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

I can tell if rained a bit last night by the mud spats on the car.

Not enough to even thouroughly wash the dust from the air, but enough to make it necessary to wash the car.

I take it that you have a very short diet coke break, then.

Except for the mud spats I wouldn't have known it rained, not a sign, plants wilting in the heat.

I went out for a cycle ride along the Thames today. Unfortunately I got a slow puncture at Dorchester just as it started to rain! Fortunately I was able to shelter under the arch of a little very ancient bridge while I fixed it, (the puncture not the bridge) by which time the rain had stopped and I got back home without further mishap!

Filling out long and tedious forms where they ask the same question several times but use different wording.

Been there, done that, bought the T shirt many times over. Think of it as homework for adults, which will eventually pay off.

We were considering having a barbecue tomorrow but the weather forecast says it will be considerably cooler and a bit windy. We're not so sure now. We've got this electric barbecue so it's not that bad, so I think I'll sleep on it and make a final decision tomorrow morning, no use being hasty.

I started to read a book by Proust today but got tired after two chapters then gave up. That is going straight back to the charity shop. I then started reading a book by Annie Proux! That is very much more digestible, (I'm not going to eat it I'm speaking metaphorically), The thing is the similarity in the two names didn't even occur to me till this evening, Fancy!

This is my first post on this thread

Did anyone notice?

Welcome vestboy, interesting name I suppose but I'm not really bothered.

Propagated onions and made a big stew today.

Propagate banannas tomorrow.

Propagate? Is that a scandal involving front-row rugby forwards?

http://www.h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/brunel/F15602?thread=8313674 is where that posting belongs.

I've been to Oxford today, I always look forward to buying the Independent for 60p, a bit of a bargain for the student fraternity from the shop in the Covered Market, (just in case they're not cossetted enough already). Imagine my dismay when I found that it's up to it's usual price for the duration of the long vac. I got the Times for 70p, which is a smaller saving, and I don't like the Times as much as the Independent, they don't think of the locals, Town and Gown, there's no contest.

Well the old B&B thread has gone quiet again, I suppose everyone is out and about doing exciting things. I'm going to Wales for a few days on Tuesday. I've been loads of times, the drive down is a real pain, it's always raining and the locals don't like us much, they even talk Welsh when they know darned fine we can't understand them, can't wait to get back and I haven't got there yet.

Pleasant balmy weather this weekend, many dark storm clouds, occasional spatters of rain, warm, occasionally gusty, monsoonal sea breeze.

The banannas are begining to leaf out again after the initial transplanting shock.

I was in Madeira once on a Levada walk, when it started to rain quite heavily. The Levada went through a banana plantation, and there was a Madeiran chap coming the other way. Actually they can appear quite scary as they all carry knives or sickles or machetes, of course they're lovely people and they need the tools for cutting back vegetation and harvesting bananas, which is quite a heavy job. Anyways this bloke lopped off a banana leaf and put it on his head and they make a perfect emergency rain hat! He offered me one but I was too shy to accept it.

When a bananna stalk has once flowered and fruited, it never will again, so it needs to be cut back to the ground to make way for new growth.

Makes tremendously good mulch.

Usually use a pruning saw, myself.

IT, you're very well informed on Bananas, but do you know your onions? You should see my shallots, I just sowed a few left over ones from last year and I've got loads of them. I sometimes have problems with this awful milky rot that gets at the bottom of onions, but touch wood, my shallots are clear, and I'm in to my third sowing of spring onions have got away with it as well so far this year. Tomatoes are a real worry, I've got the best crop of Alicante I've ever had I think, I'm worried sick they'll get blighted before they redden off. Broad beans have done quite well too. My pal in Wales has got the nicest crop of red onions I've ever seen and his peas are just unbelievable. He's off to Ireland on a long holiday and he had to pick and shell the lot before leaving, there's nowt nicer than fresh garden peas, I never have much luck with them, oh and gooseberries, he's had pound after pound of them and they're just lovely, sweet as wine they are.