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

Yes, I've signed a petition against the ticket office closures, too - I have on several occasions had to visit a ticket office for help to book the ticket I found (took them ages, too, but we got there together).

Ah, I can imagine it is tricky in Paris - similar with London. Luckily it is relatively easy for me to select the option to avoid London, as through-journeys use the Tube, but not all Tube stations are wheelchair accessible. Luckily the one time I did have to cross London (when I missed a train because assistance didn't arrive and the staff put me on a random train to make me someone else's problem) the staff in London were very helpful arranging a taxi (and didn't complain that my ticket said 'not via London').

I can imagine that is really annoying.

Is it just me, or are obituaries getting increasingly sycophantic and lack perspective? While I accept that when someone famous dies fans can feel a real sense of loss, and the deceased's achievements should be rightly lauded. But can we keep a sense of perspective and remember that famous people are human. Just tell me about the person who died, instead of making up some ridiculous myth that other celebrities are desperately trying to buy into that bares no resemblance to the person who passed away.
None of this 'the voice of a generation' or 'a once-in-a-lifetime talent' or 'changed the world forever' nonsense. If they did a lot of charity work or supported causes that were dear to their heart, then do certainly emphasise how they used their fame for good to help those charities gain additional support and encourage others.

I just want to know something like 'Bob was a highly successful singer who had 12 top ten hits between 1978-2014, best known for song 'La la la' which raised money and awareness for Good Cause Charity, which was supported by Bob throughout their life and career'.
I don't care about the pointless celebrity endorsements from people after publicity, 'Fred said Bob was such a saint their sweat turned to wine'.

<BB<

Rum would be more likely. I get your point. People are just people even if they are famous people

PH: Just heard (again) on the radio - 'very unique'. Unique surely cannot have any degrees of singularity?

Good point, I'm afraid I have conflicting opinions, as on the one hand I agree with you completely.

But on the other hand, if every person on is unique, then maybe some people are uniquely unique, and unique in a way that only applies to them?
So for instance:
1. Everyone is unique
2. There is only one ruling British monarch at a time (so during their lifetime a king or queen is unique, but there have been others in the past.)
3. Queen Elizabeth II is the only British monarch to have ruled for over 80 years.

So was the Queen uniquely unique, or exactly as unique as everyone else in the world?

<BB<

Well, some people might have only one quality that makes them unique, others lots. But they are still each unique.

One might be especially unusual & that is where IMO unique is often incorrectly used as a synonym.

New PH: Doing up all the buttons on a shirt before realising they're out of sequence with the buttonholes..

I used to au pair for two little boys, 3 and 4 years old. The little one was chaos personified, but the older one would always line up the bottom of each side before starting to do up his buttons. I don't know if he'd been taught to do it, or if he was an intrinsically neat person. I bet to this day as a 50-something-year-old he has never known that problem!

Back to superfluous words. Why do we say "whether or not" when "whether" already means both?

Now I have those Monty Python lines in my head:

Mob (in unison):'We are all individuals!'
Single guy:'No I'm not!'


I usually avoid the button issue by not wearing button shirts. If I do, I check like the neat boy.

PH: keys from my keyboard sometimes don't register, especially the 'r' and 't'. (I put the 'r' back in 'shirts' manually, just in time).

I have one particular shirt that is funny - I carefully line up the bottom, but then one of the middle buttons hides, so when I get to the top the buttons are out of alignment

Today's PH: Items in the supermarket that are slightly open, but not so much that I notice while in the shop.

After spilling the sauce from a ready meal in my shopping bag on two occasions, I now do a quick check of product lids, but even that is sometimes not enough... Last week, my shopping bag smelled suspiciously like sour milk, but the milk bottle was fine... I found the culprit today - the yoghurt had leaked...