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

So you hear the 4 minute warning - what do you do?

What if you are at work and cant get hoome to loved ones?
What if you are at home with loved ones?
What if you are in the street?
What if you are with people you dislike?
What if you are alone with no-one to to go to?
What would be the last thing you did?

apologies if this has been asked already.

Actually this is quite a horrific thought..but it could happen I admit.
I find it difficult to say what I would really want to do in 4 minutes..not much anyone can do no matter what the circumstance, so apologies as there is not much input here!

If i wasn't with my girlfriend i woudl do everything i could to call her to tell her i loved her with everyting have. If i was with her i would cuddle her. If i was with my famly i would say sorry for all the bad thing's i've done to them over the years n tell my mom n dad i love them.

If i was n the street with strangers i would probably want to die alone so i would find a quiet spot so i could gather my thoughts.

Think that covers everything!

Diddy!

The who with the what now?

"So you hear the 4 minute warning - what do you do?"

I believe the traditional response is to put your head between your knees and kiss your a*se goodbye.

after all, you don't have time for much else.

I've always wondered about the 4 minute warning, what if you don't have the telly or radio on? Will there be sirens? How will you know what they mean?

I think, on balance, I'd rather not know. My nearest and dearest already know I love them, if yours don't then ring 'em now - don't wait for imminent doom!

if i still have my cats i would kiss them good bye. I expect the phones would crash with everyone trying to call family (like when it strikes 12 at new year).

If i dont have my cats i would probably go into the street and just sit and watch crying and laughing. Crying cos the world (people/TPTB) is so bloody stupid. Laughing because i would be thinking of the Depeche Mode song - Blasphemous Rumours.

Fat kelli - that's a good point. My friends mum died of liver cancer very suddenly and that triggered me to write a letter to my parents telling them i loved them.

Whatever - i wouldnt want to survive it and die slowly.

They used to have systems set up during the cold war for alerting people, using some of the communication towers full of dishes that you see dotted about, but i dont know if they still do.

If it happens today - I'm getting straight under that cold shower.

scratches head and thinks: bunch of negativo's!

there is no indication what kind of 4 minute warning it is!

firstly the 4 minute warning can be just to get out of bed or to go dancing or eat an apple or do random act of kindness or or trow a

Is 'The 4 minute warning' (of nuclear devastation) just a Brit thing, or are you trying to steer us into happier waters?

I doubt I would know what it was, but presumably there'd have been some build up making it likely. To answer Mort:
If at work - either be cool & calm - 'been nice knowing you' - or burst into tears & hug people.
At home with loved ones - gather together & hug.
Otherwise, probably want to be self-contained with my thoughts.

The last thing I'd do? Most likely duck. Pretty useless thing to do really.

Always hard to know how you'd react, but I think I'd have passing thoughts like 'how unfair', 'what a waste', 'at least I won't grow old & decrepit', 'hope it's quick & painless'.

It's gotta be a Brit thing. I haven't got a clue. I hazarded a guess from the responses, but when I first saw the thread title I thought it must have had something to do with Football or something.

yeah what kind of warning, some sort of bomb, some sorta flood, tornado?

IF THERE WAS SOMEONE I DISLIKED ID HIT THEM BUT I MEAN FOUR MINUTES IS A BIT CRAPPY LOL 24 HOURS WOULD BE BETTER

I'm with you Pheloxi !

Why do we always think the worst? If this is the way the world has trained us, it's time to change the world!

I just get a handle on my long-term depression, and the world might go blewey!! Just my luck!

Seriously, tell everyone you care about how you feel about them -- no time like the present! (May as well tell the ones you loathe as well, you might miss that opportunity, too!)

SC

"Dancing with Tears in my eyes" - Ultravox. In the 1980s, we expected it all the time, but tahnk God, it didn't happen.
Jimmy Nugget said he'd go back in time and kill those responsible for imminent doom.
I would be trying to phone my sisters, we don't get on, and haven't spoken for yonks.
Fat Kelli is right, tell 'em now!

In Holland they`ve got sirens to warn of disasters. Though I imagine it would be like fire alarms. When they go off at work people often just assume they are faulty and shrug their shoulders.

I was told the sirens were dismantled in the UK after the cold war ended. Apparently it was the sirens they used in the second world war. Am I alone in thinking that there can't possibly be a more haunting sound than these sirens?
I'd like one. I could have fun.
When I was at school one of the sirens in the local town went off by accident. People were diving under desks (nuclear bomb proof desks?). I think I'd do what neil did in the Young Ones and paint myself white.

I would try to avoid the mad hystaria.
I would also think of what a waste of time this life has been.

>> I think I'd do what neil did in the Young Ones and paint myself white.<<
He did? Well, that would work as well as anything, I suppose.

I'd wonder how it would take for the effects to hit my country. A quick death not likely here