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

Welcome to the atelier, as described in A304354. You know the drill. Shoes off in the foyer, be polite, no spitting.

Mol has scribed one and a half times. We belatedly awarded her the traditional trophy in the last thread, but wish to make sure she is suitably recognised this time. Thank you, Mol, for all your efforts. *Chloe presents Mol with a refill pen for her previous pen base. This pen has a red plume and is inscribed '8DX With Thanks from a grateful salon' along its length*

A double prize to ltp this time! Not only has he won the Blue mohair Trousers With Built-in Socks, but also garnered the Golden Backlog for his longest-ever post (#1722) which pretty much covered everything we had been talking about, ever. By popular acclaim, it is decided that the best prize we could offer is this Pants Exemption. *Chloe hands ltp a plaque declaiming him exempt from having to wear the LTTF mohair prize* Congratulations to you, ltp!

The MIP Award for most informative post goes to Agapanthus at #1490, on the matter of the smelliness of goat cheese (and sheep products). *Chloe gives Ag a small looseleaf notebook with her name and 'Atelier MIP-8DX' engraved in gold on the maroon leather cover*

Most Felicitous Phrasing Award: this is for Teuchter's reaction to Mika Berzinski tearing up a news report rather than lead with Paris Hilton: " for the newsreader who denied the oxygen of publicity to the bonfire of that particular vanity." *Chloe bestows a boxed paperback thesaurus upon Teuchter, the box being embossed in gold with 'Atelier MFP-8DX'*

Recipes -- Mol posted her strawberry-rhubarb compote recipe at #1583.

Welcome to new salonista jollywinegums. You have persisted, despite your initial consternation at the size of the backlog. It was nice to see Egon again, too, after a long absence. Scorpio_witch entered the salon last week, but we haven't seen her since. Probably that pesky backlog.

DISCUSSION

As usual, the weather was a recurring theme throughout the conversation. Rain was longed for, then tolerated, then gave rise to flooding.

Hypatia reported on a biblical business card shower at the Library. Agapanthus and David were both struggling with exam-stressed students.

Continued traditional v modern medicine. Salonistas took turns on the soapbox in an orderly fashion. This progressed to a debate about the influence of pharmaceutical companies on healthcare, and comparisons of the healthcare systems in difference countries.

Titania shared a map of the Stockholm underground that had been translated into English.

We talked about our shop assistant experiences, on both sides of the counter.

Salonistas complimented our hostess on her postcards.

Following Sol's visit to a car boot sale, we talked about Justin Timberlake's contribution to the worlds of music and celebrity. This was a short conversational diversion.

After Z reported working 13 hours without anything to eat, we talked about our various nutritional needs.

Fuel prices rose in the US, prompting a Salon-wide price comparison, and some consideration of the chicken-and-eggness of public transport.

We talked about the forthcoming film of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights/The Golden Compass.

Agapanthus went to see Zodiac, a film based on real events. The conversation about this quickly mutated into a discussion of past boyfriends, including the one who wrote letters in ancient Greek. This then mutated into a discussion about dutch ovens and the spit game, probably best scribed thus:

****

We saw a picture of Lentilla's green hair and several of us were Very Jealous.

We discussed tourists, the problems they cause, the benefits they bring, and the different sorts that we have experienced. Once again, Salonistas shared the soapbox fairly. The statues in Trafalgar Square featured in this discussion.

The weather over the UK bank holiday weekend was appalling, so not much gardening or picnicking but lots of DIY and decorating was done. The later bank holiday prompted further DIY work, some of it among Salonistas' neighbours. A short discussion on unsociable DIYing hours ensued.

A brief discussion on terrorists evolved into judging people on appearances, which became the similarities between major religions, which turned into a discussion of victims and racism, that evolved into a debate about rap and then somehow moved on to symbols of oppression and the way we dress.

The daft things cats do. The daft things people do.

A medical discussion resulted from Lentilla's spinal tap and Ag's heartburn. We were, as FG noted, a frail bunch this time, with some genuine ailments surfacing and several scares on top of that. We are all concerned for lentilla's MS diagnosis. Synchronously, Michael Moore's SickO was released during this conversation.

MR had difficulty in ridding herself of a former friend; short discussion.

Lil's unwelcome caller escalated his presence, and her decision to obtain a gun sparked a discussion about shooting. It also revealed to outsiders that the States aren't always as United as people think.

PWM earned a respite and betook himself to the Green and Pleasant Land for several weeks, then reported back in time for Sandy Place Summer, gas mark 4.

Marv had two job interviews and was offered both. He now has an office. With a door.

Freddie went retrograde.

FG supplied us with Fruit Bowl Ethics Shortcake at the start of the conversation; Agapanthus donated white chocolate and raspberry cake at post 403.

Solnushka was not marking.

Z accepted a job offer in South Africa.

Rosemary sat her finals.

A late frost scuppered Hypatia's soft fruit and many of her flowers. She decided, regretfully, that her garden had become too much.

Strangely wrapped himself in tin foil and took photos.

We were pleased to see that Knickerless Teacosy had been elected president of France.

Marv ran round the hills of Utah playing Capture the Flag and Mr Dreadful climbed the highest sand dune in Europe dressed as a pirate.

Lil's microwave dinner exploded.

Salonistas were shocked by the carousel accident in Estonia, the destruction of the Cutty Sark by fire, and events in north Lebanon.

Teuchter waved bye-bye to workmen and microwaved meals. Hypatia waved bye-bye to the Smellfungus and the brickhengers, and we congratulated her on this achievement. We all waved bye-bye (hopefully temporarily) to PWM (holiday) and B4 (loss of internet).

Mr Dreadful continued swordfighting and David starred in … Gerschwin.

Beatrice popped to London and discovered a 15 LED backlog on her return. But this didn't stop her passing her theory driving test.

Santragenius returned from holiday in Rome, Marv popped to Canada, Wilma popped to Torquay (we do a lot of popping). Hypatia and Mol decided to rearrange their rooms.

BIRTHDAYS: Agapanthus, MR


Marv gave up bachelorhood and found happiness.
David completed his house purchase. The Sound of Gershwin was a great success.

Little Miss Nicky organised a wedding reception.

Montana Redhead dropped a jack on her foot and broke it.

Amy was involved in a very frightening car accident. She and her family were bruised and shaken but otherwise unhurt.

Solnushka tried to remove chewing gum from trousers.

Kelli visited her in-laws in Scotland. Santragenius visited Tehran.

LibrarianPear used her new egg-poacher.

David found some old teeth in his new house.

FG has tickets for the Antiques Roadshow.

We toasted absent friends.

Santra's cat ended her life at the grand age of 18.

We brought into existence the very model of a modern Mormon Den.

d'Elaphant had a passport crisis that threatened to abort his holiday plans, a crisis which only passed when his passport arrived at the Very Last Minute, via FedEx.

Lil and FG started a Pasta Support Group. FG named it Noodles Anonymous, and Wittly Moniker woriied whether this would conflict with her Pastafarianism.

Hati left to go hitchhiking somewhere in Western Europe.

A pair of sparrow-like entities swooped into the salon through the french windows, spattered the cushions with modded postings and flew out again through the window. Wandering Albatross and Mr. Dreadful valiantly fended off the intruders by imitating Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sitting on a park bench and discussing weather interminably.

FG's car went nova in the middle of nowhere, but it was a friendly sort of nowhere with a decent mechanic. Although it takes many hours to get home, the car is eventually fixed.

A man tried, unsuccessfully, to hide in Hypatia's library. He was foiled by the internal video system.

One of Lil's cats began bringing in live animals, which culminated in her being bitten by a gopher and causing a rabies scare in her village.

The British degree system and its exams were compared to that of the American one.This led to some discussion about the value of degrees in the longer term.

GDZ became involved in the purchase of a bit of pressed carbon.

d'E finally leaves for Europe, consigning Zeppo and Gummo to the care of the salon.



Other miscellaneous topics:
Hoax calls.
Slugs! Banana slugs!!
pimiento cheese
rhubarb
vegetables and their optimum preparation
tanstaafl
fets
deceitful garlic
miniature horses and zorses
sick leave
camel spiders



Well, now that the salon is freshly swept and the ashtrays are clean, it's time to start up again where we left off. As I recall, PWM was just asking about the new movie based on the Dark Materials trilogy.

Make yourselves at home!

I have arrived early

Darn the Harry Potter post tempting me to reply!

Ah, choice of chairs.

*looks around attempting to judge comfyness*

brings a dirty mug of rum with some cocoa and a little bit of dust

Aha! First! Oh. Dang.

I'm always amazed when I read the scribing at how much we've covered in each conversation, both in terms of topics discussed and the variety of exciting, terrible and bizarre things that happen in our lives. I very much liked the tracing of topic drift.

Very nice scribing Mol and Lil - a heartfelt thanks to both of you!

Sorry for nicking the mug for the Xth time, but there are only so many new threads I can manage to sit on my hands...

As I was saying in the previous thread, The Golden Compass (not The Northern Lights, sorry) is due on 7 December 2007. This is 'straight from the horse's mouth' - that is, New Line Cinema.

*Accepts note-book with delight, and curtseys*

Great scribing. Did we really talk about all that?

*Matina brings Titania an Irish coffee in an FTTF mug*

*Elbows her way into the new thread.*

Quite a crowd today!

Screach, bang, crash, a rough landing by gad sir!

Uoaks - thought Lil said 'a couple of hours...'

Still, decent time this time

*back to see how it happened*

(I seem to be doing a lot of that this evening!)

Thanks David and Ag for pointing me in the right direction!

Ag - the monitor is part of an ongoing series of tests to try and look at my dodgy heart valve. It's not really serious, at the moment (as far as I know). I suppose part of the aim of the test is to see how serious it is, if that makes sense!

Now I will run back and read Lil's summary, and the catch up again!

You seem to have gotten the hang of Salonista racing down pat, LP

Well scribed, indeed! And sorry for metaphorically tying your shoelaces together, David

Now I must make more (quite a lot more) small finishing touches to the Plans for the scouting take off on Friday...

Thanks Lil and Mol!

As I was saying on the other thread, I'm looking forward to seeing the film of Northern Lights, although not sure how they will do justice to the book/s.

Oh, sure, this gets posted right after I give up hitting refresh and hop in the shower

First page, anyway

Ooh, ooh, ooh, Mr Peavely, Mr Peavley have I made it???