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

"You know this is nuts, don't you?" I griped to Scribbles the next day after he told me I would be skateboarding around Charleston, South Carolina. We were en route to that city in an airplane.

"You're defying the odds," Scribbles said. "Surely that matters to you."

"How so?"

"85% of skateboarders are below the age of 18."

"Was that supposed to make me feel good?"

"Plus, 74% are male. Anyway, we have some lessons lined up for you."

"Can we do it in a skatepark, then -- hopefully a deserted one, so no one will laugh at me?"

"They're trying to build one, but it's not ready yet. If this were Charleston *Illinois*, we'd have a skatepark at our disposal, but you wouldn't want to be there today."

"Why not?"

"There's a storm system moving across the country's northern half. It's likely to be rainy there."

When we reached Charleston, we had lunch and then proceeded to a skateboarding lesson.

"Normally, we recommend a seven-day training program," the instructor said. "In this case, I've been hired to accompany you. Please don't get yourself injured or killed under my watch. Anyway, you can't skateboard on any road with a speed limit over 25 miles per hour. Also, the equipment you'll need -- besides the board itself -- includes a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist guards. You can rent those from us. Finally, there's a senior citizen skateboarding club that will be in the area, so no one will laugh at you -- unless you do something really lame."

The walking/skateboarding tour of downtown Charleston was amazing, with numerous historic homes along the way, as well as the Old City Market, some antebellum plantations, and beautiful gardens.

Along the way, I sampled some traditional foods of the city -- shrimp and grits, boiled peanuts, she-crab soup, and fried green tomatoes among other delicacies.

More awful food.

Sorry, I mislabeled today's entry. It's the 24th, not the 23rd.

Is everyone okay with my just changing the subject line from this post on, rather than reposting?

Absolutely.

Thanks.

By the way, what's so awful about seafood and grits? Or did you mean the fried green tomatoes. I've never tried those, and I'm not sure if I'd like them if I did.

I don't eat seafood, but if I did, I don't think I'd add grits to the menu. Grits go with breakfast food, as in ham, grits, and red-eye gravy.

Fried green tomatoes aren't bad at all. At least, not the way my mother made them.

By the way, the controversy about grits is also linguistic. As in, 'Do you say, The grits are good? Or the grits is good?'

'Neither. Them grits is good. Or maybe, Them grits are good.'

'I don't care how you say it, I want butter on mine.'

"ham, grits, and red-eye gravy." [Dmitri]



Grits are okay, but not worth getting excited about. But who am I to question regional tastes? When in China or Chinatown, I eat rice. If I went to Scotland, I'd eat oatmeal. When I was in Atlanta, I ate grits for several mornings in a row.

What really excites my taste buds are things like chocolate cream pie, cherry danish, and those lovely salads made from black beans, corn, red peppers, and tomatoes, in a vinegar sauce with feta cheese and marinated mushrooms.

We all have different tastes.

"We all have different tastes." [paulh]

We do. And I can tell my daughter's cookies are nothing for Dmitri.

She makes them out of dead crickets

Well, I'm not especially offended by that, but the crickets' relatives are probably hopping mad.

See the h2g2 recipe for yellow jacket soup. Makes 'em mad as hornets.

Well, someone did put overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder .

That's an Irish trick.

Spend enough time in a Murphy bed, and you'll know a *lot* of tricks.

Speaking of Murphy beds...Harper Lee closed herself up in a Pullman car bed once. She wrote about it in her 'new' book.

Personally I like a good dollop of grits under my butter When I go to restaurant where they know me, they bring out a little bowl full of those little plastic butter tubs with my breakfast.
Some people put sugar on them, but I have never tried that myself.

Charleston has to be one of the toughest major cities to get to, at least from the south and west. An hour or so on 2-lane US 17, or drive far past on the Interstate and backtrack. It is worth the drive

F S

[Amy P]

I've admired Charleston from afar for several years now, thanks to Laura Childs's Tea Shop Mystery Series. Theodosia Browning is the proprietress of the Indigo Tea Shop in downtown Charleston.

This is one of the most historic cities in the country, where it was long believed that Charlestonians were among the most civilized people anywhere.

There are numerous walking tours that you can take, too many to mention in my story without it bogging down. Some of Ms. Childs's books mention the Haunted Charleston Tour, which includes a visit to at least one historic cemetery.

It's a shame I couldn't have had Pell spend more time in Charleston, but there's a time limit for the trip...

Tea Shop Mystery link:

http://www.laurachilds.com/teashop.php

Charleston is an interesting city to visit. The first time I was there with my wife. We were going to an event in North Carolina, I scheduled our trip up so we could waste half a day going out of our way to visit. We checked into a motel a bit south of the city and hired a cab to take us in.

We stopped at a pub, yes it was a British pub, I think the theme was 'Jack the Ripper'. The bar maid had a shirt with prints of skulls on it. It was in an old converted cotton warehouse. The door to the 'back of house' with the kitchen, store rooms and restrooms was about 12 feet wide. I noticed a huge heavy steel sliding door against the wall supported by a track that sloped sharply from the wall down to the far side of the opening held back by a steel cable. I realized that it was a fire door and the cable probably had a lead link that would melt in a fire and the door would automatically close.

Several years later the company I work for did a large project just north of the Cooper River in Mount Pleasant. For about a six month period I would up drive there every three of four weeks for a day or two to take measurements. I often scheduled my trips for the end of the week so I could spend half a day or so in the city on my own time before driving for home.

The Market is fun and interesting, kind of like a four block long flea market in a pole barn.

Thank you for your 'Tea Shop' Links. They all seem very believable in that setting.

As you said, Uncle Pell has to be moving along, so a shall stop disrupting your thread.



F S

Thanks.

"Porgy and Bess" is set in Catfish Row, one of the poorer sections of Charleston.