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

heheh. (fans Peanut). (with a palm frond).



Evening all!

Of course! xocolatl! You see, I never thought about that. This shows that I am deeply connected to unseen other things.

Lovely word, that. Xocolatl. These Mexican words that begin with X. They make me go dreamy. I start to remember things I didn't know about.

Hey, SA, when you have a mo, could you explain to me the saturnalian Sybarite, part time Jerry Mire perched on Galbraiths Roost? .

Of course, I might not understand the explanation, , but it's great anyway.

Speaking of Nahuatl words, there's tomatl, of course - and I've got the dope on that on this week's FP: A87829564

When she edited it, Galaxy Babe thought 'tomatl' was a typo'...

Tomatoes were once almost a controlled substance in the US...

hahah tomatl! yes! I love that word. It's the tl. I'm about to remember unseen things. In fact, having just gone over to check your article, I feel stoned already. I just got to the bit about the guys eating jimsonweed in their salad. No way, what about that eh?? heheh. Live and learn. Nice article. Going back to it now.

Heh-heh. That may have been an act of terrorism. The soldiers weren't popular during Bacon's Rebellion. Anyway, it amused the locals.

Hey Daydreamers, here is some midweek sayings associated with wisdom:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/29/inspiring-quotes-about-wisdom_n_5590031.html

Evening all! Amazing quotes, I love these. They help me. They inspire me, and light my way. Thanks luv!

I'm really upset right now, Eastbourne Pier is burning down. Even as I type. It's on the national BBC news. I come from near Eastbourne, the pier is an iconic Victorian structure, it's part of my childhood, and my adult life. I hope they can save some of it, or will it be like the West Pier in Brighton, which is a skeleton, falling into the sea?

They don't know how the fire began yet. It seems there are no injuries, which is incredible, as the pier will be so crowded at this time of year. They must have evacuated it fast. I feel so sorry for the town.

I need a drink. The fire crews are amazing. Here's to the fire crews.

Eastbourne pier is five minutes from the hospital where my Dad died. I used to wander along there, in between visits, watching the neon lights through salty tears.

I feel so English when I think about piers. What about piers then? Are there piers in other countries? There must be. I need to know about piers.

Sorry to hear about it and that it distresses you so, luv. All manmade structures come to an end sometime.

As Britain is so close to sea---most places not far from it at all and it was ever such a Maritime Empire---I guess piers take on a more personalized part of everyone there. I used to go to the New Jersey shore. They had an entertainment pier there called the 'Steel Pier'. It was a combination arcade with atractions such as the 'diving horse',carnival games and concert venues. It was not really used by ships at all. Here is a picture of what it used to be:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a11728/

I think this is from around the 1940's.

Here is a picture of the diving horse before it retired:

http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/tdy-120214-divinghorses-251pm.grid-6x2.jpg


this one was taken in the 1970.

That is sad. Sorry to hear about the pier.

It must be the way people felt in New Orleans when the hurricane destroyed so much of the old town. Historic buildings aren't easy to replace.It's never the same.

aww CC it is hard to watch something like that just go

Aw, luvs, thanks. And thanks for insights into many things.

'Tis true, all things must pass.

I never thought about that, the proximity to the sea, the tiny British Isles, the seaside structures, they get into the psyche.

And New Orleans, sheesh and wah , yes, the destruction of the old town.

The crumbling of history. The crumbling of structures.

And now let me consider this 1940's Steel Pier on the New Jersey shore! this is fascinating! I could get obsessed. I love the diving horse. So strange, you know, I look at the picture, it reminds me of an English pier, yet it is so different also. What a curious thing, the atmosphere of a photo, travelling through photos, the way that history affects us all, the way that structures affect us, the structures that shape our lives.

hmm, I could get intense. I am already intense.

I'm sorry about the pier. Do they already know what caused the fire?

hey luvs

At the moment they are saying it's an electrical fault. Nothing confirmed yet. Let's hope it's not the work of some idiot arsonist, as is sometimes the case with pier fires. And no casualities, that's amazing.

Thanks to the skills of the fire crews, quite a lot of it has been saved. The far end, which originally housed a camera obscura, that's still there.



Eastbourne has lost a vital part of its heritage, and tourist economy, though, till they figure out if they can restore it. The Victorian architecture has gone for good. The affected area is just a metal skeleton.

So weird, all the hundreds of postcards and brochures that feature photos of the pier, they're now historical documents. Strange, huh, how things can turn into history in just a few minutes.



I guess every moment turns to history as soon as we breathe out. Quicker in fact. That's a bit intense.



I don't suppose the Victorians ever intended piers to last forever. They get buffeted by the waves and weather all the time, and they seem to be very susceptible to fire.



Obviously, it's not on the scale of the global atrocities which tear our hearts apart every single day. In fact, I feel almost guilty to be feeling sad about something so small in comparison, but it still managed to make a front page picture and write-up on a few of the national papers. It's that Victorian seaside heritage, that pier thing.

And of course I'm now thinking arty thoughts .. with questions attached. I'd be fascinated to know ...

uh oh.

... about the man-made structures which somehow influence our worlds, especially when we're kids.

Like, what are the first structures we can remember, outside of our immediate environment, which represented a world beyond.

And what was the effect they had on us?

Was it a shed or an outhouse. Perhaps the window of a house across the street. Or a streetlight. Or a pylon.

Eastbourne pier was one of my first memories of this type. I thought it was something from outer space, all lit up. . I also remember when the Isaac Newton telescope was built, I could see it from my bedroom window. It was a silver dome. And then my Dad had a grain silo built on the farm, we climbed up the ladder on the side. Another strange shape, silver, cylindrical.

I think I spent most of my childhood returning to the mother ship, or space station. Home .. home...

Very interesting. I just asked my husband the question.

We're talking the Scottish Highlands here, early 1950s. No electricity till 1958, so one of his earliest memories of a structure beyond his immediate environment is pretty dark, lit only by tilley lamps.

It was the old cottage of cailleach Thompson. He thinks that's how you spell it. It's gaelic for old woman. Pronounced cal-yach.

He was raised in a crofter's cottage. Cailleach Thompson's cottage was similar, a few doors up. It was dark dark dark. Scary. It looked derelict, even though cailleach Thompson lived in there. And filthy. And piled high with dark furniture.

He and his friends would run to the window, peer through, then run away. Sometimes they would see her, which made them run faster. Who was cailleach Thompson? Why was her cottage in such a state?

So, no light. No lit up structures that reminded him of outer space and magic things. He's upset now. . So, the effect of light. Interesting.



A church spire, the cinema building, petrol pumps, a factory, an abattoir, the village shop.

What about them? Just thinking of how structures appear in childhood. And the effect they have.

Not a man made structure, but I remember the house martins who used to build their nests on the wall of our house, they favoured the one on the side of house that my bedroom window

If you leaned right out and sometimes wriggled out you could see right into their nests, a practise that made my parents threaten to get a lock on the window...



Noisy little babies and I loved their nests, which are a structure just not a man-made one

Perculiar

That is a very neat tale, Peanut. How to be that close to martin nests. They are really pretty birds. I hope the nestlings didn't make too much noise for you.

Hi Electra I think that was occasionally the downside but mostly I liked it.

I have been watching a barn owl cam the bebbies has grown and fledged, now they really did make a awful racket, but I missed their food calls and their 'snoring' when they finally left.

I am hoping that now I have very tolerant of that noise it might pay off and people snoring will no longer keep me awake.

Yeah, well snoring is a big problem---I have it. I think how you respond to it depends on your own sleep pattern. If you tend to be an initially light sleeper, you are more likely to be bothered by it. I tend to go into a heavy sleep all at once.

Morning all!

That's amazing, Peanut What a marvel for a child, to be able to see right into the nest!

You're going to miss those little barn owls eh? despite the food calls and snoring. heheh. Amazing to have had the chance to watch them grow. You inspire me, the way you delight in the natural world.

Yes, snoring. . Interesting. Do dogs snore? Or cats? What animals snore?

Back to the subject of Eastbourne Pier for a moment, they now think it could have been arson. Why do people like to burn things down?