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

Thank you, Titania How could I have forgotten!

Ag, my rule of thumb in a supermarket is £1/minute, with an additional 25p per person per minute if accompanied. So if we all go, that's £2 per minute - plus of course the trip takes longer, so there are more minutes. But it does sound as though if you were to swap S for, say, a grubby 3 year old (and I have one I can offer you), you might make some savings on your grocery bill.

Mol

Ag, what's the idea?

[mr]

[GDZ]

Thanks for the hugs and sympathies, all, though I'm more than okay at the moment. I read through a few weeks' worth of Sluggy Freelance comic strips after I posted, and I felt much better. I just need to adjust to the fact that the house could've been nonexistant for almost a full day now, and we just don't know...although, we *did* see some shocking news pictures from that part of town, and damage looks likely (from flooding if from nothing else).

Oh, and Lil, I admit that I've not personally seen any grandiose misuse of the cards on a first-hand basis. I've *heard* some people admitting to stocking up on alcohol with them, and these people claimed to have "seen worse", but I didn't press for details (going without TV for three months every year means that I feel pretty out of the loop until October rolls around).

I'm not sure how I felt about the alcohol stocking. I mean, it's admittedly something to drink, and can provide some sustenance. And I know I wouldn't have a problem with people purchasing, say, candy bars with the cards. Methinks I need to just loosen up.

Thanks to Cassie, we have had many close encounters of the rodent kind, as you know Ag. Best bait for mouse traps is chocolate or tuna. Both work very well and the traps are highly efficient when placed at right angles to a wall. Sounds as if you are in danger of rewriting that children's book.

for Affy, I hope the situation is resolved soon.

Welcome back, Scandrea.

for Affy. What an infuriating situation. Would you have a claim against the insurance policy of the organisation which did not post the cheque?

Mol, I had never thought of supermarket formulae in those terms before. You are spot on, of course.

Mind you, there is another formula which has to do with price and variety of products on sale. If you take 'buying food for the weekend at Tesco' as having a notional value of 1, then doing the same thing at Aldi will have a value of about 0.65, but doing it at Waitrose will have a value of up to 2.35. It is not just to do with stuff being dearer or cheaper, it is also to do with variety. If Waitrose is the only place you can easily get - I dunno - paneer, or seaweed or miso then you are more likely to be distracted into buying them. Aldi only sell one kind of crispbread, so that's the kind you get.

GDZ, my parents were very careful never ever to lie to me. It does not mean they told me the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth the whole time. For example I cannot remember how they worded the Father Christmas stuff. We had all the fun of writing to Father Christmas, and so on, but it was clear to me from the off that 'Father Christmas leaves a stocking' was a Christmas game. Given that we already know that C has difficulty with distinguishing fact and wish-fulfillment, I do wonder about the message you will be giving the kids about truth-telling when you eventually tell them that you lied and didn't send the stuff to charity? You are such a passionate and loving father, and what you are doing is really really hard. I do admire your determination to get it right.

Ag, criticising someone's creative writing constructively is really tricky. Are there any convenient 6 year olds you can kidnap so your friend can try the story out on them? It sounds as if some really solid market research might do the trick. More practically, just saying to them what you have said to us might be simpler.

Feeling sleepy this morning.

B

The other thing to factor into the 'cost:shopping' equation is how hungry you are.
I've learned not to go shopping on an empty stomach - the rubbish which finds its way into my trolley on those occasions is

Any word yet from your son, Hyp?

mice are persistent little You need to take them a long way away if you're being humane otherwise they just come back.

*A post card with a picture of Belfast Lough flutters onto the pile*

Just checking in
I'm currently lurking from Belfast, been out here for a week and a half and will be for the next week or so...
Until now I havent had time to even log on, goodness knows what my mail inbox will look like.

and...
*I've cleared the backlog hurdle* over 500 posts.
Good job it's a quiet Sunday in the office .

Got to go, I need to get some sleep before coming back in to work tonight.


[BB]

I was going to go in to work this morning, but I did not wake up till 1100. That is too late to go in and do what I was going to do. Oh well..

[GDZ]

Mol, you are quite right. And thanks for adding the , Titania.

I hope Affy and Lil's money can be recovered/received very soon indeed.

I think that B's idea of road-testing the story on a random 6-year-old or two is excellent.

On Friday I discovered that the director of Me and My Girl once played the part I'm auditioning for next Sunday. He played it on the West End. Oh, dear - I have big things to live up to.

I was in the Library of Doom on Saturday morning and other than the streams of students looking for directions, I witnessed my most boring colleague giving a library tour. These are supposed to be a maximum of thirty minutes, and we try to keep them shorter due to attention spans and inherent boredom levels. I timed his one at over 43 minutes - the students looked well and truly fed up by then, and I had to apologise to their tutor! Also, all of the afternoon staff got stuck in traffic on the way in, so that I was experiencing extreme rumbly tummy by the time I got away.

I could make the tours more interesting by pointing out the windows that leak, the drain that overflowed, the place where the ducks got in, the place where the plants grew through the wall etc., but I'd probably get into trouble.

*hands out some low-calorie, low-fat but full-taste from his satchel for everyone and wishes he could eat some in real life...*

*wanders in looking on table tops and next to chairs as if she has lost something, wondering how many salonistas are online*

Not many today, Lil - it's been a very slow afternoon.

I'm off to make skirlie now.

There are 1136 researchers online! How did things come to be like this? Why, in the old days, I was chuffed to find 36 others.

1136!!

Should we get our running shoes on Lil?

Running shoes are comfortable.

Anyone ever tell you that you are evil Lil? I mean evil in a good way btw.

Welcome back Scan