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

hello there, i hope everyone finds their way here without too much trouble ....as you can tell it is a lovely day outside, the birds are singing the sun is shining and the air smells so clean and fresh...signs of spring are everywhere
AA

*looks around, very surprised*
Good heavens, we really ARE outside! No artificial structures to be seen! Just daffodils and lush grass. Oh yes, Ferrari will love this.

I've brought lemonade from fresh lemons.

When did you start doing agony questions professionally? You're really very good at it.

*strolls out with a small picnic basket full of goodies in tow. throws the rug onto the grass and lies back to watch the clouds go by*

Some very nice cheese, crackers and a nice little bottle of Aussie red wine by my side. Ahh this is the life .

*hands goodies to AA and Lil.*

The late comers will have to help themselves .

*dreamily watches clouds*

yes dear Lil, the outdoors isn't it fantastic! feel the wind blowing through your hair and the sun warming your cheeks, i love being outside
welcome Wowbagger, i am so pleased you could join us and what lovely things you have brought for our picnic, you are too generous .....
those clouds that you are watching, care if Lil and i join you? we could discuss what shapes they appear to be
AA

*leans back blissfully against a tree root*
I think I'll do nothing but kick back and relax today!
*closes eyes and allows sun to massage her face*

Yo!

You wait until it gets dark...the sky is just sooo sexy at night in the outdoors.

Hey, AA, I'll check ouit the clouds with you, if you want . What does that one up there resemble?

*wakes up*
Where's Ferrari?
Is there a moon tonight?

*neighing from behind*

Hi Ferrari

Can't see a moon out of my window. The sky is totally black, and there's nothing in it at all. It seems a bit wierd, actually...

window? how do you have a window out here in the great outdoors??
i find the evening air just wonderful, the stars are so bright and that moon is just magnificent tonight. why don't we start a nice fire and enjoy some of the wine that Wowbagger was so kind to bring for us while we tell a few stories or just relax, whichever you would like to do most...afterall what matters is that we are outside enjoying the night breeze and listening to the waterfall as it trickles into the lake
AA

He's a fine lad, really, bar the occasional continuity misstep. Or outburst of boisterousness. I've apologised to him for shouting at him like that.

Do you know, after Mike was saying, in a conversation elsewhere, that the trees are blossoming now in his part of England, I suddenly thought of English blackbirds, and how much I miss hearing them. We have mockingbirds here and they crank out all sorts of birdsongs, one after another, quite loud and nonstop. Very bravura.

But I can remember listening to a blackbird somewhere on the road where I lived in Birmingham. It would be late in the afternoon, and I could hear children and the traffic on the Wake Green Road ... and the blackbird would utter something. And then, after a bit it would utter something again. Much more restrained, more English, you know?

A stanza from the poem by Wallace Stevens --
I do not know which to prefer:
The beauty of inflections,
Or the beauty of innuendos;
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

He is just your typical boy which is quite good actually, he keeps you on your toes and life interesting .
the Poem you quoted is fantastic! i do love it . when it comes to birds and their songs i tend to love them all, they remind me of the life around us . i don't think spring would be the same without their songs. i especially like to listen to them first thing in the morning as the sun is rising, it is a bit like a welcome to the day for me
AA

Ich bin nicht gut with poems *^_^*

It's been ages since I heard a proper morning's birdsong. Once or twice in the past few days I've had a bird twittering outside my window for a minute or two. But it's not like the time when you used to have a bunch of them going on for ages

Once it starts getting dark again, I can remind myself to wake up again under this here tree to listen to the birdsong. O yes I will

Steve Martin had a poem about birds:

O pointy birds
O pointy pointy
Annoint my head
Anointy nointy

I found it funny at the time but it suffers much in the translation.
Actually I'm kind of embarrassed to bring it up now.
Sorry about that.
Carry on.

that was very cute Wowbagger, i needed a good smile for my day and that did the trick quite nicely
it looks as if the sun has come back up so how about joining me for a little walk?, there is a lovely view just beyond those trees
AA

*wanders in astride the white Egyptian mare Peace whom she borrowed from another forum*

Hello. So this is where everyone's been hiding. I must say that I moved just a few miles within my own city last fall, and the difference in birds is amazing. I'm much further up the mountain now, and there are tons and tons and TONS of crows. Whereas there were none in my previous,more sheltered neighborhood. I find them a bit eerie.

I love mockingbirds myself. I had one living by me once who worked cats meowing into his repertoire. But one bird that is a bit overrated is the mourning dove. Oh yes, they sound lovely. Til they start coooo cooooo coooo-ing outside your window at 4 every morning. No one ever told them to wait til sunup.

You get lots of magpies and seagulls down my end, and precious little else. Different birds do pop up, but I always forget about them *^_^*

Seagulls! *smacks forehead* You live in Plymouth. Of course. Their call is very eerie to me. And magpies are the bigger version of our mockingbirds, with a bit flashier colouring.

Apart from that, British birds aren't as variegated as the American ones. Billyp, I'm told that crows are very socialised and that if you watch them long enough you can make out the internal organisation of the flock and even learn the meanings of their calls!

And you're right about the mourning doves, but kickiest of all, to me, is when the mockingbird wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to sing.

And don't talk to me about whippoorwills. All night long, the same call over and over and over! God help you if a whippoorwill decides to nest near you.

See, Auntie, we're not the only researchers with a horse!
She's lovely, bp. Are you going to let her get acquainted with Ferrari?

Magpies bigger than mockingbirds? That's a surprise. I'm used to other countries having bigger and better nanimals than poor old Blighty.

welcome back billypilgrim, i was just thinking about you and wondering where you got off to ....i must say that is a beautiful horse you have there i am sure Ferrari will just love Peace do death .....
do tell us a bit about Peace, how did you come to have such a lovely horse with you??
AA