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

mufflewhump

On behalf of the entire WLC, HAPPY B-DAY!!

Thanks guys! You others can have the , I'll take a glass of .

Happy birthday to you....
Have a fantastic day

Yippieee!!!

So far I've had a great day. I got up half past seven this morning ... I expected no present, and so I was very pleasantly surprised to get one ... and one (actually, more than one) that I really, really wanted and that I had no idea I could get!

You guys may know I live in Pietersburg, which is basically in the middle of the African bush, nowhere near civilisation. Now, I like books (duhh...) but I'm at the mercy of the local library which is not quite adequately stocked, and the bookshops, which are inadequately stocked as well as extremely expensive. Now, an author I like is Orson Scott Card ... the library, though, only have *some* of his books, for instance the *third* book of the 'Ender's Game' series, but not the first, second and fourth one ... and the first *two* books of the 'Alvin Maker' series, but not the rest. They were fun to read, as well as frustrating because of the books that were missing. I was reminded of Card a while ago when David Conway urged LeKZ to read his books to get their minds off their troubles, and they recommended the books to me. So, a few months ago we went to visit my sister and her husband in Heidelberg, and we then we had the chance to go to a huge shopping centre. There I found some of his other books ... but they were expensive. I bought the first and second books from the 'Ender's Game' series. I read them, and again number 3 from the library, and of course then I wanted to have number 4 of the series as well... but we scoured the local bookshops and couldn't find them. I wanted to have the other Alvin Maker books as well... but no joy here. So I resigned myself to never finding out what happened next. My dad also read the books, and also enjoyed them. He heard me exclaim many times in my exasperation at not being able to read onwards from where I was. But what was to be done? The library has it not, neither do the bookshops, and ordering from Amazon is a hassle. So I went on to read other authors - Mark Twain, mainly - and forgot about Card. But this morning imagine my surprise. My parents told me there was a present for me ... it was in a brown paper bag. I opened it ... and it was Book Four of the 'Ender's Game' series, books three and four of the 'Alvin Maker' series, and the first book of the 'Homecoming' series!!! My dad just happened to go to the bookshop a few days ago ... *without me* as it happened ... and suddenly, there they were, for sale! I just hope they didn't pay too much for them... but it was a great pleasant surprise!

The rest of the day, up til now, I spent with my folks at the Pietersburg Game Reserve. Not much wildlife, but we did see many warthogs, and some impalas, tsessebe, kudus, and interestingly, quite a few waterbuck! My dad photographed a few of them. We also saw mountain reedbucks, which we rarely see. Birds - unusual sightings include violeteared waxbills, a large eagle, and a pygmy kingfisher! We strolled around a rocky hillside and there I picked up a rock to the vast surprise of a flatlizard ... he musta felt like one of us would feel if suddenly our house is lifted off us by a giant ... and that poor lizard gave us a very impressive display in speed as it scurried off to find new shelter. I put the rock back exactly where it was, and I hope the lizard will soon feel safe enough to return. We earlier also saw a big tortoise, which I also picked up to inspect his forelegs. All in all it was an interesting, enjoyable day for us all.

When I came home I came online to see who sent me messages! All my favourite people have so far, except for some who may not know about it! I got emails from Purplejenny, TNG and LeKZ, Chris Miller, my 'real-life' friend Valerie (who congratulated me on my thirtieth *day* on earth - wow!) and Dastardly, and on h2g2 messages from Amy P, Ottox, David Conway, and again Dastardly! Thanks a bunch guys!

I'm glad your day was so great, Willem!

Yay!
Happy Birthday!



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Hi Ming Mang, and thanks!

I left out other interesting stuff ... I saw a slender mongoose up close, in a tree! They're very pretty little creatures. We also saw something strange lying in the road - it was the foreleg of what looked like a bushbuck, with the hoof and skin still present on the lower leg but the upper leg was stripped clean. There aren't large carnivores in the reserve. It probably belonged to an antelope that died of natural causes and that was then eaten by jackals or hyenas.

The eagle was a blackbreasted snake eagle!

I also collected some tinderwood fruits.

Now I have to get my life back on track ...

Happy Birthday Willem!

Thanks Ellen! I got your birthday card, and I liked it a lot! I'll soon send you an email. How are you doing nowadays? Up extremely late, it seems !

Or, extremely early!