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

I know that feeling Mr. D.

I've just got a big load of stuff from a Headingley fruiterer for £2.27. Assuming it actually tastes okay I might have to head over again in a couple of weeks. I do like Headingley - also home to a very good library, where I am now, and the Beer Ritz.

*reads stuff about new doctoring system and tries to remember it so as to sound intelligent next time it comes up in conversation*

::fg, enjoying Lacrimosa's first hit and home sick with the flu ::

*watches the snow fall and await commencement of her conference call. Bob bless headphones*

Just got a message from J, she is approved for a loan on a house. For a lot more than she had thought she would get! One major hurdle down!

Don't tell me about *stuff*... I sent 2 tons (I mean TONS) of all kind of stuff to the junkyard a year ago when I moved. And now *stuff* is piling up again.

We have winter. -12C/10,4F and a lot of snow. The average January, seems that it was lost somewhere. According to the weather report it was somewhere around Iceland. Well, at least that's where it came from.

*battens down the hatches*

Evil cold.

Had to rescue our bin lid from the middle of the A3 today. I contemplated pretending not realising it was there until I saw a coach full of kiddies swerving to avoid it

Six lanes. Not fun.

Anyone know of a wind abatement spell?

A concrete block?

Ah .. ... I do believe in fairies, I do, I do! Thank you

Hello, B4.

"Stuff" is a permanent source of friction in our home. DH has no concept of "away", therefore everything is "stuff" and he wants it all binned. Whereas to me, "away" is all-important, and because of that I have no "stuff". (Well, I do currently have a large collection of Charlie Chaplin trousers in my wardrobe, but that's because I appear to have accidentally lost 2 stone in weight.) I have done the bag and dispose thing in the past - it was hugely therapeutic, throwing away the past, surprisingly so for a historian ... Anyway, now we need to train the girls. But at least the fact that so many of their belongings are scattered over their bedroom floors proves that they play with them.

Mol
(still with a hole in her mouth)

[The Verruca swoops in, bestowing small moles with the twinkle of her magic wand. Lentilla ducks, but the turns on one wingtip and machine-guns her with the wand. Five verrucas appear on Lentilla's forehead like bullet holes in the fuselage of an airplane.]

Dang it, who pissed off the fairies? This should be on your head... not mine!

> Lentilla, sounds like you were watching Heston Blumenthal

Ding ding ding! You win a prize! I actually hadn't remembered the name of the chef - but I did remember the name of his restaurant.

http://www.fatduck.co.uk/

> This one says it works by taking advantage of "favorable metabolic signalling."

And now, a guy in a lab coat!

I distrust any diet pill. Especially the ones that claim to get rid of 'cortisol.' It's a bunch of baloney, in my opinion. Diet pills raise your heart rate with natural or synthetic stimulants like ephedrine or guarana. Then you burn more calories sitting still... if you *can* sit still. And for people who are already having problems with their health because of their weight, raising their heart rate seems like a really bad idea.

> Had a wee laugh on language differences in the security queue in the Malpensa airport.

One of my favorite examples of that was the Ford Nova automobile. They found after marketing it in Mexico that 'No Va' in Spanish meant... 'No Go.'

I have several games that suck time up... The Sims is a good one for that. SimCity too. Then there's Diablo... And hubby just gave me KOTOR II for my birthday... I had to put a clock next to the computer so I would know what time it was.

It was one of "those" days. Spent quite a bit of it in the emergency room with Mother. Now I have her at my house for a couple of weeks. At least I hope it isn't any longer than that. Anyway, I just got through building a bed. The one in the guest room was too tall for her to get into. And she can't have my room because she can't manage the steps. So I had to get her settled in and then go buy a bed and mattress - in a hurry. I hate shopping in a hurry. Naturally the bed came in a box. I'm tired and cranky and need a drink.

Oh, lord - is she okay?

Found an action figure for all the librarians...

http://www.mcphee.com/items/11548.html

J and I have begun a preliminary search for a house, have about 8 to actually go look at. She actually qualified for a $500,000 loan, we are looking at houses about half that price. The plan is for her to live in the house we decide on until we are married and then the kids and I move in. I am still kind of in a state of shock, thinking about how this is actually happening. It's indescribable.

You know it had to be a fairly intense dumping session for me to get rid of *gasp* books! And Mol, the historian in me went thru every single stupid old photo stuffed a drawer for 3 years...just in case.

I am anxiously awaiting Wednesday, as D goes on a 3 day adventure with her classmates and I get 2 whole evenings to do something spontaneous, like...go see a movie! sleep! maybe even clean my bathtub! Just the idea of getting a parenting break is a good thing. I don't have to actually *do* anything, right?

The weather forecast for today says there will be a whole of 30º difference in temperature between the very south and the very north of Sweden, ranging from -5ºC (23ºF) to -35ºC (-31ºF)

We've also had a lot of snow - proper winter is finally here, but mid/end of January is unusually late for it. Car owners (which I'm not) were met by this sight yesterday morning:

http://hem.passagen.se/kristina.r/mondaymorning.html

"SC, have you tried to look on freecycle.org?"

I'm already a member of the Burbank group! I get digests of the emails to the group website, and I don't see stuff that's like what I've got to get rid of -- it's a great idea, though, I could use them for my "good" cast-offs like furniture and a couple of lamps.

I would still like to take my books to my local booksellers, though. They're small merchants and can use the stock, and I get credits which I can use against further purchases, again bringing them business. I figure Borders and Barnes and Noble will survive without my trade, but the mom-and-pops might not. If by any chance I have any books they don't want, those will go to Goodwill.

My major problem is that I'm not very strong anymore, and I'm only good for maybe two trips up and down the stairs to the dumpster. That's where the bribery may have to come in! I'd offer them beer, but since my most-hoped-for recruits are 15 and 17, that's not a good idea, somehow...*they'd* go for it, but the parents, not so much.

15 and 17 would do it for a conversation where you treat them like adults for a moment, SC. I remember the days Listen, our freecyclers will take *anything* - so unless Londoners are particularly 'cheap', I'd say give it a go. I love the idea of consigning to your local small bookshop, though. My son has started to sell his 'stuff' to his friends at school I await a telephone call from the authorities on this subject. So glad none of his friends' mums are my friends

GDZ, congratulations on the major step forward in your life. You deserve it and we all love happy endings - though I pray this ending goes on for decades yet

Sheesh, Mol. If a plastic bin lid nearly caused vehicle carnage, can you imagine what a concrete block would do? I have to say I am more and more tempted by the idea of those Leylandii. Our neighbours opposite seem to be well sheltered behind theirs though I am still mindful of Kelli's advice. How does one 'accidentally' lose 2 stone?

I am so very glad I don't live in Sweden right now

*hides from the invasion*

Hyp - How stressful for you. I hope your mother recovers startlingly quickly. Thinking of you.

Hi Wilma! Lovely to have you back.

I had a whole pile of other comments I wanted to make, but somehow it slipped out of my hands as I navigated the back-log. Possibly because I am stupid, yes, STUPID, with lack of sleep. As I have an interview for a place on the MA in librarianing course on Friday, and am trying to revise cataloguing, Dewey, and MARC (which will only mean something to fellow librarians - geek moment!), being stupid-tired is not very useful. Time for a spot of whining-about-husband - yes, folks, S has a cold, not a bad one, luckily, but it does make him snore. And for the past four nights we have had a variety of guests staying so I couldn't kick him until he took himself to the spare room. So I am a leetle sleep-deprived and, oh yes, cranky. Big-time cranky. I wouldn't care to live with me at present.

I am developing a bad habit of retreating into my shell and sulking when not having an entirely brilliant time.

I think I shall go and lie down with my mouth under the spout of the tea-urn, a la comical beer-drinker, until I feel less complicated.

Hyp, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom! I hope she'll be okay -- much sooner rather than later. There is a special circle of h*ll waiting for those having to assemble things -- kids' toys and furniture are works of the devil, you know.



GDZ, very wise, to not borrow up to the "limit". A lot of people are getting very squeezed between the rising interest rates and inflation vs. their paychecks -- foreclosures are up. It's *so* great things are working out for you, though. I hope that things stay that way for you both, for a very long time.



Ag, I hope you get some sleep -- being that tired is *so* cranky-making, and I live on stupid-o'clock time too much as it is. on the interview, too!

*waves at Ag and chucks over Valeriana to wash down with the *

Hyp, I hope your mum is better soon.

W

*k waddles slowly into the atelier pushing a wheeled hostess trolley piled with plates and a varitey of cakes*

Anyone like some ? It seems to be the tradition here that you have to give everyine cake on your birthday - but I forgot to bring some in here yesterday. There is rich carrot cake with passion fruit butter icing, some , some and a load of interestingly coloured individual fancy cakes.

Hyp - what happened? I hope your mum gets better quickly so you can stop worrying aout her and get your space back again.

Ag I hope you'll still talk to us about it when you are we're always here to listen.

GDZ, that is great news, and wise not to borrow up to the maximum. Hope your search proves fruitful and easy!

Mr D - when do you move again? Good luck with it!

MR - you want to come and do mine? It is a major downside of having a large attic that the Stuff tends to just get shoved up there rather than disposed of properly.

Back in the office today, but don't think I am going to make it through a whole day.