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

Earth alo isn't as blue as those extraterrestrials are calling it. From my window, only the sky is blue.

Oh, you're not wrong! Any extraterrestrial visitor to our solar system, if asked pick out the "Blue Planet" would ALWAYS chose Neptune. No question.

If asked to describe Earth, they'ed likely reply, "yeah, it's blue-ISH. It's mainly blue with some white, brown, and blu'eish green parts. But wow! Look at Neptune! That's the prettiest blue I've seen in seventy parsecs!"

The red-ish planet, then?

A food delivery guy waking me by pressing my doorbell close to midnight repeatedly because he can't find the right house number. Clearly all the lights were off... Once I got dressed and at the door he was already trying at the neighbours. As an experiment: It took me 10 seconds on google maps to locate the number he was looking for.

Greed or what - airport drop off charges. We had to pay an extra £5 at Heathrow recently on top of taxi fare, for less than a minute at the kerbside.

Wow, those are not petty hates...

Today's PH: I recently went on a train and the onboard wifi wasn't working. The following day I found out the train company's website had a specific form to give feedback about onboard wifi, so I filled it in. I received the response today, saying if I have problems with the wifi in future I can send an e-mail to report the problem while on board, except I couldn't send an e-mail without wifi, which is how I noticed there was a problem

The other option would be to telephone, but I did try that in relation to another problem when I couldn't find a member of staff and got the recorded message all about how it would be quicker to go online - by the time I finally got into the queue for a customer service representative, a member of staff had appeared so I spoke to them instead.

Cans with a ring pull - that snaps off when you try to open them. Soup, tinned tomatoes - end up having to use a tin opener on the bottom of the can.

This guy has a lot to say about can openers, especially the one type he argues is superior to the traditional style can openers, and I agree.

I'm tempted to start opening even the pull top cans with one of these.

http://youtu.be/i_mLxyIXpSY

The standard traditional two-prong tin opener found in the UK was invented on the Isle of Wight by Henry Knight in 1881, though he sold the patent to Crosse and Blackwell who brought it into common use.

Historically interesting, but a nightmare to use.

<BB<

Wow, it has been quiet here lately.
Current PH: glass (instant coffee) jars with a plastic seal - so tight to open that the jar bounces & contents spill. That's wasted coffee for several cups so far.

Ah, I know those ones - that's more than a petty hate, as those things are grim to use. I tried one once, and the coffee was good, but the only options were to seal the jar and spill and waste the granules when opening it or to leave the jar unsealed and risk the granules spoiling and being wasted anyway...

That one's got a simple solution - use teabags.
Coffee makers go out of their way to invent machines to bubble and foam and froth and add milk and chocolate and lots of other distractions in a vague attempt to make coffee drinkable, but no matter how much they wipe pipes with a dirty rag you always end up with a drink that's almost, but no quite, entirely unlike .

All you really need is tea. It is simple - tea bag, boiling water, dash of milk. Job done.

<BB<

Milk!? [looks quizzically in American as he pours a glass of iced tea]

" a drink that's almost, but not quite, entirely unlike " - laugh - this is true Iced tea is nice, but I agree with <BB< "tea bag, boiling water, dash of milk. Job done."

My PH for the day is encountering shrinkflation in relation to crisps ... I wasn't too bothered shrinkflation in relation to chocolate bars , as I enjoy it better if I know the portion size is controlled (although it is disappointing that the price is not reduced in proportion to the portion) but I can eat 25g packets of crisps just fine... Today I discovered the portion for my favourite has been changed to 22g...

Wow - cost of a zirconium crown for a tooth has gone up 39% since last Autumn.
PH - teeth ache more after a routine visit to the Dentist than before!

Just realised the exorbitant charge they made for some interdental brushes. Shan't make that mistake again.

My dentist sells large packs of them for about the same price as the supermarket sells the small pack.

Interdental brushes. Those things I use the week before and after I go visit the dentist in order to claim I use them at all. That way the expense is managable.

I can relate to the "leave the dentist with more pain than I had before"

Actually, for the two gaps where I have been using the brush, it's great, so I will carry on with that. But I have made the brush last a lot longer than the two days the dentist said.
i hate flossing but usually find a way of implying I don't do it much without quite saying I don't do it at all. Interestingly the past few visists dentist hasn't suggested that I see the hygienist, so can't be too bad!

Today's PH: Online 'live' chat with utility company. Claims to be a real person, but if it is, they have very poor grasp of English & can only use set phrases. Wasted an hour with the 'manager' simply repeating what the first 'person' had said.
At least a phone call got through to a real person who has addressed the issue.