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

I'm back to work today after the Christmas break. It's a bit of a shock after 11 days off.

We had a wonderful Christmas - the highlights were:

Christmas Day - just the four of us. Mrs G and I agreed in advance to only give each other small presents and to go out for a nice meal in Ireland's best vegetarian restaurant some time soon. She gave me a thing like a hole punch, which makes plectrums out of old credit cards. I'll never be stuck for a plectrum again. I got a CD from El and a lovely wood ballpoint pen from Iz.

The 27th - we went to Mrs G's family get together and stayed up late, setting the world to rights.

The 29th - El's 21st Birthday party in our new kitchen, with about 40 people present. Great fun - the only things El wanted were a chocolate fountain and balloons to fall down from the ceiling, both of which we arranged.

New Year's Eve - drove to Limerick for this and stayed with my brother; got through 3 bottles of between 4 of us.

I have oft heard folks talk of a need to get back to work to rest from the vacation times. It sounds like you need such a 'rest'.

Best wishes for your endeavours this year.

Sounds like a very nice break. I managed to climb Galteemore on New Years Day, in order to banish the cobwebs of the previous days. Hopefully the first climb of many this year.

Let me know if you are ever down Cork-side.

Well done! Kitchen ready in time then?

I know how to make balloons go up to the ceiling, but not how to make them descend elegantly?

Oh, that's simple. You just replace all the air in the room with hydrogen. The helium balloons will drop nicely.

You fill your balloons with air rather than helium, then put them in a special polythene bag which is hooked to the ceiling. When you pull a string, the bag tears along the seam and the balloons come tumbling down.

The biggest problem is hiding the string so that someone doesn't pull it in advance.