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

not so bad, actually.

which reminds me: even the first time i was in london - must have been 1970 - i was astonished to see how clean the air was. and mind you, back then i was stuck way out in the docklands east of london

i had expected smog and jack the ripper-types lurking around every corner

it's nice to think that while we are fighting global warming we have actually managed to get rid of the smog-problems in major cities like london and paris

also: after the united nations agreed on banning (most of) aerosol-cans we have actually succeeded in repairing the ozone holes over the poles

this gives hope for our common future - even if this hope may seem small at the moment

This time it was quite windy in L. No chance for a smog.

i have never seen neither fog nor smog in london - and i have been there quite some times by now

lots of rain, though. and it has been bitterly cold there. and noisy

I haven't even seen much rain there. But noisy it is, terribly so.

in the pubs they seem to try to drown out the noise by playing the (socalled) music louder

.. noisy? I'll try to talk less

Makes it much worse.

(Who calls it music anyway?)

.. no, I didn't sing and I'm fairly sure I wasn't that far gone to sing without noticing

yesterday I spent three hours in a plane. the Italian in the next seat tried to howl with his iPod .. now .. I myself know I cannot sing .. apparently he didn't know he cannot sing
it was terrible.. all three hours were sheer torture

And of course you were too polite...

what can you do, holding both hands pressed at your ears? I'd have hit him in the teeth but ..

"Sir, would you mind...?" with added body language.

.. he had his iPod plugs plugged in his ears he didn't even notice the cabin lady asking him if he wanted an ..

*shrugs*

that's what I did .. and I am convinced that italians should not be exposed to mp3 players

a curse on globalisation that brought mp3 players to moaning italians

You survived.

barely

so he never got the offered ? serves him right!

he was too busy trying to moan the windows to crack