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

Very nice, and well polished. Nice to see the final details. I nominate it for required reading!

Why thank you, kind sir.

B

Not at all, it's a fine bit of work. Now to get it into curriculum for 19 year olds.

Still abuzz about your visit this summer btw. Have to take you and GTB on a whirlwind tour.

Well, we are pretty excited about it ourselves. In fact, I am going to go to Amazon and see if they sell maps of the North American Continent... Then all I need is a pinboard and some pins!

B

Get ready for some weather extremes, too. You'll go from hot desert to mountains still covered with snow! I do envy you though, I haven't done a road trip in years and years. The drive along the west coast is amazing- the Oregon beaches and sand dunes are way Shame you won't get to Vancouver Island, next time I suppose!

You know those long-drop toilets which have no water, just a big container about 10' below you?

When I was in the desert in Oz we stopped at a roadstop which had one. Big Bro was worried that I would through a european hissy fit about there being no flush mechanism.

I came out laughing my head off. The last time I had used one it had been 60 degrees C colder! It was a lot simpler in the desert!

B

I know of what you speak. Made famous by the X Files when a monster lurked in one. Only to be sucked out by the shite wagon!

What do you do that you can up and do these things?

Ah. Well I was an IT contractor, which took me to all sorts of places. The cold loo (minus 20 C) was near the Ice Hotel in Sweden, and I worked in Stockholm and Lund for the best part of a year.

The hot loo (plus 40 C) was in Australia, and I took a long holiday there at the end of last year.

This year I am not contracting, so I am not entirely sure how I will pay for the trip. But if you only do things in life that you are sure you can do, you never do anything new.

So I guess the answer to your question 'what do you do?' is 'take risks'!

B

I freelanced for six years and loved it, but I missed home too much and have *settled down*. Still envy you though.

I understand what a long-drop toilet is - I used to live in Alice Springs which is in the middle of Australia and we went camping quite a bit. I'd think that if you used one in -20c cold it wouldn't smell as much and there wouldn't be any flies either. Otherwise it would have the same disadvantages of going to the toilet that it would in any cold situation. Just my 2c/p.

Quite right, Annie! - No smell and no flies, but a disconcertingly clear record of what had gone before. And extricating yourself from five layers of clothing, and then getting it back correctly interleved, comfortable and in the right order, and - worst of all - exposing your most delicate parts to that temperature....!

As I said, it was easier in the South Australian desert!

B

I can beat that, I was in the north here a few years back where it was -37C with a windchill that took it much lower. A friend demonstrated how if you spit, a sharp cracking noise is heard when it freezes before it hits the snow.

Yeouch! I have never been anywhere that cold in daytime.

Brrrrr!

Open air urination by men was strongly discouraged since it could lead to frostbite

Our cameras had to have heat packs so the lubrication wouldn't freeze solid. The other extreme was the desert in Nevada. 45C in the shade.

cl zoomer.... shall we add you to the list at U217918? British Columbia, right?

Please, please, please! I'm in and out of the office right now so I'll look in a little while.

Uhmmm! I am confused. Someone named Ben wrote the article???? Did I miss something here? Please fill me in.

Not all Bens are boys!

...and not all boys can't be mistresses!