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

I know what you mean, paul, cloudy days can affect the mood, especially when it gets dark so early.

How many days of sunlight do you get per year, where you live? Like, compared with the amount of cloudy/rainy days?

Of course us Brits always expect cloud and rain on the summer picnic.

Imagine living in Alaska, where sometimes the sun doesn't even rise, hardly at all, or in some months doesn't even set, hardly at all.

I covered all options there, because I don't really know.

Hey Jo(urnal)

Hey Knowledge! Hey Wonder!
Now I'm in a fix
There is infinite detail
to add to the mix

Could you loan me a symbol
to strengthen my grip?
A circle of life
or a Mobius Strip?

**************tbc*************

The circle of life swirly dance////Universal symbols, hmmm, must think about them, the yin yang, the spiral, the infinity 8 shape, good way to try to understand the things that I don't understand, which is pretty much everything, haha ah yes holy moly I need brandy, damn, its breakfast time.

All I'll say about the end is that I changed it!

I wrote a draft a while ago but decided it was never going to be much good unless I was prepared to spend weeks in a library in Toulouse, reading the archives in French.That was a bit disappointing .

But, when I read it again recently and tweaked it a bit, I thought it would do for hootoo!

I'm praying that Michel and Danielle get back together. If they are wounded or sad, maybe they can recover eventually. And there's a child who could survive into our own time, or close to it.

You wrote so well that I have a lot invested in them.

My father would have been about the same age as Danielle and Michel in the early 1940s. That really brings the story home.

Doing the research in French, eh? Now there's a challenge. heheh. Never too late. You can always research your next work in French. I think its your destiny ... (looks into crystal ball, sees mvp in a library in France, I have spoken)

Glad you decided that the alternative ending worked!

That must be an interesting part of being a writer, dealing in alternative endings.. its quite a responsibility, your characters are depending on you..

You're right, paul, it certainly does bring it home, thinking of those we've known who were there ..

Hey Jo(urnal)

Hey Knowledge! Hey Wonder!
You answered my call!
I got lost in a void
where there's nothing at all

Now I'll chat with the Buddha,
consider the bees,
try to photograph Mars
in the cool summer breeze

**************tbc**************

The Mars Mix //// with added bees/////and scary voids

Thanks for your comments on my story Paulh.

I sometimes think of my parents who were in Coventry the night of 14 November 1940, when the city was badly bombed. They got married 3 weeks later, though they said it was hard to find a church with a roof!

" they said it was hard to find a church with a roof!." [MVP]

In November, being in a church without a roof? Must have ben a bit chilly.

My dad was there in the winter of 1944/45. House-to-house fighting. He was in Metz first. They crossed the Rhine at Remagen. It was a horrible winter for everyone.

Your dad must have been one of the lucky ones -- to et through it, and back home, and able to give life to you and your siblings.

Yeah, he was. A comrade died right in front of him.

Luck plays a part in survival.

You and I are lucky our fathers survived the war in decent health.

These really are very extraordinary accounts, extraordinary with a very raw edge.



To have the chance to hand down these stories to future generations is quite something I think, the power of stories is indeed a mighty force.

Hey Jo(urnal)

Hey Knowledge! Hey Wonder!
How old are the hills?
And who finds the cure
for our multiple ills?

Can the angels sing harmony,
jazz or the blues?
I'm sure they can match
any style that we choose

********tbc*******

Jazz angel mix///////////////

Angel music fills the spheres
With sound no mortal hears.

Where and when and how
To hear it? I only know not now.

The living their own music shall make,
And chance the hereafter's melodic take.

We have a chance, even in dark, difficult times, to enjoy the warmth of an occasional ray of Winter sun. Or a particularly tasty bit of salmon or a peanut butter sandwich. A radio, a streaming computer, a cellphone, in the hands of someone adept with them may enable those who love music to enjoy the particular songs or general type they like.

Proponents of mindfulness tell us that when we are sitting in a traffic jam or long line, we can see the situation as an opportunity to savor whatever the moment can offer. It's even possible in retrospect to realize some enjoyable aspect of a past moment.

I remember, in the heat of summer, sitting at my computer with an aching guy, not wanting to leave the computer because I was enjoying something so much.

I remember, as a ten-year-old boy, facing a major operation the next, to savor walking among maple trees on a family outing.

or the sense of feeling safe and comforted as the EMT's loaded me into their ambulance when I couldn't breathe one night.

n aching gut, not an aching guy. The guy who was aching was me.

Yes, it's good to think as you suggest, Paulh. Though a streaming computer sounds like one that's been dropped in the bath!

Very poetic words, paul!