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

Radio is a strange and baffling thing when taken seriously, which it seems to be around here. I'm just now really beginning to get how radio is, like, a real medium. Beyond the art and expertise of the late Wolfman Jack, of course.

Everyone here is on the phone. Always. They are always on the phone. They walk a lot, as I think I may have mentioned (unless I didn't), so you see and hear them all talking on the phone. People may talk on the phone just as much in America. It just doesn't count, because you can't hear people in American on their phones, because they use them in the car -- rarely in a store or movie theatre lobby. (Mostly.) But here, everyone's always on the phone out in the open. So people walk past you, all alone, talking. It's fairly disconcerting, or at least it was before I got used to the idea that they're all on the phone all the time. Last week I saw a man on a bicycle talking on the phone. He seemed very happy about the whole arrangement.

I was just about to remind Ant to book a car home tonight, but when I turned around to say it I found that he was in the process of doing it already. Oh, well.

The people who work at the BBC World Service are not, I'm slowly coming to realise, the world's brightest.

Tomorrow evening we're going out with some more fun people. You know who you are.

Hmm. And tomorrow we're going to see some more stuff. I like seeing stuff. I think Ant said we're going to see Big Ben and something else but I've forgotten what the other thing is.

The one place you do not want to be when something like a concorde jet crash happens is in a building full of newsrooms and news studios. This is definitely the most painful and gruesome place to spend the day in such an event. If you're talking suffering, you're actually better off on the plane. In terms of consequences, the news building may be a slightly better choice, but I guess that really depends on your outlook.

Today nothing has happened. There is no news. They broadcast the Ricki Lake show here. Slowly the pieces drop into place... it's becoming frightfully clear why the British think of us the way they do.

Yesterday we were just moments late for the final-ever performance of the world famous Unicycling Melon in Covent Garden. Today we were in time for the first performance of his replacement, Sweaty Guy on a Unicycle and Bowling-Pin-Giving Guy on the Ground. The legacy of the Melon is a great one.

If I have anything else to say, I'll say it later. I seem to be in grave danger of having 'BBC Internet Explorer' crash on me right now.

I forgot where you were for the first half of this post. Now it makes a bit more sense. Just a bit. Say hello to the sweaty guy for me.

WAY ta take me BACK!! NO, not in terms of reminisance!! but the action of me, being taken aback...well i didn't do it on my OWN!!
or should i say WAY TO BE IN LONDON!!!
yes i think i Should say that, you'll be more willing to understand what i mean.
WAY TO BE IN LONDON!!!

What she said.

An American replies.

People are on the phone all the time in the US, too. You're right, many of them are in their cars, creating motor vehicle collisions that stack the traffic up from New York City clear back to Altoona, Pa. But I also observe Americans walking around (or bicycling) with phones seemingly surgically attached to their ears.

I visited Germany in October, however, and there the phenomenon of folks, generally teenagers, with their Handies was quite a surprise. I've never been to the UK, but I can't imagine it's worse than in Deutschland.

It's a shame I missed Unicycling Melon in Covent Garden. It's one less thing I have to look forward to when I do get there. Which I will someday, I promise. Not this year, though.

Are they going to leave the Millennium Dome up for a while, or come New Year's Eve, do they take it down like an Erector set and keep it in storage until 3000? Sadly, I don't figure to be around for that one. Although I am somewhat dismayed by the lack of foresight on the part of computer programmers who refused to account for the Y10K problem eight millennia hence.

Radio is a serious medium. Ask Edward R. Murrow. Or Elvis Costello.

I trust your anticipation of the weekend is the same as mine. "The working week's so tough, I think I've had enough ... until the weekend." (Dave Edmunds)