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

I borrowed £2 from Amit this morning and got myself an all-day bus ticket.

I picked up a magazine, two energy drinks and two bags of corn chips round at "Wee Douggie's" shop, then took a trip to Maplin at completely the opposite end of town to buy another "Timeguard" device, in order to replace the remote control that failed recently. It turns out that the Timeguard RF devices have all been discontinued, and they only sell IR ones now. We searched the old catalocue, but there was no sign there either. The two I bought must have been *really* old stock.

I bought myself a radio, on a whim, for £9.99 - it's small, has a proper-sized earphone socket and tunes 12 wavebands. It wasn't till I got on the bus on the way home that I realised that none of them was LW. (FM, MW and 10 x SW)

I went to return Amit's £2, but he wasn't there, so I had a wander around a couple of charity shops while I waited for him to reappear. I picked up a nice Bodum cafetier for £1; the same capacity as the one I already had, but this one has the little metal feet that stop it losing heat too rapidly. (Those were missing from my previous model!)

Amit returned, I paid back his £2, then I headed home. There were a couple of messages on the answerphone, from Bob and Chris. Chris' message wasn't urgent, and Bob said he had some stuff to show me. I phoned Bob and said I'd be along as soon as I'd done a couple of things, then I emailed Chris and set about finding the Timeguard website. I called, and after an astoundingly brief conversation the technician took my address and said he'd send another remote out to me, free of charge, under warranty!

I headed back out on a number 23 bus to pay Bob a visit. (Via Lidl, of course, for alcohol... I had the £10 I'd been budgeting for the remote control to spend, and I was heading out later anyway. )

Bob and I spent a couple of hours working on a couple of websites and drinking fortified wine, then I headed out and caught a series of buses round to my friends Alan and Hazel's place, where more alcohol and some damn fine chilli ensued.

I got a lift home, watched ER, logged in and posted this. A long day.

(catalocue - catalogue )

are you a cricket fan, Peet? Just wondering why you want LW, unless you like listening to R4 in all its Long Wave analogue glory.

Richard

That's exactly it. I (ir)regularly visit my Mother up in Portsoy, and they don't have R4 on FM; LW is the only place I can follow the Archers.

perhaps your purchase wasn't in vain after all. iirc you can get Radio 4 on Medium Wave in the Aberdeen area (try looking around the high-frequency end of the waveband). Perhaps you can get R4 on medium wave where your mother lives as well --- it's worth a try.

Richard

I bless the day I was able to listen online, Peet, though of course I can only do that if I'm pottering around in the kitchen and living-room, where my pooter is. Which is why my ironing board spends most of the week as an extra item of furniture there! I'm trying to persuade Cellofreak to download RealPlayer, as her bedroom is next to the laundry-room on the ground floor, and she's out for most of the day... The crackly reception and cricket made listening to LW a misery at many times, often if the weather was too bad, I couldn't get it at all.

Katy

Dagesh, believe me, I've tried. The Aberdeen MW transmitter is very low-powered and fades out about a third of the way up to Portsoy.

Portsoy's such a backwater there's a village two miles away that got Channel 4 about a year before they got BBC2...

Katy, listening online isn't an option. I don't have a 'phone line in my bedroom, so the only place I can plug the laptop in within reach of 'phone, mains and a table is the kitchen. Around Archers time I just can't get my Mother to F*** OFF!!!! and leave me alone. She hovers in the doorway the whole time going "Are you remembering the 'phone bill?". Even closing the bedroom door is no guarantee she'll leave me in peace. I don't get on with my Mother; my time out there is sheer hell, and listening to The Archers is one of the very few bright points.

Arrrggghhh!! Fully sympathetic, Peet!

Richard

Poor Peet thinking about you
You could of course avoid visiting your mother

Hey, Tabs!

Yup, that's pretty much the option I try to take...