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

I smiled onboard the bus to w*rk this morning when I saw the company name of the truck in front of us - Aloha Transports in big friendly letters (think Brush Script). When I checked the nationality of the vehicle, I found it was Finnish. How's that for globalisation!

The Mumin trolls - what I find interesting about them is that they (or at least some of the books) can be read as written for kids as well as for adults, what with the philosophical angle and all...

Mornin All

Sunny with clouds, 15.5 Deg C.

Back in harness after a Monday gardening or rather wrestling neglected areas back into some semblence of tidy. Creeky hips and back are now reeking vengence.

After going through 15 boxes of books, D and I discovered that we own every Harry Potter novel but Goblet of Fire -- which, of course, she is simply *dying* to read.

Mind you, D has never been a reader, so for her to want to read this badly...well, let's just say that I'll be getting up early tomorrow and going to buy the book.

+14ºC here and raining - diss is vott vee in Sveeden kol sommar

Morning everyone.

I am writing help files today which I find oddly soothing. Casting pearls of wisdom under the hooves of the nice horsey. Not caltraps. Pearls.

Talking of which, the main reason I regret not having a high velocity rifle is that it prevents me from shooting people's tyres out.

16c and cloudy here. up stupidly early again this morning. the hasn't reared its head yet, so I'm hoping its finally gone. need to do housework today. Meh.

mini

Throws a 33c in here for good measure with cloud

Oh, hello there Moonraker.

I do love the globalness of the Atelier.

I follow this one but try not to say too much

Ben, your pearls of wisdom reminds me of this anecdote:

'Some little chorus girl' steps aside to let Dorothy Parker through the door and says 'Age before beauty' whereupon Dorothy replies 'Pearls before swine' and sails through.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/age-before-beauty.html

I would love to be able to come up with snappy replies like that - unfortunately, I don't think of them until several hours later...

[]

Lil - Why is the verge in a town considered a place to stop rather than somewhere uninhabited?

Kerr - Torchwood was pretty good, but sadly I won't be able to watch it all. I don't get this "stripping" business - what's wrong with an episode a week, with repeats for anyone who missed it?

The Poincaré Conjecture by Donal O'Shea and The Complete McAuslan by George MacDonald Fraser (of Flashman fame).

Big Bro has arrived and is currently chez Big Sis. Big Sis is away from home being an Elizabethan. Well, an Henrican, actually.

Families.

B

At least it all seems to be coming together, Ben.

Indeed.

As a pilot friend of mine used to say 'the plane will land ... whatever happens, the *plane* will land'



It'll be fine, but I could do with a sneaky extra 24 hours nicked from somewhere and slotted in between today and tomorrow.

B

for Marv. That was one HECK of an interview.

Books. Hmm. I always read half-a-dozen at once. Am currently reading 'The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear' by Walter Moers (on a Walter Moers bender at the moment. Fantasy, with an imagination and whimsy that defies description, and pictures! The pictures!); 'Conversations About the End of Time', which is interviews with Stephen Jay Gould, Umberto Eco, Jean Delumeau and Jean-Claude Carriere, in honour of the millenium; 'Wise Children' by Angela Carter (am enjoying it thoroughly, am completely confused as to who is related to whom, am aware that that is the POINT); The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (S is reading this to me - when one of us is cooking or washing up, the other reads to them. We're sickening like that. And this way, I force S to read LOTR at least once. He's 34 and never has and shares the house with, umm, me, and everything Tolkien ever wrote, so Strong Measures Were Taken); The Norton Anthology of Poetry (this is taking a while); 'Trillion Year Spree' by Brian Aldiss - this is a very (very very very) comprehensive history of SF, and I've been reading it for MONTHS, three pages at a time in case my brain melts.

Ben - I remember I went into a kind of limp coma in the week before my wedding. It was all so immensely much, to do, to sort, to think about, that my brain shut down in self-defence. On the night before the wedding, during dinner, my mother suddenly went pea-green. She had suddenly remembered that she had completely NOT ordered any glasses at all at all, and there were 90-odd people coming. To her astonishment, I laughed vaguely and said 'never mind', and wandered off to clean my shoes. She and S phoned every off-licence in a 30 mile radius, until they found one that was a) open to take the call, and b) prepared to rent us 300 assorted glasses at no notice at all. S came rushing up to tell me it was sorted, and I said 'is it?' also very vaguely and wandered off to poke the flower arrangements and count spoons. Several days later, on honeymoon, I woke at 4am, remembered the almost-no-glasses near-disaster and gave a little scream of horror.

Morning all.

>> Several days later, on honeymoon, I woke at 4am, remembered the almost-no-glasses near-disaster and gave a little scream of horror.



It's not the wedding, it's the combination of:

work being unpleasantly full-on (ridiculous deadline, colleagues who are indifferent in both senses)

me really needing a distinction in the assignment and being used to having 6 weeks to write them not 5,

AND

the wedding.

The first two are taking precedence. I have other garments to wear, the fact I still have to sew my frock is the least of my worries. I do not have other jobs or other chances for that golden 70%.

B

It will all come together, Ben. Those attending are family and friends, all of whom love the two of you. If there is a wee glitch someplace, then it's ok. No one is going to mind. The glitches make the best stories anyway. My wedding had a whopper of a glitch, and now it's one of my favorite memories.

True story. The worst wedding I ever attended was one of those obligatory things you don't really want to attend but can't think of any way out. It was a lavish affair that seemed wonderful to everyone except the bride and her mother. Both were in tears before the reception ended and neither enjoyed it a bit due to the stress of wanting everything and everyone to be absolutely perfect. And what great tragedy finally caused the bride to run from the room in tears? The shade of pink on the roses on the cake didn't quite match the actual roses in her bouquet. The cake was beautiful and tasted good. Who cares if the shade of the icing was a bit off? No one would have even noticed if she hadn't thrown a fit about it.

The mother, an even greater drama queen, found fault with everything including most of the guests, especially the ones who brought children. If she didn't want them there, she shouldn't have invited them. Bridesmaids, groomsmen, photographer, caterers, all came under public fire. Anyway, I left pretty much in disgust, wishing I hadn't shelled out a c note for a gift I was sure they found inadequate and feeling very sorry for the groom. Fortunately for him, he didn't quite measure up, either and they split up less than a year into the marriage. I am normally saddened when people divorce. But in this case I actually did a snoopy dance. The poor guy got his life back.

Marv, I'm glad the interview went so well. Yay!

Has anyone heard from Gw7en lately?

*shudder*

What an appauling wedding.
At mine I just got fed up with people expecting me to want things. They also assumed that I was being absent minded when I didn't order things like a bouquet and took it upon themselves to do it for me. Actually, I didn't order one *because I didn't want one*.