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

Why am I seeing images of Paul Hogan ? .

Bran, Sal and 'Case,
Happy Christmas and very best wishes for 2002 . I hope tomorrow is a good day for all of you in whatever you spend it - noisy or peaceful.

Its turned cloudy this evening, so maybe we'll have some snow here. We had a little the other day.

Yeah, Happy Christmas and a Spectacular New Year to all!

I'll soon tell you about nature stuff ... I'm really rather busy nowadays, but will start noticing this forum again soon!

Well! We'll be going to a nature reserve the day after tomorrow, so I'll report back here after that!

Just a quick hello and wish you all a happy new year. Hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas.

Sal

'Case, I'll look forward to that. The website that used to provide pictures from various waterholes in South African reserves has gone - and I miss seeing the animals there.

Its good to hear from you Sal, I hope the new year brings you better health - and thats not just from the selfish wish to hear more from you on h2g2.

I've really enjoyed the Christmas/New Year holiday this year. It started with the (now usual) ceilidh in the village hall with mince pies, mulled wine, morris dancers, fiddles and accordians. Went through a relatively peaceful phase through Christmas Day, which included a walk round the local moss to find the quaking bog. Descended into bedlam with the arrival of my niece, putting her and my brother under one roof (Why do they put water pistols in Christmas crackers?). Included a trip to see 'Lord of the Rings' and finished with my having to dig my car out of the snow and ice on New Year's Day. It got stuck on the hill on my parent's driveway on New Year's eve, slid gracefully backwards onto their grass, ending up just two feet from the hole they'd dug in it the day before. My reaction to this was not graceful .

With all the snow around it doesn't really feel as if Christmas is over yet. Its like living in a Christmas card at the moment. The cascades of icicles I have hanging from the corners of the house (where the gutters should meet the downspouts but don't) are magnificent. The birds are finding it tough though - I had a fieldfare in the garden yesterday, I've only seen them in open fields before, never in such a confined space as my garden.
Waz

Hello all! You can read about my nature outing, if you want to, in the seven journal entries I posted about it! You can also see photos from it by going to my Uspace, clicking on the 'Willem's WebWorld 2' link, and then clicking on the two links named 'Photos of the Potgietersrus Outing 1' and 'Photos of the Potgietersrus Outing 2'. You can also check out my latest painting, of Purplecrested Louries, if you like!

Hi All and a Very Happy Belated New Year

Had a good time over the break ... we have discovered a new place to go in Tassie that is about 3.5 hours drive from us. It is what we call a coastal reserve, that goes by the evocative name of "Bay of Fires", I presume cos it is on the east coast and so gets the sunrise. It is basically miles of white white sandy beaches and clear turquise water, with lots of granite boulders covered in orange and yellow lichen. Amazing. And there are also wetlands and lagoons (we have a biologist friend who is up there photographing grasses, sedges, etc and birdlife). The place we stayed at has some welcome swallows nesting in the eaves. And we saw sandpipers, tons of terns, black cockatoos, hawks, a pelican, not to mention dolphins! Terrific.

I also unintentionally got sunburned. Yes! Tassie has finally had some summer weather! But, it is going to rain again this weekend, so that is the end of that for the moment.

But ... all that is over as I get back to The Tome. I think this year is the One!

Hope all is well in the chilly motherland.

See ya
Bran

The chilly motherland is unseasonally tepid just now. All the snow has gone and the road out the village is a mudbath.

The Bay of Fires sounds beautiful although sandpipers, terns, cockatoos and pelicans all in a mix just doesn't seem natural from over here. What happens after the Tome Bran? Or can't you see round it ?

I enjoyed reading those journals Case - as I said elswhere. I would really like to visit Africa again.
Waz

Bran, did you know the chief of the MacNeils is calling for a worldwide gathering of the clan on Barra in August 2003?

I found it in the Barra newsletter. Could you not wangle a research trip out there?

Hiya Waz

A gathering of the McNeils!! That sounds wonderful ... I shall try to see what is about in the UK and if I can get some research going over there. Do you know what time of the year it is on? (I think I toldyou that I have McNeil heritage).

As for The Tome ... I hope that after this I shall look more seriously at career options. At the moment I am trying to just focus on getting it done. I think that I have already talked about the U.S. option (Seattle and surrounds being the preferred place). I should have a better idea of when I shall submit about half way through the year.

Had a bit of a surprise the other day. I have regular checks of my skin as I have a lot of moles, and had some off last week. It turns out that one of them was a melanoma ... which is not great news. But, the good thing is that it was only early stage, and was able to be completely removed. So, it has all ended well. It means now that I shall have to have more regular checks, but that is a fine I reckon, as melanoma is completely curable if treated early.

Anyway, enough of that. How are things in Britain ... we hear on the news that there have been some dreadful storms. How has your part of the world held up? (You are near Shrewsbury aren't you?). I have become quite into the Welsh border area recently with The Tome. I'd love to tour the area more thoroughly than I did last time we were there on '95.

I'll sign off here. Take care all who are still reading.

Cheers
Bran.

Evening Bran,
I remembered your connections to Barra. There was a bit about the gathering on the Barra News website. Here, if the link works;
Http://www.isleofbarra.com/news/archive5.html
In case it doesn't its from 31st July to 7th August 2003. And there's an address for enquiries. I don't think I'd better post that in a forum. There's a link to Barra News here A594524 if you want it. The item is in the news archives for 25/1/02.

You did mention Seattle, I wondered if that was still on the cards.

It must have been a shock to find you'd had a melanoma even if it has turned out well. But as you say - a very good thing to get the early warning. Frightening all the same.

I'm 20 miles from Shrewsbury and almost on the Welsh borders. In fact they say the local town lacks very old buildings because the Revolting Welsh kept burning it down. Has The Tome found anything interesting round here?

We've survived the storms relatively unscathed, given what I've heard happened in Glasgow and other areas. I did have another brick blow off the chimney. It thundered down the roof, shot off the eaves like a ski jumper and hit the ground in the middle of the front garden. I don't know whether to blame the builder or the jackdaws who spend the summer picking the mortar out from between the bricks. And from between the ridge tiles.

Keep putting on the suncream.
Waz

Hi Waz

Thanks for the positive thoughts re melanoma and all that. A little frightening, but also a bit surreal. Moles are such small things and it was hard to really take seriously the possibility that a teeny-weeny thing could potentially be life-threatenning. Makes you think!

You must be right on the Welsh border and a stone's throw from Offa's Dyke if you are 20 miles west of Shrewsbury. Are you in the direction of Oswestry or Welshpool? We visited Powis Castle in '95. Loved the peacocks, and the very impressive hedges.

I have found a very interesting article on the Dyke, that has quite a new interpretation - that it was really only part of it that was built under the rule of Offa (757-796); the central part that goes from Rushock Hill north of the Wye near Mansell Gamage to Llanfynydd, south of Mold. (In case you are interested, the ref is: D. Hill, 'Offa's Dyke: pattern and purpose', The Antiquaries Journal, vol. 80 (2000), pp. 195-206). There is lots of stuff that I have been looking at. There is quite a bit of evidence that the main aggressor in my period (600-800) was the English (Northumbrians and then Mercians), rather than the other way around. The Dyke, which is a defensive work facing Wales, suggests that it was to keep the Welsh out. Perhaps they had a penchant for cattle-raiding, that favourite of Celtic social activities.

We have had some odd weather down here lately too. Massive hail-storms on the northern New South Wales coast; flash flooding in Sydney; more hailstorms in Melbourne. In Tassie, which is allegedly the state with the worst weather, has been completely free of such disasters. Ha. My partner is off in Brisbane visiting family and friends, and she reports that they have had the hottest summer in over 100 years (like, really hot ... melt on the spot hot). Glad that your place has been OK, albeit for suicidal chimney bricks.

(I've just had a look at my map and seen that Offa's Dyle path runs right through where you must live. Have you walked on it?)

Thanks again for the Barra info. I have looked it up, and noted the date. Can't predict anything yet, but it would be great to get over there.

Don't forget to duck when you leave your door!

Cheerio
Bran.

Hi again

I wonder Waz, since you are in the area, whether you might be able to help me with something. There was a Shropshire County Council Archaeological Service report by H.R. Hannaford (I think) to do with excavations of the southern end of Wat's Dyke near Oswestry (at Maes-y-Clawdd) and put out in 1998 or 1999. I have tried in vain to get the full reference for this and esp the report number. Do you have any suggestions where I might look to get this. Would the Shropshire Council have a web-site that listed this type of thing? Any help very gratefully received!

All best
Bran.

Hi Bran,
There is a Shropshire CC web site. The Archaeological Service's page is at http://www.shropshire-cc.gov.uk/Arch.nsf but there isn't much there. There were contact numbers, however, so I phoned. (I thought a two minute call from here would be easier than your trying to call from Taz, and I wasn't at work today.) An Emma Burns said the nearest report to your description that was listed was Report no. 138 'Archaeological Excavation on Wat's Dyke at Maes-y-Clawdd, Oswestry'. It was from 1997 by H.R. Hannaford. The web site lists an e-mail address for her if this isn't the right report or you need more info.

I'm 20 miles north of Shrewsbury, not west, close to Whitchurch. The Welsh border makes a sudden incursion east to within a mile of Whitchurch. Offa's Dyke starts to head north west at about the same point. I've never actually walked along it up here. Years ago we had a holiday on the Welsh border further south, near Hereford. We visited lots of castles, one of them, White Castle,( http://www.lehigh.edu/~wwt1/Wales97/white.html isn't good to be able to use urls in forums again.) is on Offa's Dyke. But I don't remember paying it much attention - I was very into castles then and not earthworks. I have been to Powis castle, I remember the hedges. We saw a purple hairstreak butterfly there, for the first and only time.

The Dyke is an impressive piece of work. Like Hadrian's wall. Imagine deciding to 'wall off' an entire piece of the country like that. It's quite different from encircling a hilltop. Was the central part the first part to be built?

I didn't know you'd travelled around here, you've probably seen more of the area than I have.

The weather seems to be weird everywhere. It's so warm here for this time of year despite being so wet. The Severn is very full. It's quite menacing through Shrewsbury when it's like this. It seems very close to the tops of the arches of the bridges. Can they fry eggs on the tarmac in Brisbane?

Off to search the web for air flights to Malaga now. I'm going to Spain, to Nerja again, in April, x10!

Waz
PS I do duck when going out the door .

Hi There Waz

Thank you so much for the help and going to all that trouble . I really appreciate it. Being over here means that I am not able to just go somewhere or phone someone so easily. That really was very nice of you; you are an . It is the exact report that I am after (as far as I can tell). I will email Emma and ask how I can get it. I have also explored the web-site that you url-ed for Shropshire Arch and I have found a short version of the excavatiosn and they mention an article that has the findings and I shall look that up as well. This is really very helpful.

I did not spend as much time on the Marches as I would have liked. I was there before I was studying my PhD and so did not know of all the places that I could have gone to. I missed Hereford and Shrewsbury for example, and even drove through the Vale of Llangollen and DIDN'T stop at the Pillar of Eliseg!!! Oh my God. Well, that will all come the next time I am over there. We stayed in Wales in Pencelli (near Brecon), Llanidloes (mid Wales) and Pen-y-Mynydd (near Chester), as well as near Caernarfon when we were on the way to Ireland through Holyhead.

The central part of the Dyke was built (as far anyine can tell) in the second half of the eighth century. It seems that at least part of Wat's Dyke was built in the fifth or maybe sixth (as per the report that I was after; and so it might be contemporary with the Wansdyke in Wessex), and the rest is really indetermiate - it is not clear if it really did go all the way from near Hereford to the Bristol Channel. There are quite a few other "short dykes" in the area that both pre- and post-date the main section. The whole affair is very complex and I shall let you know my conclusions when I have written them in the not too distant future.

Your trip to Spain sounds vey exciting. Some friends from Sydney have just been there and had a great time.

I just rang Liane in Brisbane and it is very hot but more muggy really. Tomorrow it will by 34 celcius; hot enough but not fry-the-egg weather. Needs to be above 40 and a bit less humid. Still, I'd rather be here where it is cooler (and less sunscreen needed).

Again Waz, thank you so much.

Talk to you soon
Bran

You're welcome. It's long time since anyone called me an . A very inaccurate description. It really did only take two minutes. I'd like to hear your conclusions, when available.

I've always fancied frying an egg on the car bonnet. I saw it done on TV once. So I need to look out for 40c.

Waz

Well ... I have to tell it like it is Waz!! Should have some conclusions on the Dyke in a week or so.

I can't say I have fried an egg on a car bonnet either. We really hated the hot weather when we lived in Brisbane, and that was one of the reasons for moving to Tassie. Today, for example, it will probably not get above 14 celcius ... and this is summer! (Admitedly, this is a little extreme).

How long does it take you from Whitchurch to Shrewsbury?

Cheers
Bran.

Some nice hot dry weather would be really good just now. Not that it's that cold for February. But it's very wet. Shrewsbury's Welsh bridge was marooned by the Severn river today. On the way in to work they were piling up the sand bags on the pavement by the river and shop owners were loading stock into cars. On the way I had to go via the bypass. The river must have risen about twelve foot in less than 24 hours. The volume of water is enormous when you think how wide it is once it floods.

It takes me twenty minutes to reach the north of Shrewsbury, not allowing for milk floats, bin wagons, tractors and livestock trailers. Then, because there's no northern crossing of the river, it takes another twenty five minutes to go round, or through, town to get to the northwest corner where I work, four or five miles further on.

There was a livestock trailer in the way this morning but I didn't complain even when it got down to 20mph (well not much) since Shrewsbury's livestock market reopened today for the first time since the foot and mouth outbreak.

14c is a bit cool for summer. I'd like something closer to 20c.

PS I assume you mean how long to Shrewsbury by car, not by a Roman march or a Celtic raid?

I wonder how long a Celtc raiding party would take? Are there any old Roman roads that they might have used? Wroxeter has been touted (sp?) as the old or original centre of Powys, before the rulers were forced to relocate westwards (or they died or were killed). Would all roads have led there?

Glad to hear that the beef sales are on again ... it must have been hell for a lot of smaller towns that rely on rural trade.

We have finally had some REAL summer weather. On Friday it was 33 celcius, and yesterday 25. Today seems to be about the same. People swimming, lying in the sun, going pink ... ahhh, summer is here.

I was thinking of putting my Offa's Dyke material up as an article, not for moderation just for interest. I'll try to get around to it if I can remember how to. It has been a long time, and I have forgotten the guideML.

I emailed that lady in the Shropshire CC, but she hasn't got back to me yet. I reckon that there is a version of the report in the "Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society", and I will try again to get her to give me the full bibliographical details. Thanks again for your help in all this Waz.

Well ... it may be Sunday, but PhD calls. There is no rest ...

Cawabunga!
Bran.