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

ouch! Ya got me!!

So what did ya end up doin?

Well, I'm a subpostmaster/village shopkeeper would you believe?

Noggin

Sounds idyllic if it's in Wales. It is, ain't it?

where are you Toxxin?

Oh. I'm where I started in Stoke, the Potteries. Keele was my local uni. Now there's Staffordshire since it stopped being a poly.

Cool

My local uni is Loughborough...but I've been to Stoke a couple of times, several to visit 'waterworld': which is good fun

For me, watery recreation is skin diving. Ain't done any for a while, but I have some plans for next summer. Just had too much hassle recently to get away (plus lack of dosh ).

I like going down the flumes: inane

Enjoy it while ya can. You're still a kid! Mindya I latched on to skin diving at the age of about 12.

not any more! Not that will stop me!

[What is skin diving?]

Compared with me, you're still a kid! Skin diving is, well, underwater swimming wearing no more than a wet suit (optional) and air tanks (also optional). I started with a pair of fins (flippers), a face mask and a snorkel. Never got seriously beyond that really, but it opens up another environment to you. It's also a bit like being able to fly since you're free to move vertically with little effort. Swoop down cliffs and up mountains. It's within certain limits though, as the water pressure on your ears gets unpleasant at about 30 metres. That's one of the reasons why deep-sea divers wear pressure suits.

Skin Diving sounds really cool! I do enjoy swimming: and am going more often now that I have the time WHere have you been skin diving?

FwT

Only round the coast of Britain really. I never had the dosh to go much further. Cool? It's usually bloody freezing! I'm thinking of moving more or less permanently to Malta in a year or so. Well, Gozo really. I'm already a voluntary moderator on the SearchMalta web site so I guess I'm almost an honorary Malteser without actually having been there. The ones on line seem to be mostly nice folks. They speak English, drive on the left and have an ancient and rich culture. Tempting or what? Oh, did I mention the climate?

That sounds so cool! We don't have an envy smilie, so will have to do!

What would you do over there?

I guess I'd doss about same as I do here, but more of it outdoors Might just be able to get a bit of teaching in higher education. Could have to wait until '04 though for that to become an official possibility, because that's when Malta is set to join the EU. At last, another English speaking country! Tiny though it is.

SOunds good I didn't know that Malta was on the list to join: I thought they were expanding in a more easterly direction....

Nare. Its only a short hop south of Sicily and it was a British colony or suchlike for about 150 years until the 1960s. Hell, we awarded it the George Cross in about 194x (where x is a very small integer). They aren't that keen on Muslims there either, being a predominantly Catholic country (90%+ I guess) - sorry, I'm vague about factoids! So naturally, they look to Europe rather than the Middle East or North Africa.

Cool

Malta sounds really cool

Doesn't it just. They even brew good beer and concoct good, though simple, food. I researched for the best place to waste my insanity benefit and I haven't yet found a real competitor.

Naturally, it has some downside. It's kinda tatty in the urban areas. Too religious for me in its orientation. Extremely small (smaller than Anglesey!). Insane on the roads and far too hectic and commercialised in Paceville. But weigh the pluses against the minuses and I reckon it takes some beating. Don't know why so many Maltese live in Australia and the USA!