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

Hi both , First of all WS I didn't move anything ,just take your time keep it centered each move in ,Can you imagine It took me about three days to find my house , I don't read Japanese either but I do spend a lot of time looking at my surroundings on the map too,If I go to the right 2 times(east) I can see the lake, up a bit and back below the Yellow M, that was a big stand of bamboo they took out, or go the other way I can see Obachan's house and ourTambo's , I wish I could get closer to Willem's place , Not the open country I imaginedbut I can at least see it thank's to your marker Willem(it's in my dock even now) and WS is there a railway embankment ? if yes then have you looked for holes / animal homes, so many things to see , my geek friend is coming in about 2 hrs to set up my daughters new (today) I pod which means If the system is down I can't listen to radio 2, I have just had my lunch and I should take a break maybe be back later

Hey WS I bet If I went under the railway line close to your house and turned right ,walked through the woods I think I would find Nigels allotment,I can get real close to your house and that almost looks like a wagon outside your house rather than a car.

Hello again Websailor and Anoldgreymoonraker! Yes, I am not living in the middle of the 'bush' ... Pietersburg/Polokwane is a big and rapidly growing city. All the same, I do have access to nice places! If you go east from my home, you will see a patch of land without houses on it; that is within walking distance from my house and from time to time I go there to watch birds and find interesting plants.

My old primary school is also clearly visible on the map! And many, many other places ... I wish I could have you here both and show you on the map on my screen ... 'here, here exactly, you can find this ... ' et cetera!

With all the excitement of the map I quite forgot to say about my further preparations for Spring!

Yesterday I mainly planted some more carrion flower cuttings in bags. They were Orbea lutea, a species with very nice bright yellow (and rather smelly!) flowers. I also planted the 'tubers' of Senecio oxyrifolius that I divided a week or so ago. They went in about eight bags, several tubers per bag ... I'll see what they do!

Also yesterday received a visit from a friend who's going to 'do' the garden of another friend ... she was interested in small 'ground-cover' type succulents, and I showed her a few species I think would do the job! She didn't buy anything yet but said she'd come back in the middle of September or thereabouts.

We're having lovely warm weather today! Bright and sunny, and the temperature in the shady plant house is 27 degrees C.

Today I mainly watered plants, such as Gasterias and Haworthias. I also transplanted two plants ... a Haworthia and a Gasteria. I hafta put pictures of these plants online sometime so I can show you folks what they look like!

Moonraker, you are spot on about the allotment Yes, the railway line is at the bottom of our gardens, and the badgers have setts all along the line, in the embankments, which can cause problems which is why we worry about them so much.

Any vehicles outside our house are not ours, we don't have one, but if they had taken the snapshot at another time the whole corner, and most of the road would look like a car park. At least it was a sunny day when they did it!!

I was surprised that Willem's 'patch' was so built up. Very interesting.

I must look at yours again.

Websailor

Willem, I must look around your patch again. Unfortunately it gets addictive and I forget the time. Then I get told off by PHM which I am expecting any minute now, so I must . Back tomorrow.

Websailor

It certainly is addictive, I've just spent one and a half hours looking for Nigel's house but didn't find it yet, will try again another time ,I think his shed is hiding under the trees and what a lot of trees in your area , My geek friend and I went up to the lake yesterday to test my camera and both agreed it's not so good on distance shots, he's coming back today with a pro camera so will have to see what we get.
I do have a few pic's to put up one is of a mountain or wild lily (we have 10 in our garden) the other two are of the birds that always come when I cut the grass , to me they act like starlings but I don't know their name,should go and do it.

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Anoldgreymoonraker, I'd appreciate photos of those 'starlings'!

I'm trying to get to know all the world's bird species! Still VERY far from my goal. I'm looking species up on Wikipedia ... most have very little information and only relatively few have photos.

Over here today I've again had a visit from the elderly plant enthusiast! He wants too much! I tell him ... 'these plants are for my collection they're not for sale' but he keeps insisting! I gave him three cuttings, I hope he takes good care of them.

I'm taking a bit of a break today ... will read, and paint and so ... will look at the plants again tomorrow.

Websailor, I'd also like to know where Nigel's house is!

They are up but I only call them starlings I don't know what they really arehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.com/photos/21128589@N02/

Willem look at post44 then look at Nigel's pic's of his garden at home , I think it's about 7 doors along from WS

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Moonraker, I've just uploaded some photos of the white pigeon that is living on the roof of our house. Here it is - in its customary place! I snapped it just a few minutes ago, it allowed me to approach rather close:

http://community.webshots.com/album/562799485TwynGA?start=12

There are some photos of our local laughing doves as well ... they are pretty much the commonest birds in the town of Pietersburg/Polokwane.

That is a real pretty bird ,it has red eyes too, your lucky to have that living around your house,

We have a big flock of wild pigeons living around here, one was a very light brown but this year it is no more

Moonraker and Willem,

I will have to ask Nigel before I ID his house for you. I am not sure his parents would be happy about it. Will let you know. I can always tell you on email which would be better than a public site.

It can be quite disturbing to realise what people can find out, and we should bear in mind that just about anyone can read our posts on here, unknown to us. My husband was not overjoyed that I had put my marker on the map

Oh, and yes we are very lucky we do have a lot of trees. There are many more now then when I moved in over 40 years ago. Unfortunately the railway company stripped many, many trees off the banks a few years ago, which has definitely reduced the number of birds here. We were so worried they would block the badger setts!

Websailor

Understand , I was thinking of doing that myself before I posted took a while thinking which way to go and figured what the heck , yes feel free to E Mail me just interested

Hello Websailor! I think it's OK if Nigel or his folks don't want his house ID'd. So far I haven't actually gone looking for it!

It is strange but I have so far not really worried about letting stuff about myself out over the 'net... I am in much greater danger just from ordinary criminals who do not use the 'net ... life is quite dangerous here in South Africa; we have security gates and fences and an alarm in the house plus my dad and I have self-defense skills and can keep cool in emergencies as happened when a while ago we actually surprised burglars in the house ... of course nothing ensures total safety. But just, to me, the idea of someone 'casing' my house after having accidentally stumbled onto online information hasn't actually seemed very likely. It may be different in different countries ...

It helps that on the map my house and surroundings isn't shown in very high resolution ... it's just a blob ... and I can also tell you, it's going to be difficult as heck for someone who doesn't actually *know* the city of Pietersburg/Polokwane quite well, to exactly pinpoint its location trying to work everything out from that map alone. I think it's going to be similarly difficult to find Moonraker's house ... if you look at all the 'places' over there, with names all in Japanese! And how many Japanese criminals read h2g2??!

But anyways, for Britain it may be a different story! And the thing is of course the british map shows much more detail ... so it's maybe a good thing you didn't position the marker too precisely, Websailor!

Myself I don't feel any danger in showing my place being over here but I do understand and have hit the button on a post WS please feel free to hit other button's too

Moonraker,
Moonraker,

I'll not be hitting any buttons and you may find that post will be re-instated. You are both right that there is much more detail in the UK maps, even to the point my son could pinpoint everything in his friend's garden.

Willem, I can understand why security is important where you are, but even here things are getting worse.

It is particularly causing concern where a house is up for sale. Not only can the exact location be found, but the layout of say, the back garden, fences, alleys, exits and entrances, and then the interior of a house shown on the estate agent's (real estate agent?) web site. So a 'savvy' could plan every move, and even an inventory of things to steal (even in the dark!).

I believe this has already happened in some instances so perhaps you can see why I am wary, and N's family is a very 'private' one. I wouldn't want to offend. Will email if I get the .

Incidentally I wasn't concerned about either of you knowing, just in case you were wondering.

We seem to have gone off topic somewhat

Websailor

I'm trying to take another post out but it's 2:00 am and been drinking since 11 pm ,

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