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

Morning Gandalf I'm here in Nara Japan How are you doing today?

I am doing fine, thanx!
Getting a little tired though--it is 1AM here in UK!

What are you having for lunch??


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Not sure yet , seven grain bread plus something (diet fairly new Stent) or

Bit of left over curry n rice with pickle

Wot!! No Sushi??



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Don't eat fish I like keeping them too much, tho I only keep small ones now .http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.com/photos/21128589@N02/

Nice 'pics Arnold!

Could have done with a telephoto lens on some of your bird snaps though

I use an Olympus digital with 20x zoom built in.

Still trying to get used to it though.
Getting pics to PC a bit problematic at the moment!



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That is what I've got now an E-20 camedia, just don't know how to use it properly , I might get something better soon (I get them for free)

My geek mate is an English computer teacher at an Osaka uni and every year they buy /upgrade computers and cameras and stuff , so when the old stuff has been sitting doing nothing except taking up space it gets moved on , three cameras made it to my house last year, just yesterday I was told they bought a new camera and an even better one than my E-20 with a bigger /better tele lenz could be coming my way soon

You lucky bugger!!!!!!



I beleive that they do a lot of that 'throw it away, there's a better version out now' thingt in Japan

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Morning(just) yep my mac cube got thrown out about 2 years ago it came with a really good sound system good price too ,
just caught up on all the backlog now to check my E Mail

When I was in the RAF 30(ouch) years ago, a friend visited Japan, and he said that he could have made a mint, just picking up off the street, TVs,videos and computers that had been left out on the street for the 'bin men' (or whatever you call them in Japan)to pick up and take to the local dump!!!

Consumerism or what?????



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When I first came here 30 years ago , once a month the big household rubbish was picked so any chair fridge tv etc was out for anyone to take away before that day and many Gaigin teachers got a lot of their furniture that way n. Now the powers that be are much tighter on electrical stuff being thrown away (you have to pay for takeaway) and people here still want the latest stuff, one of my Swiss friends is very bad like that

New rules now here in UK

If you want anything other than normal rubbish being picked up, you have to ring you local depot. If you ring more than three times a year, they wil pick it up, but you will be charged about £65.00 per pick-up.

We also have to recycle here, and the councills have 'Recycle Police'
who surepticiously scrabble through your bin to make sure that you are doing your job right!!!

Whatcha think of that????


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Japan is reckoned to be the No 1 for recycling in the world , If the bin men see any plastic in your burnables the rubbish is left , all supermarkets recycle batteries ,plastic ,milk cartons ,beer cans, metal cans+,white and coloured polystarine seperate , glass etc all seperated by you into bins ,an older man is there to watch and move stuff ,also a paper/cardboard truck, bike truck, electric truck etc comes around every month I know we got england beat on that score

So you take all your empties back to the supermarket, and they sell you the refills??




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Sort of

Wouldn't work in England though, people couldn't be arsed doing all the sorting it would take!!!




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It depends, if the money you got for taking empties back was enough some might, especially kids. They used to do it for beer and lemonade bottles, or was it just lemonade, I can't remember? For adults to do it it would need a bigger amount to get them to participate. I am not sure it would work in supermarkets though as too big and busy to do it. I think corner shops used to do it but glass bottles came in crates then and like the soft drink bottle beside me most are plastic these days. I think a lot depends on how much raw materials are left in distant future and if plastic use in bottles is dratically reduced and glass increased. However I suspect in future it will be neither plastic or glass being used to package liquids, but Lord knows what it will be!

Yes Strangely, I remember the time when you could get money back on glass beer and soft drinks bottles. In some supermarkets, you can now get milk in waxed cardboard continers, which are supposed to be biodegradeable.

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Just heard a screaching in my garden(22.30) and suspect it is a panicky Crow high up in the tree.
Earlier, I am sad to report I found a dead Coal Tit near the new birdbox I fitted on my wall recently. It was an adult and fear it is one of the nesting Coal Tits as haven't seen one flying around for a while, wah!
Maybe I will get a small bird in nestbox next year too.