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

I just went to meet a prospective housemate. See, two friends of mine are heading darn sarf for (at least) a few years and, rather than sell their present house, intend to rent it out. It seems a pretty good deal - rent is slightly cheaper than current place, though I think we will be paying water rates and council tax, which is covered in current rent. Also it's a pretty nice house and they've just had it rewired, so is unlikely to explode whilst I'm there.

Anyhow, prospective housemate and I did recognise each other from having met before (like some people thought we would), and it seems like we'd get on and not be at each other's throats over whose turn it is to do the cleaning and stuff.

Sounds like a good move all around, Baggers.

Sounds a good deal, as long as you trust then to be good landlords and deal with you professionally. Nothing worse than losing friends over making them fix the boiler.

And never live with a dwarf.....................

How did Snow White manage, then? She had 7 to cope with.

Don't worry Vip. Mr Landlord is a lawyer and will certainly be doing things professionally. Among other things in the contract we are obliged to harvest the fruit from the trees in the garden and "consume, use or dispose of the harvested fruit in the [manner] he deems most appropriate."

What kind of fruit?

I think there's apples. Don't know what else.

Apples are quite good, especially if they're imacs.

Can be a bit crunchy. You need to boil them for a long time before making crumble.

Called current landlord yesterday to give notice. Turns out he's managed to find two people to move into the unoccupied rooms next week, so I feel a bit less like I'm abandoning him and current housemate. Also worried about the queue for the bathroom in the mornings, but hey, it'll only be for a month.

You will be just in time for making scrumpy!

I'm too lazy for that, lil, even though I'm not quite sure what scrumpy is . In any event, surely there's a technology in which scrumpy makes itself.

Hi Paul!


Scrumpy is a very rough, strong version of cider made mainly from fermenting apples, but pears have been known to be used too

If you can only have one kind of fruit in your garden, then apples are a good choice. They're so versatile. Cider is something I've never tried. It isn't a favorite of mine, and I'm loathe to waste my apples. It's much easier to buy the small amount I use.

Fermented apples always stimulate my appletite.

I don't get on well with cider. This dates back to a pre-legal-drinking-age incident involving a bottle of woodpecker.

There's a semi-legendary figure in U.S. history called Johnny Appleseed, who left his hometown of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and spent the rest of his life travelling the Midwest and planting appleseeds which became orchards in due time. Apples were very important to the earliest English settlers, not because they liked cider, but because cider could be turned into liquor (yes, they liked to drink--a lot!)

I'll have to work on a still in the understairs cupboard. Sadly we will have no basement.