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

Wise words

"people who have to deal with these 'lying liars and the lies they tell' need even better memories." - yes indeed - it is much easier for people to make something up that other people like because 'it sounds like it could be true' and much harder to prove that it is not true and convince other people that it is not true...

Up north in England 'night soil men' were needed in some places until the 1950s, but at least people on the loo in the wooden outhouses didn't have to worry about snakes, indeed... Spiders in the outhouse and cockroaches in the kitchen were scary enough for my mum, and I'm grateful that the critters in my indoor bathroom are not that bad (spiders occasionally, but mostly silverfish and carpet beetles that are easy to pick up)...

"Remember that the 'past' had good things and bad things in it." - yes indeed

Thanks, Sasha! That's interesting about the 'night soil men'! Back in the 70s when we visited Ireland, we saw houses that had outdoor toilets, but made of brick with flush toilets.

One was at a pub. The lady there told us that often, busloads of tourists from the US showed up. 'Ancestor-hunting,' she laughed. She said they thought it was all romantic until they asked for the toilet.

I told her the problem was that her tourists came from Boston or New York. They had short technological memories. Those of us from the rural South knew.

Speaking of ways to fight lies: if you or anybody has Amazon Prime, they're showing 'A Family at War', at least the first season is on right now. It's a Grenada TV series from 1970. I have never seen anything better or more honest about everyday life in the UK during the war.

It's set in Liverpool. What I like about it is the people are real, not heroes or villains. Terrific acting. David Dixon is the baby brother, and it's nice to see Ford Prefect again.