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

In the book "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" Bill Bryson recommends fresh coffee grounds for the most satisfying "Mount Vesuvius" effect. He also recommends waiting until your wife will be gone for the afternoon, protective eye-wear, and having a mop at the ready.

Oh, you really shouldn't have told me that - I just have to go and try it now . My wife will *not* be pleased if the result is as impressive as you suggest, nor will the leasing company who own the apt. I wonder how he did it though cos I throw used tea leaves in there every day and I've not yet had any volcanic eruptions. I love Bill Bryson's books, but the only two I've read, or heard him read on radio are Notes From a Small Island, and Made in America. I really must update my library.

He's on the RADIO?!? Good heavens, I've been buying the books on CD! (As well bound, of course. Great highway listening.)

I think the idea is to use the hot, wet grounds all at once after you've made a fresh pot. Good luck!

HM

He was when I was still living in Britain - the BBC has a fine reputation for taking authors like Bill Bryson and Garrison Keillor (and also more serious types), and getting them, or an actor, to read their books in 15 minute segments (usually 10 of them) which are then broadcast in a slot at 10.45 each weekday evening called 'A Book At Bedtime'. Ah, how cosy . During the summer, they repeat some of them at 8.45 in the morning, in the slot where 'Yesterday in Parliament' would normally be if The House wasn't on holiday. You can listen to BBC Radio 4 on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4, but be warned - they don't have the webcast rights to everything they broadcast, and when they can't webcast something you gat a repeated message telling you so. Book at Bedtime is one of the things I've yet to hear over the web.

Why, thank you for that link. Let me know how the coffee grounds experiment goes.

HM

I have a day off tomorrow, and the wife goes to work at 2pm, which gives me about 10 hours of experimenting time!!! Dang, I'm gonna haveta drink a lot of coffee - I'll be so bloody wired by the time she gets home I think maybe I should leave it for a few weeks - we're moving next month and we have to leave this place spick and span if we want to keep our deposit.... only thing is, I don't know if there's a waste disposal at the new place. Hmmmm.

Well, I've spent the best part of the day drinking tea and hurling the leaves into the waste disposal, but alas, no Vesuvius effect . It's got me flummoxed, and it's given my kidneys a workout they won't forget in hurry! Perhaps it really does have to be coffee grounds...

How disappointing. Perhaps tea is too mild mannered a beverage to produce such excitement.

Hmm, full of British reserve. Coffee on the other hand has all the energy and exuberance of America

Success!! Well, sort of. The In-Sinkerator website says that you should occasionally put hard materials like bone or fruit pits into the disposal to help scour the gunk off the grinding mechanism, which is why I mention the coconut shell in my intro. So today I threw in some old pistachio nuts which have been sitting around just a little loger than they ought to, and hey presto! Not exactly an eruption, but there were bits of pistachio shell being spat back out at me. What fun

Congratulations! Was it everything you thought it would be??

Maybe you could ask your local Diner for some of their coffee grounds (claim to be feeding them to your houseplants, the caffine makes them go nuts). I'm waiting breathlessly for you to try this since I'm too afraid of the mess to try it myself.

HM

Entirely by the way, I much preferred it when you were the "Muse of Sitting on my Backside and Doing Sod-all". Just thought I'd share.

HM

Hmm, I think you've got me mixed up with another researcher - isn't that Big 'Evil' Dan?.... no, he 's deputy second something or other for etc, etc. I shall be moving house next weekend and I'm not sure if the new place has a waste disposal, so if I'm gonna do this I guess I'd better get on the case! Being one of the h2g2 procrastinators though, I might just not get round to it

My goodness, you must be right, Big Evil Dan, hmmm... I was so sure it was you. Apologies, of course. And to BE Dan, if he's reading this.

How exciting to be moving. Are you looking forward to it?

HM

This post has been removed.

Apologies again, this time for taking so long to reply.

Well, I'm gald to hear you're getting -- well, have gotten -- out of a place you dislike so much. You must have moved by now, so how is it? Are you still in the process of moving? Do you noisy neighbor's dogs after all?

Thanks for the paragraph on "soccer moms'. LOL

HM

Yes, we're in
I've just put my plants out in the sunshine where they belong. The move went very well considering it was one of the most humid days of the whole year (but not the hottest thankfully). This house is sooooooo nice, and quite a bit bigger than I remembered. I thought we were going to be climbing over furniture in the bedroom but there's a nice big space at the end of the bed before you hit the chest of drawers, and plenty of wallspace for more storage. However, the walk-in wardrobe is about 1/8th the size of the one we had before (in other words, you can't walk into this one), so a lot of clothes are hanging up in the garage right now, where they're keeping most of our other stuff company until we get a chance to unpack anything other than what we need to use from day to day. The kitchen could be a problem too - there's just too much stuff to fit in it! Oh well. And no waste disposal But it's just so nice to be in a residential area again, and a nice one at that - not too posh or upscale, but not run down. I'm very happy right now And today the cable installer came over, and gave us a few extra channels for free. What a nice bloke
Glad you liked the soccer moms thing.

Hello HM, and happy new year. Well, we moved again just after Christmas, and I'm happy to say that I have a waste disposal to play with again . At least, I will when they come over and fix it - I tried it on the day that we moved in, and it didn't sound at all right. How are things with you?

Hello there, Gosh, and a Happy New Year to you, too. Glad to hear you're in dispos-all heaven again. Where are you living now?
Things are the same as ever here -- stressful. Life in the social services, you know?

HM

Hello HM, nice to be talking with you again. We moved from north Austin to south Austin. The attitude about north vs. south seems to be pretty much the same here as it is in London - even the layout of the two cities are similar, with the city centre itself almost entirely on the north bank of a river, and the southern part of town being looked down upon by those in the north. I've seen two very good bumper stickers since we moved - "South Austin. We're all here because we're not all there", and "78704 - not so much a zip code, more a state of mind." I tried living in south London once, but I couldn't make it for more than three months - I had to get back north of the Thames. I don't think that the same thing will happen here because I just haven't spent enough time in Austin to build up a real good feel for north and south, and south Austin is actually more like 'old' Austin, i.e. before all the techies and dot coms moved here and clogged up the streets with their SUV's and minivans, pushed up the house prices, brought in all the Starbucks, etc. Besides, this a bloody nice apartment, and it takes me about half as long to get to work as it did before, and it doesn't take us any longer to get to the venues and restaurants that we like to visit I must say though, that we live a mere horseshoe's throw from a music bar called The Broken Spoke - it's redneck heaven
Jim