith (I think) and seems quite good.

Actually, I was thinking the other day that doing something like this, Qi Gong might be best, might be quite good for your son. Have you thought of it? I have a friend with a special needs son who found it helped to calm him and regulate his moods. I think he introduced it to the son by just doing it and the son hung around a bit (if I remember, the son was 11) and then started to join in.

Very dear Zarqhon
Well you got it in one!!. It was for my son, but now I see that I also can benefit.
Some two months ago we went on a two day meditation course and one of the workshops which K. wanted to do was Tai Chi. When I met the padre (it was a religious man no less) and explained that K. had this problem he said that he could not have him in the workshop. I was so upset I refused to continue the weekend and came home making some feeble excuse to K.
When I eventually tackled the padre, he informed me that Tai Chi did something to one's brain and it aroused one's emotions. When I said that everyone in Hong Kong did Tai Chi all day long in the various parks, his reply was "Well that is why they always fight". I realised that he was, like so many others, totally prejudiced and discriminatory and that there was no use continuing the dialogue.
Now you have given me hope again. I see that there is a Tai chi course near us in Riverhead. I have, throughout K. illness always been completely open as to what it was. I believe that it is an ilnness like every other one and that it should be treated as such. Unfortunately society is still in the dark ages about it, and with the media being so stark about the few genuinely sad cases who are a threat both to themselves and to others, it is difficult to get a fair hearing for the 90% who could, if given a chance (like he had on Saturday) live in community doing as much as they can.
I shall certainly get your little book on line. I actually practised Yoga for well over 25 years - and believe it or not, used to be able to stand on my head in the lotus position. It took me a very long time to learn it - nearly two years. and now here I am unable to walk due to my wretched hips.(It is not the fault of Yoga I am sure)
Well having given you this long story I must say how happy I was to meet you, and now that I have a supberb picture of you, thanks to Gnoman - I know what you look like as well. cheerful and happy. Incidentally when I was young I could never have my hair long because it was so bushy!!.Now it will NOT go grey. I long for a head of snowy white hair, and what have I got - a mass of pepper and salt. The only good thing is that it is naturally curly so all I have to do is wash it and brush it dry. Lucky me. Sleep tight my dear and again it was a pleasure to meet you. Very sincerely, AR1

I'm at the end of thr first day of the second module of my Women and Leadership course. I'm very tired as it was extremely challenging.

Ta'i Chi can be practiced in at least three different ways, as a meditation, as 'shadow boxing' imagining an opponent, and as a strength building exercise (done very slowly) and I suppose it can be done as a sort of dance - I knew someone who regarded it as thus, to the amusement of the teacher. Not sure what your chap was on about in his remarks, though.

I would be proud of your hair, if I was you. My mum is in her late seventies and she still has dark hair. There's a little grey in in it, but not much.

I saw the photos and I particularly liked the one of you and Paper Lady.

Very dear Zarquon
I hope you will have time to tell me about your course when you have finished it. I am so sorry that you are having so much trouble with your computer.
I did not realise that Tai Chi could be practised in so many ways. I have only seen the ones doing it in the Hong Kong Public Gardens. And it looked like a sort of shadow boxing.
Had a wonderful day yesterday going and getting some mature plants to put in my patio garden for the autumn. With me it is a sort of instant gardening because I have no greenhouse, and when one has such a small garden it is nice if it can be full of colour for at least the spring.summer and autumn.
I had a super email from my granddaughter this morning. She has just been to Prague which she loved. It is so exciting for the young to be able to travel around. Have a good day. a big AR1

Hi AR1!

I'm not sure what is going on with my computer. I've had no new e-mails for a few days, then I got 63 in one go. I'm having big difficulties in sending them, though.

I'm having trouble doing a virus scan. That might have something to do with it.

T'ai Chi can be done in many different styles and forms, some of them two handers. Presently because of my domestic circumstances, I'm not able to go to my own classes regularly, which is a shame, as I enjoy learning and it keeps me refreshed and revitalised.

I have a garden which I am able to mow, however there are loads of weeds in one area, including a bramble (or was it a blackberry bush) that seems to be rampant. I've tried over several years, sporadically to do something about it, but I think that its roots go too deep. I've also got bindweed.

Prague sounds lovely. I've a friend who's been there and tells me it's wonderful. She brought back a salt lamp, I think, costing about £10.00. I bought one here a while ago and paid around $£40. however, it was *heavy*.

She has an afinity with salt. A few months ago, I was meditating at her house with a small group of friends and I chose to meditate on a smallish piece of rose quartz. When we shared our experiences at the end, I said that I had had 'Salt, salt, salt!' running through my mind and she burst out laughing. It had been a piece of salt and not rose quartz!

Dear Salty rose quartz
You really do get through very well when you meditate!!. I used to love to sit in the garden under the willow tree and meditate there. Your little garden sounds great even if you have horrid bindweed. I do not know how people get rid of it though.
a friend came round for tea and we sat on the cottagey patio. It was really super. the only problem was that I had watered all the pots yesterday, yet today they were all as dry. As the connextion has somehow come off the hose which fits onto the tap I do not know how I am going to fix it.
I seem to be always busy, and there is a visiting priest who is writing a report and I offered him my computer. The result is that I always seem to be in the kitchen cooking or cleaning. I enjoy it, but not all the time.
Go well, dear and sleep tight tonight. AR1

Hi AR1!

Yes, you are right. I should be in bed now. My computer has been playing up recently and I've only just been able to get on-line today. Mum and dad have offered to help me with a newer model.

I finished the second part of the leadership course on Friday and it has been an interesting experience. Done as a teaching circle, it was organised totally differently to most management courses and was full of insights.

It's been really hot and humid just recently, hasn't it. On Sunday, my six year old went to a friend's party and I had a couple of hours to myself (well two hours less travel there and back again) and what did I do with it? Opened the windows upstairs and took my clothes off and crashed out, that's what I did.

Why don't you ask the visiting priest about the hose connection?

Dear Zarqhon
Thanks for your lovely letter. Your solution for the heat was an excellent one. I am afraid that is the way I sleep most nights! It has really been warm.
I did ask the visiting priest to fix the hosepipe. not only did he do this but he also helped me water the garden. I get myself so entangled in the hosepipe. Also I could not find my hat so had to also parade around with an umbrella - a very smart one I might add which I bought many moons ago at Monet's garden Difficult to juggle with all these and also try and move my wheelchair.I'm so glad you are going to get a new computer. It really is worth getting a good one. I have gone overboard in view of the fact that I am getting a new kitchen and have bought a tiny little rotisserie and also a steamer. Very smart and I shall be able to roast my chickens as I like them once I am able to put the blinking thing together. I am sure that manuacturers package their goods so that no-one can ever undo them. I must awa' to bed. Sleep tight dear friend AR1 I hope your 6 year old enjoyed his/her party!

Dear AR1

Yes, I imagine you need at least another pair of hands to help you with all those.

I'm glad the priest was helpful.

And yes, he enjoyed the party very much. There he was with his swimming friend and a bunch of girls and her parents had got a bouncy castle, so he really had fun.

I've placed an order for a new PC, although it won't arrive for 2-4 weeks. I'm really looking forward to it. At present, this one is so slow, it takes forever to change pages and to receive e-mails; it won't send them. It has taken it over an hour and a half to receive them too, as it scans for viruses and that slows it down. However, I can't complain - it was a gift and a very welcome one.

I hope you have been enjoying the weather over the last few days (apart from the rain, although I for one was glad when it came - it cooled things down and watered the garden).

You're right about packaging. Often it's the smaller things that are most difficult to get in.

Dear
Thank you for your nice letter. So very pleased about your new PC. It will be great. But you know mine also takes quite along time. I think that it is worth it when one knows that one is not going to receive any viruses. I am wondering if I have one in my "Reply" button of my email I never use it, but the other day I did. and my granddaughter in Johannesbury sent me an email back next morning asking her Gran to please write in English and not Japanese.!!!!
I was looking back on our post and I see that one can do Tai Chi in a chair. I wonder if you can recommend a book for that. BTW I met a young man who has found a course in Tai Chi out here, so I have suggestd to K. that he start in September when the course starts again.
I have had a very busy time choosing a beautiful new bed which tilts and has got the most wonderful mattress and some super kitchen units with the whole unit which is put onto easy slide runners so that you can take the whole unti out and need never lose anything.Great.
Much affection AR1

Hi AR1

The one I have is 'T'ai Chi in a Chair' by Cynthia Quarta ISBN 1 931412 60 X. Mine cost £10.99 and I think I bought it from WH Smith. They are all 15 minute routines, so they should be achievable.

If you get it, let me know how you get on.

My new computer will take between 2-4 weeks, I'm told. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a complete learning experience as it's a Mac and I'm used to a PC.

Has your new bed and kitchen arrived yet? It all sounds very exciting.

I went to a London Playday today, which my team was staffing. When I arrived it was beautiful weather. Less than an hour later it was chucking it down - real stair rods. My youngster was there with his summer school and I got to see him just as the heavens opened, so I went to his bag, got out his raincoat and put it on for him. Had I a raincoat? No! We had to stop our activities and call it off as it would have been too dangerous to continue even if the people hadn't started leaving in droves. Ho hum!

The thing he liked best was sitting on a Police motorbike! Rain never dampens his enthusiasm.

Very dear
Thank you for your fascinating reply. I loved the allegories - e.g. raining like "stair-rods". Of course, having lived in the tropics one is used to that. I believe that here in Sevenoaks, the drains in the road were like miniature fountains of horrid brown water. I certainly know that when we went to Reculver on Saturday it was hailing on the car and came down as a real tropical rain storm.
Well, I guess Mum had better start thinking about herself and remember her raincoat. It is important to remember that you must also not catch cold - which I hope you have not.
I am so pleased he enjoyed the motor-bike. It must have given him a great thrill.
Well I'm off to do some horrid accounts now. Have a lovely day my dear friend. a big AR1

Dear AR1

Oh, Sevenoaks is lovely. I used to live in Pratts Bottom, just inside the M25 and used to go there sometimes. Now I live right by the Thames on the south side, but don't go as often, as the extra few miles seem to make a lot of difference in travelling time.

I actually had a raincoat with me, however I had left it in the car, which was parked a few minutes away, as when I got out, it wa hot. Needless to say, when it's raining as hard as that, I would have got soaked getting half-way there. Luckily one of us had brought five umbrellas in her car - she must have seen the forecast - I didn't.

Here I am just before going out to work. As I take my youngster to summer school, which doesn't start until 9,00 am (breakfast club at his school starts at 7.30 am), I get the luxury of a later start during the holidays.

Enjoy your day - accounts may be boring, however they are necessary.

Dear Zarqhon
Thank you for your words of encouragement re my accounts.They were very well timed although I have not yet finished them. Those who named the various villages around here obviously had a very hunting sense of humour. Badger's Mount is not far away either. But Pratt's Bottom has always fascinated me!.
I see that you are an expert on Sufi. I think I am right in saying that the Enneagram which the Jesuits and various other religious organisations "teach" is modelled on a Sufi idea. I must say that I did a course on it once, and was astounded that I was not who I though I was psychologically!!. It was quite unnerving, but I think that the Enneagram was right!
I was not very well on Saturday and although I was due to drive to London yesterday had to cancel it and my granddaughter came out with her boyfriend instead. It was good to receive them here and to see them. She is such a loving compassionate person. They enjoyed having access to a computer which they had missed on the Continent. I am now going to see if I can examine the skies and see if I can see the celestial lights. Goodness knows how I am going to do it in RL, although I am virtually on the verandah of Haiti and Englander sipping wonderful this virtual life isn't it.?
Keep well and strong dear friend and sleep tight. And affectionate AR1