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

Somehow I'd always pictured Germany as some super structured severe and grey place, but I was recently pleasantly surprised.

I was in a little city called Bamburg in the south of Germay with a friend whose father owns a bakery there. First good point - that bakery! Too bad it's lent and I couldn't indulge in the local pastries too much. The town itself is beautiful complete with Gothic architecture and a 'Little Venice' on the river. The sun shone for the whole time we were there and it rained non-stop on the way home. It has pretty much been raining ever since actually. Oh well! That's England for you.

I met a delightful French chap called Philippe who had been living in Germany for a few years and who hopes to visit the UK in the summer. He's got my welcome. Totally brilliant man, only 19 but full of deep thoughts. We spoke about God, and letters and meeting up in Brittany in September...

The letters thing stuck with me though, particularly as he said to me, on writing down his address in my much-loved, leather-bound notebook words to the effect of "I warn you, I write letters and never send them." I have a tendancy to do the same myself. Generally with letters that contain important thoughts. Why is that? I'm sure the people they are intended for would much rather receive them,(unless of course they are blatantly offensive), than hear nothing as the neglected paper moulders in a dark corner of the desk/room. What happens to those thoughts and words that we produce and subsequently toss aside without actually destroying on every occasion. I refuse to believe that just because they are not received that they are without value. The Secret Life of Unreceived Thoughts. There's a novel in the making. So much for that.

Retracing my steps back to Germany, along a somewhat circuitous route, my boss accused me of being a Bo today ("A what?" "A Bohemian), and it made me wonder exactly what this implies. I had always had the impression that it meant some sort of 60's poet types who wore black polonecks, and who didn't eat enough red meat(went out with a bloke who kept asking me if I would wear one, it was very strange). So I looked it up. Apart from 'A person from Bohemia' it also said 'a socially unconventional person, esp. an artist or writer'. So far so good. So how did my boss, who is my supervisor in the travel insurance claims unit(yawn) where I work, come to this conclusion? You've got me there. Well, I've always been accused of being a hippy, but she said that I'd 'gone beyond that'!? Oh well! At least it wasn't slander.

I met a chap who actually IS from Bohemia on Sunday. Charming. I, unerudite as I am, did not even know that it was part of the Czech Republic. I didn't even realize it actually existed. Ho hum. You learn something new every day...

Hi Roo

It sounds like you like travelling

Well you certainly enjoyed your trip to Germany and brought back some happy memories.


There are expected to be quite a few people login on for the first time, today. If you were one of the many who watched Tomorrows world earlier - Welcome to h2g2. If you were not the welcome to h2g2 I have been a researcher for almost a year now, since it was shown on TW in 1999. Its a great site and different from anyother site I have visited.

Well thats enough for now apart from saying, if you get lost you can visit my compost heap by clicking on my name above or just go to the front page - theres lots to do and places to see so I won't hold you up any longer cos you'll want to go searching.

Oh another last thing you can answer this posting by clicking on the reply below. It will come up on my page and I will get back as soon as pos. Any posting you make will come up on your page and you can get back to it when you have time. Beware sometimes a party breaks out on some forums - its that kind of place.

The guys & gal are really friendly, so expect people to drop in and say Hi

Always check under the Discuss this Entry banner on your page.

Hope you stick around
vegiman

Emal adds a whole new perspective to this 'unsent letters' idea - You /think/ of emails to send, and never write them, you write one and put it on a disk while at work/school/imprisonment, and never send it, and of course there are the emails that go back and forth, eventually degrading to 'er..... hi, just replying to your reply'...

Someone should write an article on this!

Hi Vegiman!

Posting at the same time! I shall add my little wecome too -

You can find a page for newcomers at http://www.h2g2.com/A5752 , or you can visit the ACE's homepage, http://www.h2g2.com/A214796, and of course, I'd be happy to show you around!

Some places I would recommend are my house at http://www.h2g2.com/A251993 , but I /would/ say that was a good place (Grin), and the Towel Discussion Fourum at http://www.h2g2.com/A211609

There are a number of clubs that you can sign up for around the place, you can find those where you will, and there is the POST (h2g2's newspaper) at http://www.h2g2.com/A54963

At the ACEs we have a whole host of interesting entrys and places to go, so do drop by!

Most of all, Happy Researching!

TimJ

Hi again Roo... I must say that the internet has been a marvellous thing for my letters not getting "lost in the post"... dealing with the stress of writing a letter, putting it in an envelope, buying a stamp, addressing the envelope *and* putting the stamp on, and finally finding a postbox... prohibitively difficult for me... But I can sustain email friends where I never had a penfriend... Such is my computer, which sends my email before I can delete it... (at uni anyway)

Joanna Princess of Darkness