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

*walks up to the new site and dumps a heavily-laden pack*

*extracts a much-used dome tent and quickly erects it*

*searches around in her pack for a trangia...puts some water on to boil*

*pulls out a self-inflating mattress and sleeping bag*

*looks around for some trees to hang a hammock from*

Even the orchestra is beutiful

Whay did you set up your place so far from the rest?


Dancer

Hi Cafram, welcome to the campsite. You are now an official camper (just added you to the list).

Enjoy your time here!

Frankie

Aren't trangias great?
If you sprinkle powdered soup on it, the fire flares up!

I've never heard of 'trangias'... Explain!

A trangia is a sort of camping stove that folds up nice and small - in mine there're two bowls, a kettle, a lid (which serves as a frypan), a stand-type thingy, the oil burner thing, and the all-important tongs with which you can pick anything up...never ever ever pick up a bowl without the tongs - I have a nice scar that runs across three of my fingers to remind me not to - I run my trangia on Metho, but I think other forms of fuel would work just as well

Never, EVER forget the fuel, though. Especially when you're going down a really deep chasm on the first of three days of hiking with no food that can be eaten raw. Do you get the feeling I know this from experience?

So there *is* a word like this, "chasm" - "...Let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm, let me set the battlements on fire" [Sting, Fortress around your heart]

What does chasm mean?


Dancer

Chasm...depends on how dramatic you want to be. A deep valley or cave, in general meaning.

A chasm is just a big long hole in the ground. This was actually officially a Canyon (like the Grand one in USA) but they both mean the same thing.

And never ever put the burner back in the pots without it's plastic bag...you end up with metho all through your bowls, and hence your meals, which is possibly the most revolting thing on earth.

I was always told to empty all the meths back into the bottles before you put it away, even if it looks empty. This is because the foam in the sides soaks it up. You then light the stove again to get rid of the last drabs of residue. Finally, you never put it away before it cools. Quite apart from hurting your fingers it makes the top nigh-on impossible to unscrew once it's expanded/shrunk/whatever.
There is an art to the use of the Trangia stove. If only I could cook something edible on it....

Thanks. I guess by chasm he means the moat around the fortress in the song.


Dancer

I have a friend who can cook anything on a trangia - we had a delicious chocoltae pudding last time we went hiking...

When I went camping with my brother and some of his mates, we had some extra metho (in a plastic bottle) which they decided to blow up. We're talking big bright lights...let's just say there were a lot of confused birds flying around.

I'm a chemistry student, so I know all about explosions. In fact, about half the chem students in the world chose it so they could see things burn, blow up, etc.
One of my friends accidentally got some of an alcohol all over his hand then lit it on a Bunsen burner!
Then there's the old deoderant can flame-thrower trick that so many children are so impressed with. Have you ever actually seen a spray-can blow up like the adults always warn? I certainely haven't.

I haven't seen aerosol cans blow up, but over here there've been some kids killed by soda bombs...

We used to spray deoderant in our hands and run them through the fire - looks very pretty

I'll bet it doesn't feel very pretty!

You can barely feel it!!

Another favourite is filling up an empty glass bottle with the gas from a lighter, holding it on its side and lighting it. best if alcohol was in the bottle beforehand

I bet it doesn't compare to the Jelly Baby in potassium permanganate, though. Our teacher did it on the last day at secondary school. He didn't know all the properties of the things he was using so he sent off to a to do safety assessment for him. Basically, what came back was 'don't do it, it's too dangerous'. So we all wore goggles and he did it anyway.
If you don't have the test tube at exactly the right angle, the Jelly Baby comes shooting out, that's how powerful it is.

I bet it doesn't compare to the Jelly Baby in potassium permanganate, though. Our teacher did it on the last day at secondary school. He didn't know all the properties of the things he was using so he sent off to a to do safety assessment for him. Basically, what came back was 'don't do it, it's too dangerous'. So we all wore goggles and he did it anyway.
If you don't have the test tube at exactly the right angle, the Jelly Baby comes shooting out, that's how powerful it is.