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

Entry: Little Crosby - A4112407
Author: unifoon - U678692

Honestly, they even asked "Are You Local?" when we had a bite to eat in their teahouse.

Nice

One little niggle - when reading this for the first time, unless you've just read the Crosby Village entry you've absolutely no idea where on earth Little Crosby actually is! I clicked on this one because I thought it was about a village I knew in Cumbria!

Any chance of an introductory paragraph telling us where it is?

Perhaps you could combine the two articles, putting this one at the end of the other one. That'd make it clear where it was. You'd be best changing to GuideML so you can put in a header, though.

These are a couple of nice, interesting little articles, but I'd like to see a few details fleshed out - how is the tea shop "rustic", what's in the museum, what are the drivers bypassing (quick nitpick - don't call a road a motorway when it's not; checking the map I assume you mean the A565)?

Also, some nitpicks:
The first sentence is a bit of a dictionary definition, which I don't think the EG likes. Put something like, "Little Crosby is very much like ..."

Second para:
Move the comma to outside the closing bracket.
"... lacks virtualy any reason for said traffic to pull over and take in the view." is a bit confusing; you should indicate that you mean local services.

Third para:
I think "conveniences" is the wrong word when you include a church and a museum. Perhaps "services" or "notable buildings" would do.

"... a local museum which suspiciously resembles somebody's home,..." - is "suspiciously" the best word? Also, you have "suspicious" further on, and I think such repetition is best avoided.

right down to the garden gate," - Split the sentence at this point? It's a bit long and implies that people's homes have 'museum' signs.

"... the lack of public information, ..." - How do you mean? Are there no notices on the exhibits?

"said 'museum' sign" -> "a 'museum' sign" It's only "said 'museum' sign" if you've already mentioned it.

Fourth para:
"circumnaviage" -> "circumnavigate" or just "navigate" or some other word. "Circumnavigate" is to go round something and I'm not sure that's what you mean. Other than that I rather like the phraseology here.

Fifth para:
Is Greater Crosby the same as Crosby Village? If not you'd better explain where it is (just say "the nearby Greater Crosby" if you can't be bothered with a longer note).

"Roysten Vasey" -> "Royston Vasey"

Just agreeing with what has already been said.

HELL

unifoon,

Just a couple of points: 'virtually' (contains 2 'l's).

The use of the word 'comprise' does not require the word 'of' after it.
'Comprise' means 'consist of...' or 'are composed of...', which is correct usage; but the 'of' after 'comprise' is superfluous or redundant.

It's like that annoying American import: 'off of' which makes lovers of the English language cringe! I've even heard TV Newscasters and educated celebrities use this abomination; BBC too!. Lord Reith would spin in his grave.

f

>>(due to the speedy motorway-bypass that its roads allow,)<<
You don't really need the brackets here and I'd re-write the sentance, it doesn't make much sense
Being pedantic the A565 isn't in Little Crosby, instead it forms the eastern boundary of it for a while, all of the settlements on the other side of the road, such as Homer, are villages in their own right.
You could mention Crosby Hall was the seat of the Blundell family for some time and that it is now used for educational purposes as the Crosby Hall Educational Trust
How about ways to get in/out of Little Crosby? Public transport links etc? (For instance the walk from Hall Road train station to Crosby Hall is quite nice in the right weather)
How about its origins? Crosby is a Norse name meaning 'place of the crosses'
Finally (I promise) I had always thought Greater Crosby referred to all the Crosbys, including Crosby proper, Little Crosby, Crosby Village, Blundellsands, Hall Road and Waterloo
I hope you do this article, it looks really promising and it might get me to do my Entries on Bootle and the Sefton Coastal Footpath
Iago

Hi unifoon and Honestlago,


As you are both familiar with Crosby and Formby (no doubt)can you tell me this please? Was (or is) the coastal pinewood area(s) of the latter owned by one 'Lady Formby' at any time in the last century. I was told that it was by someone there, but I did not believe him because he was a serial 'romancer';(I won't call him a liar!). He was trying to scare me, I think, with the threat of a gamekeeper with a shotgun, when we were running all over the place as children.

f

I don't think there's ever been a Lady Formby, all of the land has either been owned by the Blundells or Seftons. It's possible but I don't think so.
There are a number of private landowners who get very displeased if you cut across their land and I've been threated with a shotgun before

So, nothing's changed then! Thanks, Hl, for responding to my question. I just knew that lad was lying about 'Lady Formby's gamekeeper'. My comments about that old hermit on Formby sands was true though, I saw him and his place first hand!
We also used to annoy the Coast Guard in his little wooden hut on the Formby sandhills by waving at him and making rude gestures. What devilish things we used to get up to around there when I come to recall my sojourn.
Flippin' kids. Not half as bad as they are these days though!

f

Author elvised.

Flea Market (people seemed to think it was Editable) or Back to Entry?

I'd say back to entry.

Right, that was my take on it too.

Earlier in this thread, Whisky asked where Little Crosby is. I've never heard of 'Little' Crosby myself (must look at my AA road atlas to find out!) but Crosby and Formby, together with Blundellsands, all south of Southport in Lancashire, are in the general administrative area of Sefton. Sefton itself is so named from the landowning family in that region,from what HonestIago said in his reply to my (and Whiskey's) questions. The Blundell family apparently being neighbouring property owning people.

What does 'back to Entry' mean in 'Hootoospeak',please?

f.

If this Entry gets 'shelved' (Elvised), the author having abandoned it for the appointed lapse of time, and is going begging for an editor, I would like to volunteer to do something with it myself. I am not 'claiming' it, it's just a shame to see it go to waste. The general area is a rich and interesting corner of England. Formby is, I think, now formally holding the status of an English Heritage Coastline, an honour not given lightly by that organization.

f.

Back to Entry means it is taken out of Peer Review but still exists in its current form on the site and can be found via the search engines.

Going to Flea Market means it goes into a forum which people visit who are actively looking to take on an unfinished Entry and make it Edited Guide standard, then resubmit it to Peer Review.

If you want to adopt this Entry and work on it that would be fantastic

In which case I'm not sure where it should go - can another Scout please advise whether this needs to go via Flea Market in order for frontiersman to adopt it? I seem to think that's not necessary but maybe it is in order for you to be able to edit it.

Jules

Hi JulesK, and thank you for your interest in my interest!

Thanks, also, for the info. on what goes where when Entries are neglected or abandoned.

I wait with you, to see what our colleagues say about our respective questions in this regard.

Cheers,


f.

It doesn't need to go to the Flea Market.

Any of us can, if we're whiling away the hours by randomly trawling through the outer spiral arms of h2g2, pick up an abandoned entry written by another Researcher if said Researcher is no longer active.

If you find an interesting unedited entry that you think ought to be put through Peer Review and it turns out that the Researcher is considered inactive because they haven't posted for some time, you can 'take up' their entry like this:

1) Leave a message for them on their PS stating that you've seen their entry and would like to use it as a basis for an entry of your own which will then be put through PR and hopefully get into the EG. Tell them that you'll wait four weeks for a reply.

2) If no reply is forthcoming, leave another message saying that you're going to go ahead with the entry, leave a link to it, and let them know that they'll get a credit on the entry. You might also want to point out that this accepted h2g2 practice in case someone comes back and gets all bent out of shape, thinking that you've 'stolen' their entry.

3) Create the entry, and credit the original author by adding their U number to the appropriate box underneath the main text box on the editing page, then work on it and eventually submit it to PR.

If you want to pick up an entry from the Flea Market, all you have to do is post a message to the Flea Market thread saying that are taking this entry on, and then proceed straight to step 3.

When I say "leave a link to it" in step 2, I mean leave a link to your new entry so that the Researcher can have a look at it if they come back.

Thank you, I knew I count count on someone popping by soon

I was just a little unsure as it's so long since I adopted another Entry I couldn't remember how the process of actually editing another person's piece would work, ie what you need to see and type to get access to it...if that makes sense

I tried to find out via the help pages but you were quicker (as it's all in your head!)

So, frontiersman, this will soon be sent Back to Entry and then you can start the process outlined by Gosho.

Jules