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

Being a light sleeper, my body does not respect the need for a full night's sleep. Even sleep for the remainder of the night would have been something, but I didn't get even that. One trouble is that Hebden Water runs just by the back yard of The White Lion, and is particularly noisy there because the river bed has been artificially built up so as to make a fast-flowing cascade where the river is, as a consequence, shallow. I woke at about 4, then again at about 7:30, at which point it was obvious that I would get no more sleep.

I did 4 postcards. The postbox is next to the market place, where a few stallholders were starting to set out their wares for a farmers' market.

Back inside to pack, then breakfast at 9. Misty, Sheena, Hati and MizzE joined me. Jane and Laura were, as Jane put it, "antisocial" and took another table. Jane, Laura and MizzE decided to drive to some nearby village and enter a scarecrow competition. The idea is that some of the locals display scarecrows, and entrants must follow clues and find them all. That didn't appeal to me, and nobody else had any other plans, so, after packing and checking out (which must be done by 11), I went on a slow stroll about town. At Holme St., there was a flea market, including a couple of book stalls, but there was nothing there worth buying.

In the main street, I met Sheena and Hati who said they'd do Hatchard again. It opened at 12:30, so at 12:45 there I was, followed soon after by Sheena and Hati. There were some titles I knew, but none that I felt were worth even £2.

Walking through the park on the way to the rail station to see Misty and Sheena off on the 1:58 to Leeds, I spotted Misty, and caught up with her. She suggested a redistribution of the load: she trundled her suitcase and I shouldered my two bags and carried her bag. She worried that I, as a man, might object to carrying a pink bag. No worries, Misty! Pink is not really my colour, I admit, but I do not have a machismo so fragile as to be damaged by the act of carrying the bag of the woman I am with.

By my rail itinerary, I had a 13-minute connection to make in Leeds, from a local train (leaving Hebden Bridge at 3:58) to one that could be on any platform of Leeds station (which has at least 17 platforms). I played it safe and went on the 2:58. The rest of the journey went fine, and I even managed to get a train out of London 30 minutes before the one on the itinerary, thus getting me home for an evening meal that much earlier.

I had time and energy enough to catch up in ML, but writing lengthy journals and making a photo album for the lockin will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sundry thoughts:

Rail travel: If the destination is so far away that an Intercity leg is needed, then, if possible, book a super advance return at least a week in advance.

Camera: On overnight trips, bring the charger and the other rechargeable batteries. The camera soon exhausts the batteries' charge.

Thoughts on Hebden Bridge in summary:

Quite why BA deemed Hebden Bridge the 4th funkiest town in the world (and the funkiest in Europe) I don't know. [Source: the April issue of highlife, the British Airways flight magazine.] It doesn't seem to have any more art galleries than St. Ives, or independent bookshops than Hay-on-Wye. Perhaps it's all those "media types". As for the statement that lesbians outnumber straight women 6 to 1, I will leave that for others to judge.

One thing that helped make HB3 good was the weather. It was cloudy but dry and warm throughout.

The complete list of Mustardlanders who attended was:

Men: Fitology Phil, QB, Rob, TWriter, his father, me: 6.

Women: Almond Aire, Amy Bridge, Annie Cambridge, Hebe, Hati Haystack, Jane, Laura S, Matilda Groves, Misty, MizzE, Polly Tunnel, Sheena, Tallulah: 13.

This bears out my impression that HB3 was female-dominated. At some stage some woman (Laura?) seemed to have taken pity on me as she saw the arrival of Phil as a man for Word-Lover to talk to at last. Did she think I'd rather chat with him on bloky subjects? What I value is good conversation and good company; it doesn't matter so much to me if the company is mostly female, so long as I can be part of the group, so chat about schoolgirl fiction is no good for that purpose!

Word-Lover, I hadn't realised you were intermittently blogging, or I would have dropped by ages ago. I've only just read your Hebden Bridge accounts, and found them fascinating.

I did manage to call into ML on the Saturday in question, so was there in spirit, at least (though it didn't look as though the people physically at HB actually called in - from photos of previous meets I had thought this was usual). Perhaps I will make it another year.

Hi Bonsie ... thanks for looking for the Hebden Bridge-ites on the saturday in question. We wanted to look in on mustardland but didn't have access to the required facilities. (In the first year the fox and goose provided a computer for us, the second year one of the attenders did ... very generous of the owners on both occasions given the amount of liquid refreshment being consumed by many people in a confined space and consequent risk of damage to keyboard ... though on both occasions all was well.) Posh and parrot did phone in to serenade us though. Maybe next year we'll have the techie side sorted out again. I hope you will be able to join us on a future occasion.

Sheena