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

Ginger is said to be good for upset stomachs. One of the best ways to use this as a remedy is ginger tea - take about 1/2 inch of root ginger, peel and slice thinly. Place in a mug, pour boiling water over, and allow to infuse.

Parsley is good for removing odours. Eat a sprig after a meal to help alleviate bad breath, or rub on your hands to stop them smelling.

Been stung by a stinging nettle? Don't worry, just look round the nettle plant for a dock plant - they have big, slightly rough leaves. And they grow very close to nettles, which is useful. Having located a dock plant, pick off a fairly big leaf. Then rub it vigorously over the area that you were stung. You should release some of the juices, which help to neutralise the sting of the nettles.

It's also useful to be able to recognise dead nettles - they're not just nettles that have died, but a particular species of nettle that does not sting! They have smallish white flowers, which you can pick. You can then suck the 'innermost' end of the flower (ie the bit that attatched it to the plant) and suck out the very sweet nectar. It's very refreshing, but you don't get much in each flower.

Talking of nettles, they're meant to be good for you. The usual way of eating them is as nettle soup - boiling them for long periods of time should neutralise the sting - but please don't take my word for it! Check this out with someone who knows!

I have let nettles grow in my garden (much to the disgust of my neighbour who keeps muttering something them seeding and blowing into her garden) because butterflies lay their eggs on them. I quite like butterflies. No dock leaves have grown near them though.

I agree about letting nettles grow for the benefit of butterflies. Butterflies also seem to like Budlia (not sure about spelling?) quite a lot. Dock leaves seem to grow near nettles, given a large enough area to look in. In gardens (which usually aren't as big as park/wasteland), the dock plant may have been dug up at some other time, or the nettles introduced later. But I don't really know, so I ought to stop waffling. I do apologise for wasting your time in this matter.

Thanks for the advice about dock leaves. There is a Buddhleia (?) in the next door garden that overhangs, and one in my front garden, so I think there will be plenty later in the year to lay eggs. Butterflies that is.

It wasn't really advice - just what I thought. I could be completely wrong, but it makes a kind of sense to me. However, it also made sense to various people at various times that the Earth was flat, and that it was the centre of the solar system and universe.

Aren't there some people who still think that? Then again for practical everyday purposes your bit of the world IS flat and any bit of the solar system YOU are living on is the centre of it to you...