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

Hi! I occasionally stumbled upon your personal space and was pleased to meet a fellow translator so I thought I'd stop by and say hi!

Well hello there

Can't say I've spent much time in Belgium unfortunately (as I'm a fanatic about the beer over there . I noticed in your introduction you said you came from Belgium... Does that mean you're still there or you've moved away?

Hi there Whisky. No, I'm still in Belgium, unfortunately, although I'm desperately trying to get away (must be the beer that's keeping me here)...

Either the beer or the chocolate

So, how did you come across me in this maze of a site then?

(I didn't think I was that famous yet )

Well, it was not your fame really, first of all I noticed your nick, whisky, because my boyfriend is a major whisky fan and he's turning me into one as well, so I thought that was a nice place to start. I'm really an absolute beginner on this site, but they gave me the advice to "look around and talk to people", which is what I love to do anyway, and then I saw you were a translator as well...That was all it took.

I think I might like your boyfriend... The nickname came about because I'm seriously addicted to whisky.... And just to show off A602939 was my first attempt at writing when I joined the site.

How did you end up as a translator then? As you might have seen from my introduction I sort of 'fell' into the trade - after about a hundred other jobs.

No, you're kidding! That was the very first page I ever read on this great site! Especially your recipe for whisky intrigued me as it seems rather doable (amateur brewer speaking here, I might be wrong for all I know but I never object to running around with large and heavy copper kettels or patiently waiting next to a barrel). Did you ever give it a go yourself? My boyfriend and his whisky pals regularly have whisky tastings here in our home and I thought I might surprise them with one of my own brewski's...
About my translatorship: I studied English, Dutch and Spanish translation at the university here, so it seemed like a logical career choice to become a freelancer... Love the job, hate the overworkedness. Looking forward to your whisky-brewing news!

Oh, it's do-able ok, just a little illegal in most European countries...

I've brewed my own beer before (I used to own a restaurant here and brewed my own beer for sale) - much to the amusement of French customs and excise as I completely and totally confused them. They were used to dealing with industrial-scale breweries - and then this strange englishman walks in and licences his mother-in-law's garage as a brewery, then leaves them to figure out how the heck they're going to deal with me... Whereas the industrial breweries had teams of accountants and lawyers dealing with the duty they had to pay, here was me, wandering in to the customs building every month with a declaration of how much I'd sold and paying the duty with the loose change out of my pocket .

The major difficulties with whisky though are that 1) Stills have to be licenced - even if you're not selling the stuff. 2) Although you can take partly brewed beer (just don't add the hops) and turn it into alcohol with some fairly cheap equipment - that doesn't turn it into whisky - you've got to get hold of a barrel - which isn't as easy as it might seem - most of the barrels commercially available have been lacquered on the inside to make them watertight - which stops the wood working on the alcohol. Then you've got to figure out where you're going to store it for a couple of years - given that storing it in a centrally heated flat isn't exactly a good idea - the neighbours'd start to complain about the smell, it would all evaporate in six months, and if your local fire department ever found out what you were doing they'd lock you up and throw away the key.

Ok, I'm officially stupid - it had never really crossed my mind I might be engaging in some sort of illegal activity... You're right, of course. And somehow, I don't think my mother in law would appreciate me licensing her garage as a brewery. Ah well, saves me a quest for barrels... Can I ask where in France you live? Are you far from the Belgian border (seeing you seem to know a lot about our beers...)?

I'm actually in Lyon, so quite a long way from the Belgian border...

The reason I know about Belgian beers is simply that I'm a beer monster and love the stuff... (Plus my ex's sister used to live in Lille, so whenever we'd visit we'd sample the beer on offer).

As for Lyon, well, the wine's good, but it's virtually impossible to find decent beer down here... with the exception of a couple of Irish Pubs selling Guinness, their idea of good beer is Kronenburg 1664

Kronenburg 1664? Allow me to say "yuk"! Quite like Guinness myself, especially when they do that little Shamrock-thingy in the foam (at least, that's how they serve it in "our" Belgian Irish pubs)(and not that it adds anything to the actual flavour)... I must admit, our beers are truly great - my brother and I are in some sort of contest right now, trying to find out who can cook the best 5-course meal with 5 different types of Belgian beer (in the food as well as served as a drink with that food). Then again, you're in Lyon in France, country of "du vin, du pain, du Boursin", with great wine & cheeses we can only dream of (and frequently do). Anyway, should get back to my translations ... Have a great weekend there in Lyon!