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

my apologies for delay, talking on land-line with son


thing I can't work out though ? is! there's nothing in my head to get dizzy ?

Sort of like quantum physics, then.

No problem, while you were gone, I found this song you'd like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FaT2E44If4

(Check it out, you'll laugh.)

ears open

that's about "our" level of comedy - not changed from carry-on films etc

It made me laugh.

I was really trying to find something we heard today on 'Dad's Army'. I found a lot of old episodes on Youtube, and we watched a couple. Very good show, really funny.

Elektra didn't know about the Home Guard, so I was showing it to her.

dad's army was very near the bone as they say - look parachute and get the pitchforks

more south than north

I can believe it. I think the series had a lot to say - even though it was basically humour, there was a lot of truth in there.

my granddad had the "job" of examining/recording any unexploded bomb that dropped, to pass the info to the army etc. Mam told me that only 2 dropped in our part of Yorkshire

most of "war" was midlands to south I think ?

This was a good thing, I think. I mean, that your dad didn't run into any more UXBs.

Now, my dad was at the front in 1945. He had some hair-raising tales from there,. And he was deafened by a mortar shell in Hamm, Germany.

Oops - Elektra says tell you goodnight. We can trade more war stories tomorrow.

Take it easy, rest well.

my dad was also overseas fighting, Italy I think ?

some say life is -it
but! they ARE here to say it

sweet dreams to you both

Yeah, that's true.

We found a funny movie on Youtube last night - from 1941. Called 'Ghost Train'. It was written by that Arnold Ridley, who was in 'Dad's Army'.

He was an interesting person - got shot up in WWI, wrote 30 plays and was in theatre and on TV, and was in WWII, too. AND really in the Home Guard.

it's surprising how many actors/actresses (on both sides of the pond) have appeared in war films etc and have actually served in some

That's ture. Some of them don't make much out of it, either.

I often wondered, if when they do a square bashing sceneif they curse under their breathfrom when doing the real thing

Probably,

Here's a really interesting story about Ridley:

http://spartacus-educational.com/FWWridleyA.htm

Poor guy - he got SO shot up during WWI. And bless his heart, he went out there AGAIN in 1939, even though it was a nightmare. Survived Dunkirk. Had his house hit by a V-1 rocket. Talk about being at the receiving end of history...

I'll have to find you that movie. It was your kind of funny, I think...

and the kids of today THINK they are so brave (when in gangs)

we owe more than can ever be said or paid back, to all the unsung heroes

Amen to that. Unsung is right - look at this Daily Mail article by Arnold Ridley's son:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1239929/Dads-Army-actor-Arnold-Ridleys-son-belittled-fathers-awesome-heroism.html

What an amazing story. He's 50 years younger than his dad. What a great tribute to him, too.

a tribute and half

my dad never spoke about the war and would get very angry at some war films, saying THAT could never happen

one film showed a guy on a tank shooting at a strafing German plane, he went ballistic ? he said that his job was repairing them out on the field of battle and one bloke stood in the road with a bren gun at a plane - he said the mad fell in two and the right side was still firing the gun

films show bullets going either side and missing the person BUT! in reality, they cross over so far ahead of the plane - they crossed where the soldier was

mad - man oops!

What a story.

Yeah, my dad said things like that, too.

He didn't watch war movies - although when we were kids, he'd watch 'COmbat' with us. It was a fairly realistic TV show in the 60s, about an infantry platoon like his. He'd point out if there were errors.