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

Thanks Ormy!

FG, the City Watch series is far and away my favourite series of any author in the world. Feet of Clay, Night Watch and Men at Arms especially.

I agree with that. Night Watch is the most recent, and I think the best, although Feet of Clay is one of my absolute favorites. I'm also very fond of the Wyrd Sisters.

Zaphod Beeblebrox once said that he used to work as a chaffeur for a family of cheap retractables on the Biro Planet. And then there was his flourishing second-hand ballpoint business.

Wire hangers? I think that they do propagate... I'm always pulling out all the wire hangers and getting rid of them, then next time I look - more wire hangers. Wasn't it Elizabeth Taylor who beat her adopted daughter with a wire hanger, all the while screaming 'No more wire hangers!'

Amy, take care of those legs - you've only got six!

Speaking of reading: I started rereading 1984 today. First time I have picked the book up in 10-12 years.

Amy

Wirehangers multiplying! In my place they don't. . Maybe because they are laden with 2-3 pieces of second hand clothes each that our mother's send this way.
Neither S. nor I are able to throw out perfectly good stuff - both of us having grown up in families with more than and where nescessary new clothes only came along at b'day or x-mas.
I have gently broken the news to S.'s mother (82) that S. has enough clothes to last him at least five years and suggested that she should save the cost of the (outrageous) postage to pamper herself and my father-in-law instead of sending parcels from Italy.

I haven't come across as yet. And not with my own mother either. She (72) still makes her own clothes (and sews privately to measure) - and sends her discarded (and quite nice) wardrobe my way.

The result being that I'm absolutely unable to buy clothes for myself. I get confused when there are more than three items to choose between and leave the shop emptyhanded.

My two daugthers compensate for that.

I do believe that Mommy Dearest was Joan Crawford, actually, and she was the one who went nuts with wire hangers. I personally have no wire hangers, prefering those tubular plastic ones.

My Dad's theory is that socks are the chrysilis stage for wire coathangers. That's were all the issing socks are. Certainly seems to be working at the moment: my socks seem to be keeping themselves in order and I don't have enough coathanhers...

I think your Dad deserves to be nominated for a Nobel prize! Now, that's what I call a theory

The airing cupboard has a special area for unmatched socks. I live in eternal hope that one day some will marry up and return to the relevent sock drawers. On the rare occasion it happens, I get sadly excited.

As for coat hangers, I use the plastic ones that shops give away. However I've had to start refusing them as the blighters are fighting their way out of the wardrobes.

The morning has started off bright and sunny. I shall take a warm jacket, gloves and scarf with me to Pilates so that I can wrap up and put the top down on the car.

I never wear co-ordinating socks, you can't see them anyway so no point..

I'm going to give in and buy a new fountain pen today..

This morning has started and is continuing to be very wet and damp.
For the bits where I'm indoors this is fine, it's just when I'm outside, I'm less keen.

Have a loobrush Amy, hope you get yourself mended soon

[daS, considering HooToo retirement again]

Z - if you buy a new pen the old one will reappear almost at once. Law of physics.

Amy - oops, you poor love.

S bought a whole bunch of black socks with coloured toes and heels, to expedite the pair tracking and matching. So now his socks occasionally vanish in pairs. Which is very odd. The God of Sock is mocking us methinks.

And to lower (or possibly raise, as feet are below bottom) the tone, my knickers keep vanishing as well. It used to be my nice new ones that disappeared (in accordance with the natural consequences of S*d's Law - only the nice ones go and you're stuck with the horrid ones for eight million years), but at the moment all my sensible plains are... not here. It's baffling. Possibly the house mouse has a thing about cotton.

I'm wittering hopelessly now. S got up at 5:30 am to catch a train to the other end of the country for a conference and though he tip-toed quietly out I still woke up and now for some reason have been awake for five hours without actually having had my morning recaffeination session and I feel... odd.

Oh, Amy - - That does NOT sound good.

de S - taking a sabbatical? We all do from time to time, be sure to drop back here at the salon when you get back online again.

Woke up aching, and generally disgusting, and decided that it would be incredibly stupid to drive on up to Halifax, try to look at houses to rent, and drive back home again this evening, so I did a runner, and am now at home, drinking chicken soup, and about to either veg out in front of the TV or go to bed. I am working on the theory that if I am *incredibly nice* to this cold, it'll go away sooner, and leave me fit to start work on Monday.

B

Dear of you Amy, that's quite harsh.

[TIM]

Morning all

Oooof Amy! How did that happen? Hope it all heals up quickly.

I've got everyone's biros - I can never find the same one twice but I seem to have thousands of the things.

I did a spinning class last night for the first time and I have a seriously bad case of saddle-bottom today

I read Fahrenheigt 451, Brave New World and 1984 one after the other a few months back, an interesting set to read together. There is a similar book written in the 30's that was serialised on R4 a while back. I caught about half of one part and want to read the book but can't remember the name or the author. It was called 'We' or 'Us' or 'them' or something - can anyone hazard a guess as to what I'm on about?

Have got Going Postal to take on holiday next week and need to find a couple of others. I should read one of the classics that 'everyone' has read, maybe something by Thomas Hardy. Have done the Brontes and Jane Austen, recommendations?

Ag, have a bit of a snooze now and start the day over again when you wake up

k

Amy, certainly bears looking into, need to protect yourself

Only thinking B, I've only just come back from my last one but put my foot in it in other parts of el Guide.
Hope the new tactics work with the cold, keep us posted and I may try it myself next time

I don't think I could cope with Z in same socks

>> Have done the Brontes and Jane Austen, recommendations?

Trollope. If you don't fancy reading a series, then "The Way we Live Now" is great. Trollope writes about women really well. But the series are good, and you can get a fair number of them for £1.50 or so as Worsdworth Classics.

Also Thackary - "Vanity Fair", which I must re-read. I was in my 20s the first time around, and I can't help wondering if I would make the same value-judgements about the characters now as I would then.

I'd forgotten I had bought 'Going Postal' but not read it. That solves the problem of how to entertain myself today in between sleeping.

Gnight everone

B

>> Have done the Brontes and Jane Austen, recommendations?

Or 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell as a similar thing to 'Shirley'. And 'Cranford' is sweet. I got stuck with 'Mary Barton' though.

Some people like George Elliott of course.

B

Mornin'. Busy busy busy. Some git dumped a large pile of paperwork on my desk after I went last night. Given that it was nearly 1800 when I left, they must've been hanging around just waiting for me to go

Hope it mends soon Amy.

Ben- have a curry. No, seriously. A really hot curry sweats all the grott out.

>Some people like George Elliott of course.
But they'll grow out of it. Or end up running a Padley shop, one or the other.