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

It's quite amazing to be able to pinpoint some very precise moments which might have changed our lives.



Actually I just wanted to tell you not to worry if I didn't write for a while, I'll be quite busy with RL in the next week or so. OK, maybe 'worry' is a bit strong

Cheers Toy Box. Maybe 'worry' is a bit strong. But it's nice of you to let me know, cos I will miss you.

More rainforest and dramas when you get back.

*waves*

Hello!

Just popping in, I still don't really have time (I should be writing a report just now ), and I'll be moving next week (to a flat - gasp - without internet ) so I still won't show up much

I'm looking forward to reading more about your rainforest adventures. It's better than movies!

HiToy Box


Things have been a bit traumatic and emotional lately....

Speak soon. Good to hear from you

I can see that

Feel free to post more here if you like. Although I must warn you that I probably won't be able to give any meaningful answer (less meaningful than usual, that is ).

No I wouldn't expect an answer. Everything is far too complicated.

And I just got an email from h2g2 that they will restrict my account. I don't know what they mean. Things just go from bad to worse. So if I'm not here you'll know why.

So they did suspend you for a week? You could take the opportunity for a holiday in the Papua New Guinea rain forest

Seriously speaking, I hope you will feel better when you come back. And get some sleep at night I'll miss your contributions.

You'll be back soon, no?

Yes I am.

Just felt like mentioning the 'three toed sloth'. One day we were speeding down the river in our boat, searching out research sites, and I spotted a three toed sloth high up in a tree beside the river. When we came back around 6 hours later, it was still in the tree in exactly the same position They ain't called sloths for nothing. But it was wonderful somehow in its relentless inertia. I mean it was sort hanging from the branch in not exactly a relaxing position, and yet it was happily so situated for hours. It was literally in exactly in the same position, 6 hours later.

http://www.arthurgrosset.com/mammals/sloth.html

In this link it says because they are so slow moving, their backs are covered in algae, because of the rainforest humidity...

Needless to say I don't remember David Attenbrough featuring sloths. They are not exactly the most exciting animals to watch on telly.

Maybe one could film the sloth very very slowly so that you can show him on television at high speed? Are you sure it one by the way? Not changing position in 6 hours, that could well be my cat Except she hasn't got weeds on the back.

The sloth reminds me of my first contact with French comic strip author Gotlib. It was a 2-page strip about these animals, presented in a funny manner but apparently mostly filled with real information. According to the strip, to get down from branches they just let themselves fall.

He included the following anecdote: one day that Isaac Newton was taking a walk in the rain forest, a sloth decided to get down from its branch just at the moment when the scientist was passing underneath. The little beast fell onto his head, resulting in Newton finding out about the laws of gravity.

(Are you sure it *was* one.)

>just let themselves fall. <

That's what you might call 'passive aggression'..

French Guiana where we were working is a very interesting and strange place. It is what is called a department of France, even though it is a colony in South America. You may know that French colonial policy tended to differ from the British in the sense that colonies were/are considered literally part of France. Although equatorial in situation all things from France are imported. Hence French Golden Delicious apples were widely available and cheaper than local tropically grown fruits. And of course French bread. In fact only a small strip of land next to the Atlantic ocean has been developed. The vast majority of the country is still virgin forest. In Cayenne the capital, there are an enormous mixture of people, Creoles, Chinese, descendants of indentured labour that followed the abolition of slavery, Syrians, Vietnamese and white French from France. White French are there for a few years to make money, and tend to have poorly paid black servants. Marc, the guy I was working for was keen to make contacts in town. We had to visit these people's houses and be waited on by servants for meals. I *absolutely hated* it. I wasn't even allowed to help with things like washing-up. He was forever sucking up to these colonial people. It was like something out of an old film about Empire. So being in town was as stressful as being in the forest in a quite different and horrible way. There was an oppressive sense somehow everywhere in town. Not much smiles from people.

In the forest people called the Boni or as were called Bush Negroes, live along the banks of the rivers. They are descendants of slaves that escaped in the past. Apparently their ancestors traditionally always lived by the side of the river when they were seized as slaves in Africa. Marc told me they have a strong taboo of living actually in the forest itself for traditional superstitious reasons, or venturing into it. I don't know how true that is though. The indigenous American Indians live in the forest. Interestingly the American Indians are not subject to French law like all other inhabitants are.

The Boni speak a very interesting language called, taki taki (talky talky) It's a mixture of Portuguese, English, a bit of French and some from their original tribal languages in Africa. It was quite strange for me suddenly hearing an English word, like an island in a sea of incomprehension. And then another island of English that made me feel at home somehow, as I was so unhappy in many ways. Many of them work in gold mines deep in the interior.

The European Space Agency base is in Korou, just outside Cayenne. Apparently an equatorial launch point is ideal for sending satellites into orbit. It was amazing to see a rocket on the giant launch pad. And there is a large contingent of French Foreign Legion soldiers based there. We bought our boat from one of them.

And of course the French Guiana is home to Devil's Island and the former main prison at Saint-Laurent du Maroni, next to the border with Surinam. It's where the Papillon story comes from. I once spent half a day wandering round the ruins of the old prison, covered in tropical plants and greenery. It was very affecting...

This account pricked my eyes a little, as if coming out from the shade into the bright sun

I know a bit about French overseas departments (my brother works in one of them), but not much because I didn't listen very closely at school and anyway, I don't remember them telling us the same as in your account. Servants? That must have felt really weird. It conjured up, as you wrote, images of old Empire movies.

It's funny how some languages evolve from bits of other existing ones in communities which have little contact with others. How do these people live, the Boni and the Indigenous American Indians? Did you stay with them a little?



First a cow mooing, then English words... Did you also find a fruit which tasted just like a cup of tea, perchance?



What a coincidence, I've seen Papillon last year or so. This prison in Cayenne was quite known, it is mentioned again and again in old French movies and books. A 'bagne' it was (meaning you had long-term prisoners which had to do compulsory work): is there a specific word for this in English? I wonder when they stopped using it. It must be quite gripping to see it in the hands of vegetation (bad style, sorry about that!). How were you affected?

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Hello, just a quick answer before I go home (developments will follow tomorrow).

My brother is in La Reunion, a bit east of Madagascar. And there is no need to apologise for what you wrote - you didn't seem to imply that everybody was a colonial with servants.

My flat is fine, thank you, at least for a short period of time. But it also has a garden where I can kick out, er, I mean, let the take a walk.



For some reason I've always been fascinated by old buildings taken over by vegetation (though it strikes me only now). I always imagine people still being there, like they do in the movies when they show everyday life by transparent muffled people as if the buildings were still new.

That old landing stage, was it the one they showed in Papillon?



Filling in blanks with 'song', that's nice Maybe you should have stayed with them to escape Marc And enjoyed the spider monkey roast, yummy. What sort of things did you eat there by the way?