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

Babel, I've just come home the beach. The salt in the water got in my eyes something terrible - though not as terrible as the sand getting into my cold glass(es) of beer

Sorry to hear that Loony, no, really I am!
Actually, I can think of other places I wouldn't like sand to get, such as my sandwiches

Hi, Loony! B-17, I'll be staying in New Year's Eve and avoiding the traffic nightmare.

Well, we managed to avoid having to travel by scoring an invite to a party at our neighbours further down the street
Can't wait. Should also have a good view over the river to Edinburgh and the huge fireworks display planned for midnight.

My club has hired my van (an 11-seater Mitsubishi) to help in transporting members on New Year's Eve. The first customer will be me - when they pick up the van. Chances are I will be one of their last customers as well

[sea] champagne's on the table!

Hi sea
*passes Y's around*
Loony, I pity the poor person that has to drive the van. I suggest you offer to put them up so that they don't have to drive home before getting squiffy, they can just get plastered at your place

*sea grins and goes to look for some chocolate milk*

Hi, sea! *enjoys Y*

ox, you do NOT wish you had a pool, repeat, NOT. I inherited the thing. It needs several thousands of dollars spent on it whenever I'm ready to fork out, just to have the 'bowl' part completely resurfaced. Flying ant queens and drones fall into it every time we have a decent rain. Leaves fall into it in the autumn. Oak blossom falls into it in the spring. Algae blooms occur regularly because of the leaves and blossoms, despite the great quantities of toxic chemicals that I pour into it. And the 3/4 horsepower pump that circulates the water burns electricity.

Unless you have a poolbot and a sugardaddybot, I don't recommend them at all. And this house will be for sale as soon as my brother comes down for the consult.

It looks like being a hard freeze, which means the growers of strawberries and oranges will be using a lot of water tomorrow night. Encasing strawberries in ice prevents frost damage.

Babel, don't they sell a special non-freezing substance for windscreens. I feel for you in those storms, and hope your power is not interrupted!

I'm going to paint, maybe tinker with the site (now I begin to see that it is a new toy) and definitely try to play Alice. Tomorrow I'm going to phone Mike A. Anybody got a message for him?

*Matina enters from the kitchen carrying a carton of Sea's favourite Chocolate Milk, and a glass. She leaves them on the table.*

sea, when you find the chocolate milk, ask Matina to heat me up some please!

The club employs a couple of properly licenced drivers - they get paid for driving the club's van (and mine). They finish work at 1am on New Year's Eve and will then join the festivities.

The club, which is on the beachfront (fireworks), is staying open all night so the all-nighters will be some of the first people in the world to see the first sunrise of the new millennium (again).

*sea thanks matina, and passes on the message. then she drinks the chocolate milk with relish- no, NOT the condiment!!!*

Tell Mike A hello, please! I miss his spirit. And I got a short reply from Ioreth about 12 hours ago. http://www.h2g2.com/F4382?thread=80003 post 14. Thanks for the reality check on the pool, Lil.

*Matina is busy in the kitchen heating milk up for Lil*
Lil, yes I do have windscreen wash with an antifreezing agent, however the concentration isn't quite enough to stop it freezing (need to add more windscreen wash) and more commonly the problem is freezing spray nozzles!

Glad to hear that the poor designated driver isn't going to miss out on the clubs festivities after all

Message for Mike: Keep on Moshin'! Hope he had a good xmas and got lots of cool stuff

Probably straight glycol is the only thing that will work, from what I hear of the temperatures out that way.

Good on yer, Looney, finding a way to be chauffeured in your own vehicle! And of course it's already the 31st for you, so as we might not see you again before 2001, Happy New Year!

Can't help noticing how much more zippily my page loads without the subbie badge on it.

Well at 1 part wash to 3 parts water, it should be good down to -15C
Even at 1/9 it should be good to -5C. Oh well.

*Matina appears with a steaming mug of chocolate milk for Lil*

Still debating handing in my ACE badge, but then I have greeted about 20 peeople this week. Doesn't make up for the month's I haven't done any greeting, but it's a start. The most demoralising thing is only getting about 5% responding to my greeting.
Perhaps if I get rid of my badge, then people would be more willing to chat, as I would greet them as just another Joe on the site.
Who knows....

Broadband has made a great deal of difference to the way I use this place. Until last month, I only visited my own pages when there was something to be tweaked, otherwise I concentrated on conversations. Now I am exploring a bit more. This place remains relatively slow, though, even with the boost from cable, so imagine how discouraging it must be for the newbies, who might be cruising at 48 KB on a good day.

Mindspring is still THE slowest site, though.

*Springie hears her name and rolls on her back to look at Lil, but refuses to leave the hearthside, and after a few moments she drifts back to sllep*

That's why I love nightshift, even though it can be quiet here, I get a chance to roam around a bit. At home, i suffer from the usual crap service. When I am on dayshift, I hardly bother logging on in the evenings. The Net generally is so slow.