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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A591455

I wasn't sure whether to post this item, then by not concentrating on what I was doing, I did it wrong. So this is the second attempt.

Sorry about the incorrect entry. (hopefully some kind scout will delete it)

This is a good entry and should become part of the Edited Guide.

It should not use first person (I, me). In general it doesn't, but there is at least one place (one of the footnotes) which uses "I".

Can you explain what is meant by west side? It is a term I am not familiar with.

Thanks, Gnomon. I've corrected the first person thing in the footnote.

I've no idea what west side means! I've checked the entry and couldn't find west side. Where does it occur?

Forget my comment about west side. I looked at "wide side street" and saw "west side street", maybe because of confusion with "west side story" and maybe because I've been drinking too much coffee!

I posted to here a while ago - a mysterious post disappears into the ether...

Anyway, can't be arsed to repost everything I said. Suffice to say the article made me - highly entertaining and a bugbear of yours I suspect

There are quite a few typos in the list at the end. I listed them all before but I'm not doing it twice, sorry.



Anyway, hope this gets recommended soon, I love it

Thanks orcus

I've corrected a few typo's, hope I've got them all

You're right on the bugbear.

I liked this very much. Glad to see that someone else realises that it is illegal to park on the pavement! Well done.
Don't forget that sometimes local councils encourage pavement parking by drawing parking bays on the pavements, or by reinforcing the edges of grass verges to let people put their near side wheels up. This is usually done on council estates where the residents have more cars than the road will safely hold.

I liked this too. I always wondered why people bought four wheel drive Jeeps in England. Now I know. Have you noticed how garages display them to show just how good they look with two wheels parked higher than the others?

What I find amazing is how hard it is not to walk into the wing mirrors of pavement parkers. There must be some sort of gravitational pull...

Walk into them - don't avoid. That way you'll hassle the driver when they return as they'll have to readjust it!
Small and petty -but worth it

Pedantry alert - sorry, few very trifling typos/grammar points -

para 2 " even on quiet and wide side street" - "even on a quiet...", or perhaps "even on quiet...streets"?

para 3 - dispair - despair

para 7 (list intro) - unnecessary space before footnote?

list point 2 - it's, point 4 - full stop before, should be after brackets (is that right? just looks funny the way it is)

footnote 4 - increasing/ly

In a much more real sense though, great piece, highly informative, cheers,

thehumanpedant

ps I find running along the pavement waving arms furiously at random whilst wearing metal gloves is a pretty good method of gathering wing-mirrors

Thanks - typo's and grammer points corrected.

You're welcome - looks pretty fairly flawless now, nice

i'm curious as to if this is illegal or legal? perhaps you might mention the chances of getting a parking ticket if one were to attempt this...

*hands up to getting a ticket on the pavement*

It wasn't a walking on pavement though, it was just a sort of bubble of a pavement stuck in the middle of an industrial estate. I argued that there were no yellow lines, so I wasn't parked illegally, and sent photos of loads of other cars parked there, and got away with it.

I stated in the entry that this is illegal. Although I am no legal expert (as stated in a footnote) to the best of my knowledge and belief it is illegal, regardless of whether there are yellow lines or not. However I think the chances of being prosecuted are very low. I think the police often turn a blind eye, and have even been known to participate in the art.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'The Art of Pavement Parking'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

My parents have lived in the same house for 21 years now and when we moved in there were a lot of young families moving into these new houses and every house had driveway space for 2 cars. However as we have all gotten older and our parents still live in the same quiet street we all have aquired our own cars. This has let to a great deal of pavement parking as the road is about 1 metre wider than two standard car widths and even with the driveways staggered it would be impossible for anyone to get past if every car (espsecially at busy times such as evenings and Christmas) were to park legally with all 4 wheels on the road.

Sir Kitt,

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, but you did receive the official 'this entry is being processed...'

Congrats on an entertaining article which i had ne truoble in recommending.

It should be appearing on the front page any day now ...or was that any week

Linus