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

Hello - good to see h2g2 is back online, but I worry some sort of wormhole will open if I reply to the 24 April 2021 posting, so here is a new thread.

I hope you had a good weekend, and a good parkrun.

News from last Sunday is that I seem to have fixed my freezer - the top drawer was out of alignment, but reorganising the contents helped the freezer to make the usual noises rather than the strange noise

I was kept busy with work last week, as I'm newly responsible for managing a shared inbox, so there was a lot of traffic to sort out. Things have settled down now, though I had a run in with a helpdesk, though - back in 2020, just before lockdown, I submitted a ticket asking for a repair to be done in a building I don't visit very often. I happened to visit again this week and found the repair still hadn't been done! The helpdesk ticket had been closed, but I couldn't tell whether it had been closed by a human or a computer. Easy enough to resubmit it, anyway, and hopefully it can be fixed by next month I hope your helpdesk stuff is going as well as possible

I went to an Octopus for a Preemie meet today, which was excellent - good to catch up with people again after most of us had a lurgi over Christmas so weren't able to meet in January. I enjoyed making a comforter as well - good to do while listening to the News Quiz

Hello! Yes, definitely a good idea to keep things separate as I don't know what will happen if we try to reply to earlier conversations. Hopefully there's a backup of the last 2 years…? I have MHTML files of every Edited, Post or Subbed entry that I've written or been involved with, which I don't know whether could be used to reinstate missing data, but that isn't really a solution and no-one wants to have lost 2 years' worth of the website.

So, what's happened since two Friday's ago? Two weekends ago after parkrun I went for a 11-mile run with my running buddy in the New Forest, so well and truly over a Half Marathon distance. We ran from Brockenhurst to the Knightwood Oak and back. The next day I had a hilly CC6, the last one I could run in and I needed to complete it to qualify for a place, so despite being exhausted I ran it. Finished right at the back, but nevertheless I achieved a position.

Last week was half term, and we completely failed to have our loft fixed. My wife and daughter spent a few days up with my father-in-law while my son and I stayed here. During the week I had a very successful hunt in Oxfam, where I found a number of Steeleye Span CDs, including the Deluxe edition of 'Wintersmith'. I'd spent months looking for that late last year – just wasn't coming up on ebay or anywhere, but wanting to own it I ended up getting the single-disc set as I reluctantly concluded that the deluxe version was too difficult to find. So I was definitely delighted with that. It was quite pricy for an Oxfam CD at £8:99, but I own it now.

On Thursday I awoke with a back ache, which is a bit odd. As the family were away on Saturday morning I caught a train to Reading and cycled from there to Woodley to get a new parkrun course. I arrived in plenty of time and helped them set up and put up the start flag, so I got a volunteer credit too, which is nice. I've put up the flags for 4 different parkruns now but this is only the first time I've got a volunteer credit for doing so. I did inadvertently make the mistake of putting my bike in the bike rack, which I had thought was a reasonable place to put it. Sadly I couldn't actually run as my back was too painful, so I walked it and that still counts.

Yesterday was a fun day as First decided they couldn't be bothered to run services in Southampton any more. They own the City Red brand, who have been running public transport for 144 years. To mark the end of services the local bus heritage trust had a heritage running day, offering free rides on three different routes between 11-4pm. So I found my bus-riding hat and met up with my old schoolfriends who have joined me for the & events in the past and we participated. We rode on buses from 1951, the 1970s and 1990s – we'd intended to do each route but the event wasn't as well organised as the Isle of Wight's Beer & Buses and so though we queued in 3 different places, 2 of them ended up doing the same route.

Sorry to hear about your helpdesk experience – hopefully something will actually happen this time! I'm glad that your freezer is making the right noises once more and that you are still enjoying making octopi.

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Tech have advised that they are still working on reinstating the missing data, but how long it might take is another question I'm annoyed with myself for not doing more to back up my work, but at least I have access to 12 years' worth at the moment, so I'm working on saving that now. I knew you would be organised, but I thought it was too much to hope for that you might have saved a copy of my Entries that you have subbed - you have my Divine and James Bond No Time to Die?

Glad you and your running buddy had a good run in the New Forest Well done for getting round the CC6, too Sorry your back is painful - odd indeed that the ache appeared on a Thursday and hadn't cleared up by the Saturday - I hope you soon feel fully better Glad you could get volunteer credit and walk the course in a good time even though a bike rack wasn't the logical place to put your bike after all I admire your parkrun tourism - I would get Vitality points for volunteering, but the thought of travelling half an hour to my nearest parkrun for 9am on a Saturday makes me feel never mind anything further afield! I'm still doing quite well with my points, though - I found a workout that combines cardio and meditation , which is not easy but overall enjoyable, and that gives me bonus points once a week

Glad the City Red buses had a good send off thanks to the heritage trust Glad you got to go on a few different types, even though the routes weren't as well organised as &

That is impressive to find the CD you were looking for in Oxfam when you couldn't get it on eBay £8.99 is more expensive than many things in Oxfam, but a bargain for something you can't get just anywhere

Everything I've subbed I should have saved as both a word document and a MHTML – I certainly intended to anyway, but being human one or two may have slipped through. I'm in the office and so can't check now, but if you want I'm happy to e-mail you copies so you have them in the meantime, until everything's restored? Today's Tuesday so I usually get home at 6 and have to dash out straight after dinner for 7pm to start puppet club at 7:15pm, so may not get a chance today, but always happy to send what I have from tomorrow? I started saving everything I'd written just before h2g2 was being closed by the BBC and wanted to make sure if anything happened to it, I wouldn't lose all the hard work I'd put into it. If I get a chance I'll have a look later. I can also send your dad's entries too that I subbed. Let me know if you'd like MHTML and/or Word – I'm assuming MHTML and that you have word (or other text) versions your side.

Funnily enough it looks like the last entry of yours that I subbed that is still in existence is How to Recover Files Deleted from a Windows PC…

I've bunged a few photos on now, and I may well write an entry for on it too. Just in case anyone missed me going on about in the Post entries on the & .

At Woodley I parked my bike in the bike rack, which admittedly was next to a path - and in the pre-run briefing the bike was mentioned as being a hazard partly blocking the path! The back tyre probably stuck out about 3 or 4 inches into the path more than the rack itself did, still leaving plenty of room overall I'd thought. One good thing about finishing at the back is most people had left before I got back on my bike and didn't see that I was the one who had caused the 'hazard'.

I must admit I don't normally look on eBay but that was something I'd missed completely when new and wanted to catch up on, but not been able to find new and struggled to find secondhand, so definitely couldn't believe my eyes for a few seconds when I saw that in the racks. 'Wintersmith' is a folk rock album inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel. My Dad and sister are quite big Steeleye Span fans so I've been aware of them but not really started collecting their music before now. You'd've thought either of them would have said something to me back in 2017 about their next album being Discworld inspired, but no… I'd better let my Dad off as it was his birthday yesterday.

Anyway, Happy Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day, I'll try to have a look to see what I've got of yours since April 2021 later on.

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Thank you very much for checking to see if you have something that can help me - tomorrow will be great, as I'm out tonight as well. If you could send MHTML and Word, that would be brilliant - I don't even have text versions my side because I was so trusting that the data was secure even if the website was offline

My dad's Entries are all OK, as they went through in 2019/20 (and I did print a few copies to share with his friends), but I would like my No Time to Die back if at all possible, as I dedicated it to him, and I wrote about Divine for devine, so I am very grateful to you for checking

That is 'amusing' about the file recovery Entry - I did try searching to see if I could recover anything from my internet browser cache, but all I could find was conversations rather than Entries, strangely. I did manage to salvage my bird lists, though, which is a relief - fascinating that I see around 100 bird species a year, but in total over 4 years I have seen 136 species

Well done for subtly handling the 'hazard' Not much of a hazard indeed, given that the bike rack itself was by the path

I'm not familiar with Steeleye Span - interesting that they were inspired by Discworld, but yes you can let your dad off if he was less aware of that because he's less of a fan of Terry Pratchett and because it was his birthday yesterday

Enjoy your pancakes, and enjoy puppet club. I'm at a evening so there will be crackers rather than pancakes, but it will be good to catch up with different people

Normally the point at which I save an entry is when it is on the FP so that the saved date matches, so thinking about it 'Die Another Day' hasn't been on the FP yet so I suspect I only have a Word document, but I'll look and let you know. At least all images for every Edited entry will be saved on Trello on archived cards – though I hope I won't have to upload 2 years' worth of images again.

Aha! I had wondered whether you were keeping an overall list, and 136 to date is a good number. With luck it'll easily get into the 140s by the end of the year

Steeleye Span's biggest hit is 'All Around My Hat' in the 1970s – though they did have a top ten hit with 'Gaudete' in the 70s, which I think was the first song in the top 40 to be sung in Latin, and it was also a cappella.

Funnily enough, have you ever noticed how, if you change 3 letters, 'crackers' becomes an anagram of 'pancakes'? I saw a crackers on Sunday too. Disappointingly there wasn't a or bus to go with it. Red buses, but not wine.

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Thank you so much for the files - more than I dared to hope for star No problem about not having an MHTML for No Time To Die - at least with the Word file containing the GuideML I can recreate it myself Hopefully things will be sorted out by Tech soon but I have to admit I'm feeling very pessimistic At least we can still use h2g2 as a gathering place, anyway, which is helpful - it's good to chat

140 bird species on the full list this year definitely seems doable, as there are some fairly common birds that I haven't seen yet - my latest target species is a Treecreeper, but it is a small brown bird that is extremely well camouflaged in a tree! I'm learning its song so I might stand a chance of finding one, although it's not always easy to work out where a sound is coming from outdoors

Ah, I'm not sure I have heard All Around My Hat, but I think I know their Gaudete

" if you change 3 letters, 'crackers' becomes an anagram of 'pancakes'" - - true! I enjoyed looking at your photos of the crackers etc - red not indeed! The cheese and wine evening was very good - speeches at the beginning that didn't go on too long, and the organisers put on a fine spread of different cheeses and crackers so a good time was had by all I hope your puppet club session was productive, too

Glad I could help with sharing your entries with you - you've got more now than you did before which is an improvement of sorts. Not as good as not needing to have back-ups, of course. I do hope we get everything restored - otherwise I suspect we'll seriously lose people - and once they're gone they're unlikely to return if they don't feel they can trust h2g2.

I'm glad to hear that you had a good session of and and crackers, with a good spread. The puppet club sessions was less productive than I'd've liked as there was little actual puppeting and more discussion on the relationship with the church where the puppeting takes place, as they didn't want to advertise what we were doing for Christmas, closed the puppet club's bank account (which had money in), borrowed the puppets without warning which are stored there and various other grievances which were expressed in a long e-mail sent, the response of which didn't reply to a single point that was made but went off on a bizarre tangent. I just wanted to turn up and do some actual puppeting...

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"you've got more now than you did before which is an improvement of sorts" - yes indeed... Hope is all we have that at some point the site will be in a fit state to be promoted to former researchers and potential researchers to encourage them to (re)join us... (I reported the Pliny front page error message on 8 April, 2021, so trust has been eroded for a long time )

Yes I quite like a cheese and wine evening, because I get to sample different cheeses rather than having to commit to one particular type if I bought some in the supermarket I did a taste test of Brie and Camembert, to examine their differences given that they are both soft cheeses with white on the outside - I liked them both in different ways, so that was intriguing. Mature Cheddar is a classic, but my favourite is a little bit of Red Leicester

Sorry your puppet club meeting was more politics than puppets... Sounds like a lot to sort out - good luck with it all

Things went a bit funny here this week because that project I was working on last year reared its head again - there was a meeting with the IT team, but I wasn't invited, then when I was invited the meeting was cancelled, so it is a bit suspicious... I've been tasked with writing a report, anyway, so I will think carefully about how to include all this as risks...

A bright day today, anyway, after the rain showers yesterday, so I'm enjoying the solar warmth

Good to hear you managed a good selection of and nothing wrong with the old classics, such as Cheddar and Red Leicester. Talking of Red Leicester and cheese reminds me both of the 'Monty Python' cheese shop sketch, as well as their later record sketch about Treadmill, which I reference in my latest story (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuIt3hrcliY if you are unfamiliar with it). Though yesterday I was drawing a policeman and reporter meeting a famous 1930s film character.

I can definitely tell you that the children weren't impressed with the discussions about the church politics. The puppet club had been set up probably about 20 years ago as a youth group to bring more people into the church, but now the people who run the church, particularly the youth worker, don't like the puppets.

Ah, the joys of work - good luck with figuring out whether you are invited to share your knowledge and experience or not! And good luck with the report writing - and finding the right balance between honesty and diplomacy.
I'm currently without a line manager, and yesterday was caught in the middle between two more senior people who have contradictory views about a task I was doing so I was quite fed up by the end of the day yesterday.

Oh, and last week we've had another 'Ways of Working' staff survey which was very heavily directing staff to say that we want to work in the office more often, but the results seem to be strongly opposed to that and that the hybrid working is best. I think it was a tick-box exercise that those higher up had hoped to use to justify their forcing people back into the office, even though they've sold off a lot of land. They also had as part of the 'ways of working' suggestions on how to 'work smarter, not harder', the first of which was to do unpaid overtime - which to me means work more, which isn't really what I understand as 'work smarter'.

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That is a funny sketch featuring the Bishop of Leicester! Your latest story sounds intriguing so far I'm working on compiling my Entries into books - as you found with your Livin La Vida Lockdown, etc, it is enjoyable revisiting past work and organising things into narratives by topic

That is a shame about the puppet club not being valued now after such a long association with the church... Hopefully things can be sorted out, but at separate meetings from the puppet sessions - I can imagine the children didn't feel the discussion was a good use of their time...

My report writing went well last week, and now I am just waiting to hear the verdict on whether the powers that be are willing to accept it Sorry you were caught in the middle of things yourself That 'Ways of Working' survey sounds like the saying 'the beatings will continue until morale improves'

I hope you had a good weekend, and I hope your back is feeling better I went to a 'nature park', which was fascinating. It was not the best for birdwatching, because the park was busy with people and dogs so the birds hid, but it was impressive to go from a very urban area full of traffic noise through a gate into a park that was full of birdsong

The good news about my is that it is 75% written now, having doodled 75 pages, and all but 6 of those have been polished too, so that's good progress. Even though it absolutely isn't the story about pedestrianisation I'd intended to write. It also doesn't have as good drawings as the previous one. I'm also unsure of the title, as it not being the story I'd intended to write I can't use the title I'd originally had in mind. At the moment I'm thinking of going for 'After that Pope!' which hopefully is both playful and intriguing.

I'll look forward to reading your entries as books - are you missing many entries over the last two years? I imagine that's a lot of bird ones. I don't really want to write too much on h2g2 in case it overwrites something written two years ago - I was going to send in something about the event for but I don't think I will until h2g2 is either restored or we know for certain that it is unrecoverable. No idea if that's necessary, but it seems to be on the safe side. Not suggesting that that is the best approach or whether anyone else should do the same.

I've also just started on C albums today.

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Fascinating that your characters have created a story so far from what you had in mind! 'After that Pope!' does sound like it gives an indication of the story while still being intriguing

Yes I did lose a lot of bird Entries in the last two years I'm not so sad about those, though, as they were more formulaic so I could write one in a day. My Bronte project is a sad loss, as that took many weeks to write, but at least you have salvaged some of it for me I wrote the Mersey Ferries Entry for my cousin and only sent him the link, rather than a download, so h2g2 would get more clicks, but at least he read and enjoyed it before it was lost.

The message Dmitri received from the Tech Team was mixed news - as feared, the lost content is unlikely to be recovered, but at least it could be recovered with new numbers so it wouldn't overwrite anything that we are writing now, and anything we write now isn't overwriting anything. Will be good to see in somewhen

"I've also just started on C albums today. " - aha! Classic Queen and your collection of Collections I found a Tom Lehrer CD in a charity shop at the weekend, which looks interesting - I do enjoy his Elements song

That's very disappointing news if we've lost so much - yes, we'll be able to rewrite and add back much of what we had, but it won't be the same.

But yes, I am listening to the Classics at the moment I don't have to listen to most C albums yet, not until December, and so that's much easier than B.

Disappointingly the loft boarders didn't come again today - we were told that the person who is doing it has lost their mother yesterday and so are bereaved, but we are their priority and it should be done by the end of the week...

Good to hear you've had a good find in a charity shop too - and that is the very model of a modern song about the elements

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` · . . · ` ><((º> <-- funny fish ASCII I saw today!

Yes, very disappointing - salvageable, but not the same indeed

That is also disappointing that your loft still isn't ready... Sad that the worker has a bereavement after illness, but that is good that you are now the priority Good job you booked that extra month of storage, as even if you could have moved everything out of the unit in one day, you still wouldn't have had anywhere to put it...

"that is the very model of a modern song about the elements " -

The first volume of my book is now published I like how it looks online, and look forward to seeing the printed version http://www.lulu.com/shop/sasha-quentin/miscellany-volume-one/paperback/product-4k7npp.html I think the next volume will be Places to Visit, incorporating Wonders of the Wirral

I might well nick the <º))>< fish for future use when wishing people Best Fishes!

I don't know how many people are employed in the company, so it may not be the same person who has had the bereavement who had the illness, or whether that is the person due to come tomorrow. We'll see if he arrives.

You're sneaky there in publishing a on payday Almost as if you're saying there's no reason for me not to get it.

Still having backache, but I don't think cycling is affecting it - that's one thing I can do without feeling pain, and the NHS website recommends staying active. (Cycling can affect back pain, but only if cycling about 200km+, over jarring ground or the bike position is forcing you to stretch to reach either pedals or handlebars, none of which applies). I am sitting for long periods of time in a chair without lower back support, so that is what I suspect may be the issue.
So I've ordered a new with added lumbar support, which will be handy if I ever become a lumberjack.

Why are lumberjacks, people who climb trees, named after Jack - a boy famous for falling down a slight hill? And why was the well at the top of the hill rather than the bottom in the first place - or was it like Eastleigh's parkrun hill and where the spring was?

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"I might well nick the <º))>< fish for future use when wishing people Best Fishes! " - ` · . . · ` ><((º> ` · . . · ` ><(((º> ` · . . · ` ><((((º>

I hope the loft does get to be sorted out today

Yes, lots of jacks around The well might have had something to do with a beanstalk, but was probably like Eastleigh's parkrun hill indeed My neighbour's tree had surgery recently, so I had a good view of the lumberjack at work - very impressive

That's good that cycling is not affecting your back, but not good that you're still feeling pain at other times... Lumbar support does sound like it will be helpful indeed

That is coincidental about payday! It would be an honour if you did get the book somewhen - I think you might find it interesting, as I have added notes to the original Entries as well as organising them into more of a narrative I'm making good progress with Volume Two already

The loft has been semi-sorted today, but annoyingly not fully. I can't remember whether I told you that we needed a large loft hatch as the current one is too narrow to fit boxes through, which is a disadvantage when needing to use the loft for storage. (Normally I'd look back to see what I'd said, alas ) well, because this required an electrician to safely relocate wiring, and the electrician didn't come here today, we have most of the loft's flooring done but not the hatch.

In good news my new chair arrived, and unlike my daughter's bed, the instructions couldn't be clearer and the packaging was of the highest quality, so I was very impressed long before sitting on it. It really dwarfs my previous chair.
Which reminds me of a story I've read (not sure how true it is, although the Oxford Dictionary bit is true, but getting ahead of myself) that Tolkien had a row with his editor who said that he would correct his spelling of 'dwarves' as it said 'dwarfs' in the Oxford English Dictionary, to which Tolkien replied that he had written the dictionary, and so spelling 'dwarves' was kept.

Mind you the thing that I keep seeing everywhere online at the moment is to do with Queen and the Mandela affect. It says 'Freddie Mercury never sang 'of the world' at the very end of 'We are the Champions' and that anyone who thinks he did is remembering it wrong:
http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/music-mandela-effects-question-everything-2460038
Which is odd because although that is true of the studio version, for Live Aid, which was watched by over a milliard people worldwide, he did indeed finish with 'Of the World' in the world tour (plus other live performances such as Wembley). So saying 'people remember it wrong' is incorrect, as they're more likely to be remembering one of the greatest live pop performances if all time.

I assume your neighbour's tree surgeon lumberjack wasn't wearing high heels, suspenders and a bra, going shopping on Wednesdays and having buttered scones for tea? Of the above it's only the high heels that are particularly worrying as I'd imagine you definitely would want to have full ankle support and good grip when climbing trees.

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Yes, you did mention the loft hatch needed attention - that is something that the loft has been semi-sorted, but annoying indeed that the electrics weren't able to be sorted out as planned (especially as the electrician turned up the other day when the loft wasn't ready...) I hope everything gets sorted out soon

That is good news about the chair being easy to assemble as well as being what you need Interesting indeed about plural nouns versus verbs!

That is an interesting article about Queen and the Mandela Effect - I agree it is incorrect to say 'never' as there are plenty of live performances with that finish... The question would have to be very specific about the studio version, and depends on the listener being able to listen to the whole song (eg on the radio) and it not stopping after the sort of 'false ending' when 'we are the champions of the world' is sung...

Yes, the lumberjack was well togged up with padded jacket and trousers as well as safety equipment I didn't realise the Lumberjack Song was so thought-provoking - reminded me of April Ashley, who was given testosterone to try to turn her into a manly man, and served as a man in the Navy, but she wasn't 'OK' until she transitioned.

I've been doing some more online training this week, which is interesting (PowerBI), but the quizzes aren't very enjoyable - I got one question wrong because the answer was 'all of the above', but there was no 'all of the above' option so I had to guess which of the options they were thinking of

I hope you have a good weekend, and I hope your back starts to feel better at parkrun I plan to continue work on my second book (including my Entry about the Museum of Liverpool that included mention of the April Ashley exhibition) and will hopefully see some birds if the weather is reasonable