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

I had a look at a copy of the new Berliner-style Guardian yesterday. I quite liked the new look but thought it was a pity that the contents of the newspaper should be so poor on that one day in particular.

There was one interesting article, though. A short piece by Roy Hattersley in which he ponders on why it is that persons of religious faith (porfs) should be so much more proactive and self-denying in their charitable/humanitarian endeavours than atheists. The article is worth a read. I have often pondered on this apparent state of affairs myself. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1567604,00.html

I was out visiting some friends yesterday evening and commended the article to one of them, who, it turned out, had read it herself. She said that Hattersley had got completely the wrong end of the stick and that there was as much humanistic charitable etc. work going on out there which was simply not being trumpeted as much as that of the self-publicising religionists. She cited some examples, but these, to my mind, all involved paid work, or were otherwise small specialised endeavours, and furthermore she was founding on the premise that all charitable endeavours not associated with a church or the such like must be atheistic endeavours. Looking around the room - chock-full of Dawkins atheists (I don't believe in gods, but don't take my lead in doing so from science) - and pondering on the immense amount of charitable work being undertaken by most of those in it... no, I'm being sarcastic here and it isn't pretty, and besides who am I to judge what I don't know - there will have been people there who are generous in their charitable giving (money and effort and time) but don't trumpet it. Actually, I know that to be true of at least one of them.

Otherwise the talk last night was all about the imminent group holiday in Spain. Things that have been discussed since the planning stages of the trip (last year) were discussed again, with the recitation of computer parts numbers, programs and the condemnation of Bull Gates thrown in for light relief - "My 4.227 Snicktysist isn't working", "well, have you tried going round the back with a finecticy shinectity and comtaboobling the ooby plug", "Bull Gotes is a barstid int he", "boopp boop boop bleep ping." Everyone shouting at everyone else, volume turned to 11. And I'm trusting my wife to these people? (Yes, and I have done several times before.)

(This doesn't sound too critical, does it? I don't mean to be critical. I mean, these are people who put up with me, and I'm pretty demme socially disfinctional I can tell you - morose, sullen and uncommunicative are the words that come to mind.)

So anyhow, Susan and I drank a bottle of red wine each last night, on top of a couple of slices of (Peet's) fruited bread and some stray crisps, then I also necked a couple of whiskys. We shambled home and (I, at any rate) slept badly. I have just breakfasted on:

2 x Ibuprofen, 1 x Cod Liver Oil, 2 x Evening Primrose, 1 x Multivitamins, 1 x Antihistemine, 2 x Brewers Yeast pills, 2 x medium-boiled eggs, 2 x crumpets (with olive spread), pomigranite juice, mineral water, one espresso.

My nose blocked up last night - my left nostril, to be precise - and I have been blowing all morning trying to shift a wodge of ... no, enough.


Douglas