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

Good Morning Everyone

Yes ... I have been head down Walter, trying to make the most of the time till My Beloved returns and I am compelled to play with her in the evenings instead of the computer (not a lot of compelling required!). I have been trying to get a chapter done, and thus have extinguished all contact with the outside world ... except for the H2G2 lifeline, slow though it currently appears to be.

Glad to hear that your bro's had a good walk in Wales Sal. The camper sounds like a great way to do it ... when we were in Britain in '95 we bought an old Bedford campervan, and that was how we found our way around, all the way from Land's End to John O'Groats. A very patient camper it was indeed to put up with us.

I can't believe how soon the Christmas event is coming around. So, that was a year then was it? Just seemed to blink and it was gone. I wonder if every successive year feels this way. I can remember when I was at school that the year just seemed to go sooo slowly. If I remember correctly there was a character in "Catch 22" who had a theory that he would live longer if he was bored ... maybe that was it, life being a subjective experience and all that. I'm rambling.

Well, Team ... I'm having the day off today so must make the hay and such. Have a great weekend everyone.
Cheerio
Bran.

Evening everyone

It was Monday yesterday and I don't notice much improvement. That stuff at the top of the page keeps loading and reloading and taking forever doing it. Hmmph! Apart from that, I'm ok. The weather here is unchanged: howling gale and pouring rain. Ditches are flooded, road verges are melting like warm jelly across the roads. It's all very messy. It's nice to know you boys are enjoying such lovely weather though.

Hope it didn't spoil your holiday Wazungu.

I love pelicans. Have you ever watched them tormenting fishermen? I wish we had pelicans in Britain.

Speaking of the duck chasing Ben, my brother's business partner has just got a boxer puppy (10 weeks old now) and she enjoys chasing his chickens. The poor old chucks are not amused.

I think the word you may have been looking for to describe your dawn chorus is "cacophony". I bet you wouldn't want to swap it though, would you?

Your Bedford campervan brought back some memories for me Bran. My parents had one for years. I can hardly imagine how many miles I must have travelled in it. You're right about them being forgiving. Ours needed to be.

It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has passed since last Christmas, does it. My aunt has dragooned me into taking her Christmas shopping tomorrow and then I have to go with my brother on Friday. I loath shopping - especially at Christmas. I'll be a dishevelled heap by the time they've finished dragging me around places where people will trample me under foot and ram me with shopping trolleys. Save me somebody, pleeaaase.

Speak to you all later.
Sal

Hi everyone,

StM, perhaps it is only you and me that have problems, but several times this week I have just had to give up trying either to get logged in to the site or, if I accomplish that, either getting to the latest messages or if that obstacle is overcome, actually being able to get the replies to send themselves. Plus our own computer network was down yesterday. What with being kept away from emails, the internet and h2g2 I was becoming very sour by late yesterday, so rather than hang around just being surly to everyone unfortunate enough to be anywhere near me, I went home. Yes! Delicious. Naughty, but delicious. Worked in the garden until 8.00, and my beloved hurtling around on the mower making the lawns look like 'grounds' as they say in all the hoity-toity magazines (or at least I think that's what they say and if they don't, they should).

The weather continues exactly how early Summer should, warm and fine days, long daylight evenings, and cool evenings. After what was a fairly wet Spring most of the State is now looking for some rain (which doesn't really look like happening).

Bran and me are attending the Classics Department Christmas picnic and barbecue tomorrow. It is held at the Waterworks Reserve which, despite its name, is in fact a glorious setting. There is much chit-chat to look forward to, almost all of it involving either classics or history, or the topic of when the social cricket game is to commence. Speaking of which, have you noticed what a truly wonderful social ice-breaker a game of cricket can be. I remember a group of people, mostly strangers to one another and of disparate tastes and backgrounds, coming over to our place shortly after we moved in. The Beloved and me were petrified that everyone would be a bit starchy and that things wouldn't gel, until we had this idea of a game of cricket out in the garden. Needless to say, men women ducks and dogs all joined in, with hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable results. Some of the guests still occasionally want to boast about 'that catch' they took, or how they bowled me first ball (not hard to do but don't let on). My favourite recollection is the Beloved's father, who has acute arthritis and whatnot and often cannot bend down or move his arms and legs without great discomfort. Anyway, he was not going to play but eventually said he would 'just have a bit of a bat' and of course, hit a six over the house, over the road and lost ball! Cricket might not be a civilising game, but it is certainly the social game. By the way, tennis balls for social cricket, at least in my games. Must go, take care y'all,

Walter.

Good evening,
Tell them you're doing all your shopping by internet Sal. No trolleys, no sore feet ! Walter I don't know if you remember my asking, ages ago, and not on this thread I think, if Arthur Upfield's books were still in print in Australia? I have found some secondhand ones for sale on the net. I ordered two for a very reasonable price and they arrived while I was away. In secondhand book shops around here its a case of running into them every three or four years. I am saving these two up for holiday reading .

I got the pruning done before the gales started Sal but there is no point trying to do anything else in the garden. The grass turns into mud as you walk on it. Regarding cuckoos maybe you had better not upset your sub-editor until he has finished sub-editing!.

The weather in Yorkshire wasn't too bad. It didn't spoil the trip. Unfortunately I didn't collect any Yorkshire words. I spent most of the time looking at exam papers in a Harrogate hotel. I think Harrogate is too upmarket for heyoop. The highlights of the weekend were shopping in The Shambles in York, sitting in the Minster, (a winter evening is perfect for both), looking for fossils on the beach and finding ammonites and flocks of turnstones and oyster catchers, and walking round Whitby harbour in the dark. There were no pelicans but quite a few swans.

Suffering from computer withdrawal Walter!
I missed the pc myself this last weekend.
My "lawns" look like groundcover, not quite the same as grounds. But that has given the word I've been looking for. Sal's referring to verges here as jelly has been bothering me. Coffee grounds is what they are like in Shropshire. The roads look as if someone has been emptying coffee filters. Some of the Cheshire verges I passed today were more blancmongeish however.

Its very cheering to know there is a baby pelican waddling about out there, and to imagine the dawn Kookaburra/crow cacophony when getting up in the dark here. Best wishes for the picnic, B-B-Q and cricket. I have never played any cricket but I used to be a big fan of the BBC's cricket commentary. I'd have it on in the background on the radio for hours on end. That was back in the days when England won occasionally. Even beating Australia. Yes, that long ago. Mike Brearley was in charge.

I have not had any problems this evening with h2g2. I was hoping the slow down had been fixed but it doesn't sound as if it has been. I certainly had problems last week and gave up on a couple of occasions.


I hope the haymaking is going well Bran. I ought to be writing Christmas cards right now, I am going to write cards right now,
'Til later,Wz

Good evening Walter, Sal, Bran and Case.
I didn't expect to get here. h2g2 has been impossible to get on to just lately. So I want to wish you all a happy Christmas and a very good New Year and all the best for 2001 now. In case I don't get back here again before Xmas, with the site being so slow and all the Christmas events starting. Enjoy your picnics, barbeques, turkey dinners etc. in glorious sunshine or in front of roaring fires, in the company of pelicans and jasmine, or robins and holly, or honeyguides and acacias, whatever.

I begin celebrating on Thursday with the village ceilidh; mulled wine, carols and Morris dancers. A nice mix. I hope the dancers don't succeed this year in smashing the lights they barely missed last year, the year before and the year before that with the sticks, trowlels and swords they try to belt one another with. Village hall funds won't stand it at present.

Must go, 'til next time,Wz.

Hello Wazungu, StM and Bran,

Surprise, not only did h2g2 let me in this morning, but our own server is not playing up for the first time in a week. So like you, Wazungu, I will make hay while the sun shines.

Speaking of which, the sun has not stopped shining for about a month. It was 32 on Sunday, 26 yesterday and today is tipped to be about 24. Everyone around our way is haymaking, and what a marvellous sound, sight and smell that is. I so love Summer in the country.

Wazungu, your lead-in to Christmas sounds wonderful. Ours will not have that amount of charming folk-custom, but we will at least spend the day in traditional fashion with family and friends, and of course on the telephone speaking with loved ones in far-away places.

So, my friends, our compliments of the Season to you and to your families, and may the New Year bring you health and contentment. May it also see the continuation of our chatter, here, which I have so much enjoyed and so look forward to. Take care, all of you,

Clive (Walter).

Season's Greetings Wazungu, Walter and Bran

Sorry I haven't been in sooner. I have excuses: demanding relatives, difficulties getting into h2g2, not being able to sit for more that a few minutes and some generous soul has given me cold. All of which are not sufficient to stop me wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

I'll do a proper reply when things have calmed down and I've perked up.

Speak to you all soon.
Sally

Hi, and a Happy Christmas to everybody. Just a quick message today - very busy time of year. Going on a hike to the Drakensberg from Christmas until New Years, talk to you all again after that!

Dear Sal, Wazungu, Walter and Case

And finally from the remiss and absent Bran - A HUGE CHRISTMAS GREETING TO EVERYONE!!! Have a wonderful time All. I have really enjoyed meeting you all this year (electronically at least), and have gained so much from the conversations that we have had. I wish you all the best of the Christmas cheer and of the new year festivities.

Cheerio
Bran (The Slightly Too Focussed On Work Of Late But Hoping To Be More Rounded In The New Year)

Greetings Sal, Walter, Bran and Case,
I hope you are all having as good a Christmas break as I am and that the quiet around here means you are all busy enjoying it. The village ceilidh was excellent, a pity a few more people didn't come - but that did leave more room for dancing. The Morris men managed to leave the lights intact for another year.

Christmas was fun and then, yesterday, we woke to find everything covered in snow. Very pretty. I drove to work extremely slowly, to have time to look around. Sun rising in a clear sky over snow covered trees and hills takes some beating.

Walter, I've enjoyed the conversation we all have here too, and hope it will continue - this wasn't something I expected when I got the PC! I hope the cold has gone Sal, that the trip to the Drakensberg was a good one Case. And Bran, you may be almost unique in wishing to be more round, particularly at this time of year!

I'm away to my parents' now, it's Mum's birthday today, speak to you all again soon, and in case it's not before Monday, have a very happy New Year,
Waz.

Happy New Year Wazungu, Walter, Bran and Case

Christmas has been pretty good, the cold didn't last long and now we have snow - lovely. I took the dogs for a walk at about 3.45 pm. The sun was a red disc, the sky directly overhead was a clear, dark mauve and gradually lightened through blue to white at the misty horizons, the clouds were pink and there was a tiny sliver of new moon. Everything was covered in about 5 inches of snow. It was beautiful. Even the sheep looked happier (they hated the constant rain and deep mud).

I thought with global warming we'd never see a worth-while snow-fall again. More is forecast too.

There's a jewellery shop in Market Harborough where the shop owner had notices in the window saying if there was snow on new year's day, all the people who bought jewellery from him in December (up to a value of £2,000) would get their money back. And it's forecast for new year's day! I bet he's having a rotten Christmas, poor dab.

What's a ceilidh Wazungu? Your Morris dancers sound like a band of out-of-work berserkers. Lucky they found something relatively harmless to burn up their energy.

Are you still enjoying perfect weather over the other side of the planet Walter and Bran? Those Christmas bugs at the top of the screen must seem more appropriate for your seasonal celebration than ours. We don't usually see a lot of bugs at this time of the year.

It's been so nice meeting and talking to all of you here at the waterhole. The year's had its ups and downs but meeting and making friends with you has been a definite up - actually the best bit of the year for me. I wish you all a wonderful new year, Wazungu, Walter, Bran and Case and I look forward to meeting you all here again in January 2001.

The site seems to have speeded up and the banner at the top of the screen doesn't keep reloading. Could be a good omen!?

Speak to you soon.
Sal

Hi again, everyone, I'm back from my hike, a bit earlier than expected. It was really great - me, my sister, her husband (married for five weeks now!) and his brother spent three days up in the mountains, almost all of it at altitudes of 6 000 - 7 000 ft, saw some very interesting plants, and extremely impressive views. On our right, views of rolling foothills and wide river valleys, and on our left the vast peaks and cliffs of the high Natal Drakensberg including Cleft Peak (10 800 ft) and many other peaks over 10 000 ft. We wanted to climb Cathedral Peak (9 860 ft) on the third day, but discovered over the course of the first two days that it would be humanly impossible. If we had a fourth day, we could have done it. Oh well - I hope there will be a next time. My sister thought that she would die, but she made it, and us men are all very proud of her - she walked every step of the way, carrying her own backpack. And she recovered quite well - walking normally again now, and looking forward to the future once again. It was a blast.

I hope everybody else also had a marvellous Christmastime, and in case I don't see you before then, I wish you all a very prosperous new year.

2001 Greetings Sal, Walter, Bran and Case,

If you had the same weather we had here Sal there must be a very depressed jeweller in Market Harborough! There wasn't much new snow but there was some - and now its all gone and its back to mud. Hard to believe it was so beautiful last week. By the way, I saw that moon!

A proper Scottish ceilidh is a party where everyone joins in and contributes to the entertainment, singing, dancing, music, telling tales.... Its a word often used in England now really to mean a barn dance. But our ceilidh came close to the real thing with everyone singing carols to the fiddles and accordions the Morris dancers brought, joining in some dances (improvised as they went along I think) and, to top it all, one of the local youngsters singing solo along with a CD he'd brought. He did it well too.

I thought h2g2 had sped up too, but I couldn't get here last night and its slow again today.

Welcome back from the Drakensbergs, Case. Mountain climbing is beyond me, congratulations to your sister. I did climb a hill on Boxing Day, but that was just a small local lump of red sandstone. Nice views to the Welsh Mountains and Shropshire hills from it 'tho.

And now its back to work proper, doing next year's budgets. It would be all right if I didn't have to consult people about them. Much quicker too .
Til later
Wz

Evening everyone

Nice to see you back Wazungu. Glad you enjoyed your adventure Case. Your sister sound like a hardy soul. Good for her!

I think the jeweller got away with it Wazungu. I think it had to snow on the London Weather Centre (or whatever it's called) and it didn't snow there. The overwhelming sense of relief might have given him a stroke or a heart attack - it didn't though. We're back to mud as far as the eyes can see in all direction here. My dogs are fond of seeing how much of the stuff they can get to stick to their coats and carry home with them. Little poppets.

Your ceilidh sound like a lot of fun. How do you pronounce the word?

You're right about h2g2. It speeded up over Christmas/New year when there were fewer people about but yesterday and today it's been terrible. It's sooo slowww and I've even been slung out a few times. I was trying to update my prion article yesterday between 2am and 3am before taking it over to peer review. I kept clicking the update button and for about an hour it refused to display in it's updated state. I gave up in the end and went to bed. When I looked again yesterday afternoon, it was all updated and ok, so I took it over to PR as planned.

Ugly jobs rear their heads here as well. I have to do my tax return. Ugh. What a chore. Ah well, no point whinging about it. I'd better just roll up my sleeves and get stuck in.

Did you enjoy your Christmas and new year celebrations Walter and Bran? Hope you did!

Speak to you all later
Sal

Good evening,
Sal, ceilidh is pronounced Kayli with the emphasis on the Kay. In its anglicised form that is, I've no idea what its Gaelic pronunciation is. Talking of mud I met a tractor on the lane tonight with four blindingly bright spotlights on its back end. I couldn't make out what it was until I got right up close. It was apparently spreading the mud nice and evenly over the road.

I have just been reading your prion entry.Very informative, especially for someone who knows nothing about these things, and a bit worrying. I never realised there was a link to MS. It will be interesting to see if anyone out there still challenges the link between NVCJD and BSE. I have not had a reply yet from the Min of Ag, Fish and Food to my forwarded letter about who takes responsibility for BSE matters. I will write a reminder this weekend.

Tonight h2g2 started very slowly but is now working reasonably fast. Tax returns .
Perhaps Walter and Bran are still recovering from celebrations?
Wz

Hey Sal, have you noticed you're pick of the weekend with Bacteriophages? . Congratulations! Are you pleased with it after all the editing? I hope so, I thought it read well. Its odd how someone putting a word or phrasing into your entry that you would never use yourself grates so much.
Wz

Afternoon Wazungu, Walter, Bran & Case

Now you come to put in the phonetic spelling of ceilidh (kayli), I recognise the word. Come to think of it, I wonder if that's the original source of the expression "kaylied" (as in sloshed). No, can't be!

We have a whole fleet of those mud spreading tractors you mentioned, in this area. They turn the roads into quagmires.

Glad you found the prion entry informative. Someone did challenge it a little bit over at peer review but when I explained that he'd read something I hadn't said, he read it again and agreed that he'd misread. Everyone's been really nice and positive about it.

You sent that letter ages ago. The lack of response is very unimpressive.

I still haven't started on that tax return. It's funny. I never used to mind doing other people's but I've always hated doing my own.

Yes the bacteriophages article is in this weekend and it's the Editors Selection for the weekend. I'm deeply honoured, as you can imagine. Actually, it's not too bad now, after the first paragraph. They altered most of it back to it's original state, as I requested. That was a relief. And the sub-ed who had made all the wonky edits was very good and understanding about all my moaning.

Back to work on Monday. Groan. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. I guess Walter and Bran are still partying! Hope they'll have some good stories for us when they've finished.

Speak to you later.
Sal

Hello there Sal, isn't it quiet around here?
"Kaylied"? Certainly not! .
Actually you've made me wonder if using "ceilidh" on the posters deters people from coming if they're not sure what they're letting themselves in for. We'll have to try calling it something else next year.

I've been keeping up with the prions forum, I saw someone questioned the vCJD/BSE link as I thought they might. The TV programme that reconstructed the whole history of what happened seemed to make it clear that the link is accepted on all sides. I am not at all impressed with the response I've had to my BSE letter but it does give an excuse to ask the PM's office for an answer again rather than the Ministry of Agriculture.

I woke up this morning to find a flock of redwings in the tree at the bottom of the garden, a small flock of longtails in the sycamore next door, a robin in the apple tree and two magpies on the fence. Nice. I'm not quite so happy about the starlings I have in the loft. I didn't mind when they kept by the pipes above the bathroom but its quite clear that they've now acquired the freedom of the entire loft. When my parents moved up here they found a jackdaw nest in their attic, two metres across and one metre high. And goodness knows how heavy. Or how old.

How are you finding h2g2? I thought it had improved again but couldn't get here at all yesterday. I'm glad you were happy with the bacteriophages editing in the end. Ie. your version was restored! I'm sure the guidelines say that before the sub-ed starts editing they check your homepage to make sure they have the latest version of your entry.
Until later,
Wz

Hi Wazungu and Salamander the Mugwump and Bran and the Maruading One,

I wish you all the best possible first new year of the new millennium.

Back from our break in my old home town of Sydney. Gee, I had to an extent forgotten what a wonderful and exciting place it is. And of course, going to somewhere as a tourist provides an entirely different perspective from that of a resident. The weather was marvellous, the feeling laid back and our hearts carefree. And all the Olympic Games souvenir-type stuff is being firesaled everywhere you go. T-shirts that were selling for thirty or forty dollars are now going for ten dollars, that sort of thing. So I was able to send a box of stuff to my sister and her family - maybe her winter of discontent will be turned into glorious summer by the sunny feel of Sydney! But we had a great time and are sad that it had to end too soon.

Bran is caught up with Summer semester teaching, but will no doubt emerge soon to tell us how he and his lovely one have been faring. I have to tell you that when last I saw him, he cut a very impressive figure: lean, tanned, unshaven, kitted out in cargo shorts and Dior-looking shirt, and holding sway with a cricket bat and a glass of champagne (and he was doing pretty well with both, let me tell you).

Has anyone yet read Jeremy Paxman's book "The English'? Apparently, and you guys would know this better than me, Paxman is some sort of celebrity in England - is celebrity the right word? Anyway, his book has stimulated considerable discussion if not aroused controversy. I read it over the break and thought it was pretty good, although as with all these kinds of books it depends quite a lot on what the reader is expecting to find and I can understand why some found it frustrating and 'unfinished'. Also read 'Roanoke' and 'Big Chief Elizabeth', both of which deal with England's early exploration and colonisation of North America although they take vastly different approaches to the subject. Also read a biography of James Joyce that received rave reviews but which I found too esoterically-written for my liking, and a book of essays by the incomparable Alistair Cooke (the Letters from America man). Am about to start 'Ahab's Whale' and 'Reading Medieval Latin'. Waz and StM, you would probably be astonished at just how many books can be read during a week of pure unalloyed sunshiny balmy days, a good deal of which is spent basking in a deck chair in the garden, which is where I am about to head for. Ah, my! Take care, y'all.

Walter.

Hi Waz, Sal, Walter and Case

AND A GRAND HAPPY NEW YEAR, CENTURY AND MILLENIUM TO YOU ALL.

I am about to emerge from a rather hectic summer semester of teaching that has meant that while everyone else is gearing down for Xmas, I have been gearing up. Still, a fun course on the history of text and images - use of media, communications, etc. I did the medieval bit, with valuable assistance from Walter on the more weighty topics like the Order of the Garter (for King Arthur as a propagandist figure). Anyhoo ... a quiet Christmas and new year was had, which is how we like them. Had a 5kg turkey between the two of us! Lasted for well over a week ... turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches were a big hit.

We spent the new year weekend at a place called Bruny Island, which is where those of us who have moved to Tassie to get away from it all, go to get further away from it all. Long sandy beaches, quiet walks, lots of wilderness, etc. A great relaxing time.

Sounds like you all had your own splendid times. Walter was also a dab hand with the bat and the champagne, I should point out, holding his own also decked out in shorts, revealing the legs of a man who has been ruggedly outdoors for the weeks of great weather that we have had (that is excluding the week of Christmas, where there was actually snow in the central highlands, and the south-west. I could see snow-capped peaks from Bruny Island).

Currently 28-30 degrees celcius here, and I am in shorts. I am about to go outside and do some watering. Look forward to a great year chatting with you all. Take care everyone.

Best wishes
Bran.