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

Thank you for all this hard work

Great entry, thank you for all the background and history to put it into perspective.

Thanks Z and thank you all for all the hlep and advise given. As always, I have really appreciated it and will continue to do so. I am now working on my next entry's first draft. As soon as this is ready, I will be posting it on here.

Once again thank you for all the help and adivice that I get here. I enjoy writing on here and will continue to post more.

I was going to post exactly what Z said, so I'll just add my general congratulations to this thread.

B

Thanks Mu Beta.

Who did the image? It's really stellar.

B

The image was done by a professional cartoonist who donated it to the US Library of Congress. The artist died in 2005.

Well done, Kit

At school though people wore T-shirts with images a bit like that...I forget it was so long ago....with the slogan 'Amin da mood' under them.

Some of my above post is now missing....or am I missing?

No, Effers, you are right. I remember you saying something about the image which isn't there now.

Dear darling Mods, if you edit a post, it's polite to say so....

Thank you Mrs Zen. You're lovely.

Hello, I found this very interesting as well, thanks!

Still heard nothing about the bit disappeared from my post...but I'll let it go.

Great entry! Keep it up, I love to read things like this!

Thanks Mila, Willen and Sleep.

I was still young when this happened. A young boy in the U.S. It was widely reported and the names and places are familiar in my mind but were without context. This article brought all those familiar names and places together. This was a very well written article and I must admit I felt emotionally involved in the telling of it.

Thanks Baron.

Your comments have and are always appreciated.

I remember the time, as a kid, when I lived in Kenya but was studying in England after Idi Amin had forced the "Asians" (Indians) to leave Uganda. I was on a British Airways flight, from London to Nairobi, with my elder brother, who was 13 years old and I was just 11, the flight was suppose to be direct, but was forced to land at Entebbe for re - refuelling. We were told that we would have to leave the aircraft so that it could be cleaned and everyone could stretch their legs. I turned to the airhostess and informed her, that as an Indians, my brother and I were not allowed to be in Uganda. But she insisted that we get off the aircraft to stretch our legs and that it would be fine. But I refused and held onto my brother. I kept on informing her that we were not allowed in the country and it reached a point where the Captain was called. Fortunately, after he heard what I had to say, he turned around and to the airhostess and said to her:

"Don't you know what has happened? These two boys are under our care until we land at Nairobi."

She tried to say something and he would not listen.

"They are minors, travelling alone and are our responsibility and I say that they remain on board."

Moments after the aircraft came to a halt at the terminal, it was announced that for "safety reasons, all passengers should remain on board if they wished to do so." Some did leave the airctaft and some did not. But some passengers, sitting next to us, whispered to us.

"Don't worry! We are with you."

At that moment, the Captain came up to us, smiling and said that we were to remain on board and then turned around ro the steward and said that some army men were expected to board and that they may be carrying machine guns on them. True to the words, some members of the Ugandan army came on board with guns and began to look at passports and when the Captain aske what was going on, one of them said:

"We want to make sure that there are no Indians entering the country" and insisted on examing everyone's passports but the moment our tyrn came, the man just looked at me and pointed his machine gun, when suddenly the Captain walked in between and said that they would have to leave the aircraft as it was ready to fly onto Nairobi."
747
As soon as we landed at Nairobi's Embakassi airport, I told my father what had happened and he, in turn, informed the travel agent and they made sure that my brother and I were always travelling on 747's direct to Nairobi.

Wow... harrowing.