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

...in seat # 42 (A)...where else?

alec.

You taking a trip then Alec?

indeed gosho

First time back in 13 years

not many more Ex than me when it comes to Pats

It's Granny Tricians 90th, so she's having a big party at the church hall

Just got my new passport from the Embassy in DC today.
Nice pictures of birds on all the pages, and still got that wonderful paragraph on the front page :

"Her Britannic Majesty's
Secretary of State
requests and requires in the
Name of Her Majesty
all those whom it may concern
to allow the bearer to pass freely
without let or hindrance
and to afford the bearer
such assistance and protection
as may be necessary"

(to be read out loud whilst doing John Cleese impersonation)

But what is this device on the back of the picture page?

All laminated in with a pretty copper loop antenna is
a little black chip, so thin you can't feel it through the laminate.

Hmm...passports have changed, i wonder what else i'm going to find has changed.

alec

That'll be the super-whizzo RFID chip and antenna, I think. Y'know, the brand spanking new idea that the government haven't fully thought through and which will allow anyone with a reader in close enough proximity to get all your information, although the government deny that this is possible. But then they would say that, wouldn't they.

Happy trails

Thanks

i'll let you know how it goes.

Two weeks in Sheff, couple of days in London.
Lots of that Peak District countryside in between.

alec.

Peak District you say... anywhere near Taddington?

Not far,
That whole high moorland, millstone edge, limestone cave area is my old neighbourhood. I hope to see some familiar sites, Toads mouth, The Surprise, Higgar Tor, The Hathersage Tea Room, Arbor Low

Are you familiar with the area Gosho ?

alec.

Not exactly familiar. I've got friends in the village who moved there from London more than ten years ago. In fact I moved them there. I visited them whenever I was travelling through the area on work or for a few days if I fancied a break from't Smoke.

Toads Mouth is a natural rock formation just like a very realistic 12foot stone toad perched by the roadside at a nasty bend.
The Surprise is a boggling long distance view up the Hope Valley
Higgar Tor is an ancient hill fort
Arbor Low is the coolest of stone-circles
After all that it's off to Hathersage or the cafe at Grindleford Station.

Anything you can think of that i should know about before i get there Gosho?

For example, if i get pulled over by the law, do i stay in the car with both hands on the wheel like here?

alec.

Beats the hell out of me. Probably not, but don't quote me on that. Since I came here seven years ago I've spent two weeks in the UK and I didn't get out much during that time because of the weather, the company and the whisky... and not necessarily in that order

I think I might have seen Toads Mouth, that sounds familiar.