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

Wow! You sound awfully cheery and familish! I can relate to your daughter's relative age, being 1 of 3 girls in my family. My dad ripps his hair out on a regular basis. How's the bike doing? Is there any way to get it fixed? and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

My name is Krissy and I'm an ACE and we wander around and wave and say hello to new people. If you need help, you can post to me here or click on this link:

http://www.h2g2.com/A214796

to go to the ACEs homepage. There's tons of people here to say hi and help out. It looks like your space is coming along nicely.

Welcome!

Krissy,
Thanks for that welcome--it's nice to know that the prose I agonised over didn't go unnoticed...

I rarely rip my hair out these days---whatever's left of it doesn't need any help from me to leave home.

The bike's good. I was tempted to replace the saddle, but the man said a sofa was out of the question. I'm growing callouses where the sun don't shine now, so things are a little better. Here in Wales the weather varies between damp and soaked (though having said that we are currently at the end of a 4 day heatwave--anticyclone arrives tomorrow) and as a result, I don't get out on it as much as I'd like. I also find that I need to ride shotgun for Matthew--he loves riding his bike with Dad.

I've just made a balloon kitten in celebration of Maggie Mae--where can I send it?

Tara.
Jeff

Hee hee... no balloon animals! But I'll pass on your good wishes when I speak to her again.

How old is Matthew? Does he have his very own bike seat? I used to love riding behind my dad and waving at all the cars and people when I was about 2 years old. I can remember feeling VERY important. I was with DAD.

Matt is 7--8 in September, and has his own bike. He's still too small to ride the roads outside our cul-de-sac without a resonsible adult, but he makes do with me when he can't find one, like his Mum. His mum and sister are off on a trip to Bristol (~50 miles away) with the school today (Holly has won a regional competition for 'Signing'--for the deaf, she isn't--and is competing in the next level today). We're left to fend for ourselves, and Matt is keen that we get on our bikes and head for the park for a game of football (soccer). Perhaps this afternoon, if the weather stays dry...

So what's your connection with Luxombourg? It's not clear from your page where you are, though I guess that you're in North America (we don't use the word 'weiner' this side of the pond).

And why the yearning for London? London in the summer is hot, sticky, dirty and crowded. I know, I travel to/through the place 4 or 5 times a month. It does have its attractions--I lived there for 2.5 years in the late 70's--but I'm blowed if I can raise much enthusiasm for the place these days. I collect points at the Marriott hotels when I stay there, and this allows me to take the family to stay for a few nights, generally in August. The kids really enjoy it, mostly 'cos it's different, but we're all glad to get back to the Green, Green, Grass of Home (Tom Jones grew up about 4 miles away from here).

I'm getting to sound far to much like my Dad--time to push off...

That's so fantastic that your daughter signs. I enjoyed American Sign Language lessons for years and I'm very interested in BSL. There is a great website that has video of about 350 signs in BSL that I've been looking at when work is slow. Someday I would like to work with deaf and hard of hearing children as a speech pathologist.

Anyhow, my obsession with London is an old one. My dad is a HUGE Flanders & Swann fan and I grew up listening to their records and my A.A. Milne records etc... My cousins are from Scotland and so I was surrounded with "nappies" and "tellys" when I was learning to speak. I knew what a macantosh and golashes were long before I knew what raincoat and boots were.

London is perfect for me. Right now I live in Chicago which is hot and muggy and dirty and crowded in its own right. I'm 24 years old and I love cities. I love the hustle and the bustle and the crowd and the opportunities. I'm an adventurer and I love love LOVE to travel. The enticing thing about London is that it's an english speaking city with close access to places that aren't english speaking. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't live in the USA just how BIG this place is. You can drive for six days and everyone speaks the same language, watches the same tv shows, eats at the same restaurants, and basically has a nearly identical culture to your own. It's majestic, I suppose, but recently I've found it dull and allarming. I want to be a citizen of the whole world and see new things and meet people with different ideas. When you live in a place like the US, everyone is so convinced of their cultural superiority that it's depressingly small-minded.

Also, I happen to be in love with a brit, which helps. To be honest, I was always interested in London but I didn't consider moving there until I met Andy. Suddenly everything seemed possible. He lives in a lovely little flat in Plumstead right near Shooters Hill. Rather than some exotic, far-away place, London feels like it's just around the corner. I've been several times over the past year and I have some place to stay when I go there... I'm familiar with the shops... I love the Woolwich open-air market... I can deal with the currency and order my own curry and anything in the whole world seems possible.

London did that for me. I don't know if I want to live there for the rest of my life, but I definately want to live there sometime.

And my connection to Luxembourg is that my friend online, JJ42, offered to take my kitty back when I thought I would be moving, so that she could go through the Passport for Pets program and I could get her into London to live with Mummy and Daddy. Unfortunately it turns out that it's a hell of a lot easier to get the kitty in than me.