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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A591022

hi ya! i think that this should be included because when people go to france they need to know where to get their shopping! i mean, if no-one know what Super U is like then things could get drastic!

Your Honour, this is an interesting topic but, alas, you may have to spend some more work on this entry because the structure doesn't seem to be what Edited entries should look like. A list of examples can be found here:

http://www.h2g2.com/ComingUp

These are entries which have been accepted during the last few days, and you might have a glance on a few of them, to see what the Guide is after (in terms of style and structure). In particular, you may note that speaking in the first person is a rare exception and only applicable if a very personal experience (like cancer) is described.

Have you read this: http://www.h2g2.com/Writing-Guidelines ?
It is a page containing tips on how to please the editors

There's also the 'Casino' supermarket chain which you should include


Bossel (Scout)

thanks for you're help! i've never come accross 'Casino' though!

Should be reason enough for a summer vacancy in Southern France

sounds good to me! allthough i do happen to be going there in August for 10 days! i'm going to Ardeche and then on to the mediteranean. it's a kind of watersports and outdoor activity holiday. one of my friends who's going has offered to take me sailing when we get there, i've agreed but i've heard a lot of horror stories about his close encounters with the Isle of Wight ferry! so i might not be comming back!

Apart from the ferry (which I don't know) I can tell you: you'll love it!

Bossel, envious

yup! i reckon i will!
hopefully there won't be any ferry's where we're going but i just have to remeber not to go sailing with him in at lymington! do you live in England?

yup! i reckon i will!
hopefully there won't be any ferry's where we're going but i just have to remeber not to go sailing with him in at lymington! do you live in England?

No, I don't need ferries cause I'm already living on the continent

oooooooooo, nice! wherebouts?

Well, think of Sauerkraut, or just visit my space

i will! am going there now..........

nifty home space!

To get back to the original posting, it was a good idea, but does need a lot of work, both in style and content.

Needs to be thoroughly researched. E. Leclerc (note correct spelling) is in fact somewhere down the hierarchy of French supermarkets (sort of like Asda compared to Waitrose and Sainos). At the top would be Cora and Auchan, as well as Géant (which are giant Casinos) Mammouth and Carrefour. Smaller markets include SuperU, Intermarché and Coccinelle, as well as the local Casinos you will find in small villages, stuffed surprisingly full of... stuff.

Good advice would be useful. For example, you take your life in your hands if you visit one of the larger Cora stores after lunch at the weekend. These stores have such badly designed carparks that you can literally get stuck for as long as an hour trying to leave. The French are much more rigid than the British when it comes to mealtimes. Therefore they all arrive at the same time after lunch, and, on average, spend more or less the same amount of time shopping. Billions of cars then converge on a single exit lane, causing gridlock.

Highlights of a trip might include the live seafood, the fantastic pastries, and the incredibly smelly cheese samples. Petrol in a French supermarket is miles cheaper than on the motorway.

thanks for all your help!

There's Hyper U and Marche U as well as Super U, I think it's to do with size... the others aren't that bad.
Perhaps some mention of how much fun French supermarkets are compared to British ones.

i definately agree with the fun factor! i mean, they have those little weighing machines with the stickers! they make the whole trip worthwhile!

And the fact that the seafood section (as mentioned) is a bit like the zoo.

no, i don't like that bit.
helpless crabs and lobsters in tiny pools waiting to be plunged into boiling water and eaten

True... but in some shops they're mercifully dead... and where else do they sell whole sharks?
(probably the rest of Europe, but you get the idea.)