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

Here I am

Just made it to Heathrow last night before the Hampshire roads clogged up - and that was with an hour's delay in Paris.

IIEM - a large mug of anti-jetlag, please. And don't spare the caffeine.

We really don't know how to cope with snow here
#1, who collected me from the airport last night and stayed over at The Towers, got half way to wo*k this morning before receiving a message that her department was closed. #3 walked to his place of wo*k, wearing his Chile boots and cold weather gear, and is clocking up brownie points as we speak.

Beijing was verrry cold but had no snow; they've had zero precipitation since early October. Lots of frozen rivers, canals and lakes - including Kunming Hu at the Summer Palace, where people were able to walk from one side to the other. Mr T declined to take to the ice, fearing for his already injured leg.

* also worried about stranded Salonistas - and those duelling with physical frustrations and other Freddie induced miseries

Simulpost! Great to hear from you. And good for #3.

I have been trying to find the effect that snow has throughout Thurrock, Essex aka Outer Mongolia but the Thurrock Gazette has no news about and it is the only local news. Were are not covered by London or Anglia news.

Dunno. It was kinda thawing, but the valley disappeared half an hour ago. It's come back, but it is still snowing.

B

If there are any stranded salonistas in the vicinity, they are welcome at ours. Assuming they can actually get here, of course. There will almost certainly be soup.

Oh, I know it's unfair to laugh at the Brits and their inability to cope with snow, Hyp. I don't even know where my boots are at the mo, and I need to go out later. Anyway, the last time it was this impressive was 1991 apparently. I remember that. I walked to school. It took ages and then it was closed. Fun though.

Still, it's the first time MiL has been around for us and snow. She's just suffering from culture shock. She was mainly bemused that all the street sweepers weren't out getting the snow off the sidewalks. In Russia, the street sweepers are also responsible for snow cleareance. Consequently, there are a lot of them, mostly armed with shovels and brushes rather than wizzy street vacumn cleaners.

Mind you, certain sections of the transport system also seem to grind to a halt for the wrong kind of leaves. And autumn happens every year.

[GDZ]

and to anyone in need thereof.

About not wanting to get involved if you see someone lying on the ground etc: several years ago my mother and I spotted what looked like an unconcsious elderly man slumped down on a three-wheeled moped.

We stopped to see if he was alright, whereupon someone opened a window on the opposite side of the street and shouted: 'It's OK, we've called for an ambulance!' My mother, having worked as an auxiliary nurse, examined him and found he was dead, probably from a heart attack. He had turned off to the side of the road, so had probably felt it coming.

I've been wondering if he would have lived if someone had immmediately started CPR on him the moment he lost consiousness. At the time, I also wondered if there was someone waiting for him to come home, since he had a cardboard box of potted geraniums on the moped.

Regarding beggars - many years ago I visited Skopje in what was then Kosovo, Yugoslavia. There had been a huge earth quake in 1963, and the poor among the citizens were living in the ruins that still remained. Obviously, the city thought it was more important to build a railway station that was huge and looked rather like an airport, all concrete and glass with escalators everywhere, than to build new living quarters for the homeless.

Despite their living conditions and worn and torn clothes and shoes, not a single one of them tried to beg. Nobody. But despite their poverty, they were very hospitable. A week earlier I had seen much better dressed people begging on the streets of Belgrad.

I seem to remember the itchy blue pants looking something like this:
http://www.craftfu.mikania.com/images/fugfriday/cookiepants.jpg

*collapses on sofa to recover from backlogitis*

Oh, and great genie pics!

J is in london, blithely assuming his coach home will still be running. Ihope so. have to go to the doctor this afternoon as in constant pain, but would rather not leave the house. Roads here haven't been gritted so are very slippery now and will be worse once it gets dark. So I'm not used to, or prepared for snow, I don't normally need to be! We had one morning of snow in 2007, and a day of it last year, butnot had this much for 18 years.

The Library of Doom is closing at 6pm as our evening staff cannot get in. Stupid public transport and its inability to cope with weather. Grr. Manglement mostly gone home already.

Manglement, such qan appropriate term.

Turns out the snow in Dundee is not as bad as it looked, still might make getting home this afternoon interesting if it decides to start again and lay whilst i am in French or whilst i am walking back home.

mini

Woo Hoo!

I have now ripped all my CDs. I'm now a paid up member of the 21st century!

So Canterbury to Ashford (train). Ashford to Tonbridge (train). Tonbridge to Nodnol (taxi). Now on the Nodnol to Manchester train.
No idea how it will be like at home though but it's nice to whizz part the white countryside at speed.

I hope you guys can all cope with the snow... (15cm.. .lol..we've got 1500 cm.. at least. lol..)

Good to see you are back Teuchter - I missed your post somehow.

Good luck Phil. And Kelli's J.

I don't know whether to hope it's clear tomorrow or not.

B

Looks like some of the trains going north are being cancelled. Thankfully not the one I'm on.

I am safely and happily settled into my home-for-a-week in SLC. I have already seen Marv once and will get to spend the day with him. Yay!

*sips *

F38024?thread=6289831

Clean cups! Clean cups!

That'll teach me to do timezone conversions when I'm not awake with preggie-brain

It snows so seldom here that most kids around here don't know the difference between frost, hail, and snow (I hesitate to call what we get here "hail" since it ranges between millet and rice in size, but technically it is... I think I may have seen BB-sized in the past 20 years once...) At least the kids in Crescent City--the ones up in Gasquet and Hiouchi are inland enough and high enough that they get real snow occasionally.

Get you to the new thread, darlin'.