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

There was at least one other who was on the right track. A frenchman, I believe

Rumours about this forced Darwin to finally publishing his findings, which he had been pondering hard on for many years after his return from his famous expedition

Darwin had seen some amazing things in the Galapagos Islands. Maybe the marine iguanas that he saw were also planning to publish their findings about a strange man who was snooping around their area.

Maybe you could volunteer to be their writer

I would need to become familiar with the marine iguana lifestyle, for the sake of authenticity. :-0

You already are a keen swimmer, yes?

Absolutely. Been treading water for years.

yes?

The Galapagos Islands sound intriguing, but I don't think iguana go there just now.

It's a long walk from Boston and you would need very long wellingtons

I was planning to swim most of the way, but there are some rather steep mountains in the way no matter which route I choose.

I would love to go there in real life. there and a lot of other places. my niece has been there, but then she had the means and still no kids at the time

* wanders through and clears away a lot of cobwebs ... then realizes they are part of the decor. tries desperately to re-assemble said webs ... *

Don't worry too much. The can spin some more webs. Once they get back from their break, that is.

Yeah but I don't want to make too much work for them, ya know. They have such a full day, high tea, Corrie Street, nattering over the fence about the neighbor ... It's a demanding life they have

It isn't just the spiders that work hard. I get tired just watching the bunblebees check every single flower for nectar and pollen. They land on flowers so small that the flowers sag. I worry that the bees will fall off, but it hangs on for dear life and keeps doing its work.

There's a lot to admire in the insect world, and also in the spider world...

I have a friend in England who ensures that I never forget the wonders of the resilience and variety of nature. When she visited us almost a year ago, she showed me aspects of my own neighborhood that had totally eluded me. And she saw the largest Queen bumblebee of her entire life, on a chair in my back yard, the day of my 50th birthday party

That must have been quite a sight.

I pitied the poor male that was mating with her, he looked so tiny. But Venus got a couple of really good pictures (on her Fotki page), and then I had to shoo them away. They were on one of my lawn chairs, and guests were arriving. Not nice to have a sister-in-law or a local friend sit on that situation