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

Many happy returns of the day!

{sorry for reminding you about your birthday}

G-Babe!

Thank you.

How cool of you to remember. I turned 38 in mint condition.

I took a new job in january. I'm trying to educate teenagers at a school outside Trondheim. It is quite challenging, I can assure you.

Anyway. Being a wizard I was, quite naturally, bearded, and my hair was getting so long that I had to tie it in the back with a rubber band to keep it out of my face.

The other day I decided that I was tired of this, something which usually happens around this time. It is the way I cut my hair these days; once a year. But my girlfriend begged me to let also the beard go under the scissors, and I couldn't refuse. The beard was getting a bit longish too, but I went for my gilette and got rid of it in a mere forty-five minutes. So there I was at school the next day, clean shaven & sporting a fine crew cut, and a weird thing happened.

People didn't recognise me.

A few of my colleagues ignored my approach in the hallway. It is the Norwegian way: Don't look strangers in the eyes, then you won't have to talk to them. But many people semed to be obsessed with it when they caught on who I was. One teacher even talked of it as changing image in one day. It was only a shave and a haircut, right? The headmistress spotted me right on in the hallway and greeted me with a wolf whistle.

Most of the kids thought it was cool, so I guess I'm all right for another season or two of thirtysomething.

See you, Babe


* Disappears with a discreet bang in a modest cloud of smoke *