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

Hi,

I noticed you'd got my Beer Cellar entry to sub...

Please feel free to murder it in any way you like - as I think I mentioned in the PR thread there are some phrases that I'm not too happy with but couldn't think of a better way of putting (I tend to ramble a bit!).

Any major problems - don't hesitate in telling me that I'm talking a load of rubbish (I'm used to that - I've a five year old at home!)



Whisky

Oh, so I have! I'd never murder one of your entries, Whisky (or anyone else's for that matter) and I'm so pleased it's not another computer game. If I see something that could be better worded, then I'll make a gentle change - it's great that you're not 'precious' about this. I would expect to have the time to work on the entry during the next week. I'll give you a shout just before I bung it back to the Editors.

As for being precious... I spend my working week producing various documents - and to be honest, if I read through them once I've finished I'm _never_ completely happy with what I've done... - Nothing to do with being a perfectionist - I just get the feeling that if someone else wrote a novel copying 'my' writing style exactly then I wouldn't be able to read it!


As for doing it next week - take your time - have you seen the queue for the front page

Yes, it's enormous at the moment! Something to do with all these new subs they've taken on!

I do remember you telling me something similar at the h2g2 meet a while ago.

I have to confess to having done nothing about it at the moment. Bit too tired - lots of pressure in RL. I'm not going to rush it, however I will make as good a job as I can.

Whisky,

Going through the entry at the moment, just looking to correct typos and grammar. Whilst I was doing so, I noticed a couple of references in the 'real ale' bit to wastage, eg the half pint the bar person throws away at the beginning of the day. A memory stirred. One of my many and varied employments was with a company delivering the 'off' trade for a major brewery. I was told that wastage was known as 'ullage' - the amount by which a barrel was short in real life and I believer (although I can't quite remember) that the wastage in the pipes and that thrown away as being warm/not yet clear was also known as ullage. Does any of this ring a bell ... or am I going bonkers?

Nope, you're definitely not going bonkers.. Ullage works

(Or at least I can't tell if you're going bonkers or not just from that post - for all I know you might be sitting there typing whilst dressed up in a pink penguin suit listening to Des O'Connor records though! )

You could either throw the term in as a footnote, replace 'wastage' altogether, or use a combination of the two - I'll leave that one up to you.



Whisky

Whisky,

I've about finished with it. I'll probably look through it again and do my final checking in the next couple of days before winging it back to the Editors. If you've any comments (there's a couple of cheeky links in - see if you can spot them - I hope you approve), let me know.

I'll have a look at it tomorrow (off out of the office now and won't be able to play with hootoo until then )