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

Just come back from a week's mini-cruise including a three night stay in Bilbao.

Bilbao was lovely - I really had no preconceptions, except that people wondered what we were going to do it it. I expected an industrial city. I found a really clean, friendly place with wonderful shops. Things were expensive, including the food, however I really enjoyed being there and it was warmer than I had expected.

We went twice to the Guggenheim Museum. Once to look inside at the exhibitions and a second time to go outside. It really is the most extraordinary place that has obviously been really well thought out. It photographs superbly and looks great from almost all angles. It sits well by the river and has wonderful buildings round it too.

There's also the most wonderful children's playground outside with climbing frames and netting and really stuff. LIttle really had a great time. There were balance beams (with wobbles) and a climb wall and seemed suitable for all ages of children. If only UK playgrounds were just half as much fun!

Hi,

Nice to hear from you. I am glad you had a good break. I hope in amongst all the sightseeing you managed to get a rest too?!

Children's playgrounds like that in the UK would be too dangerous though wouldn't they

Is your computer still poorly, and have you got any recompense yet? My son suggested you write to Apple and tell them what has happened to you. It can't please them to have their computers screwed up by unsatisfactory software, can it?

Bye for now,

Websailor

Hi Websailor,

We had a lovely stay - not too over-scheduled. We did a lot of window-shopping - there are lots of great styled clothes and the shop window displays were really interesting. Expensive, though! It struck me that you would probably need to be reasonably rich to live there.

As for the children's playground - it was built on lovely soft safety surfacing. I did think, though, that over here, it would probably be vandalised. It looked really well looked after and the children playing with it were from a range of ages, which was really nice to see.

As far as the computer is concerned, yes, I did get a refund from the seller and I sent the programme back. I think it's been an object lesson both for me and the seller. I don't think she realised that she was responsible for the description applied to the product - she thought it was up to me to check that it was compatible. As far as I can see, Symantec, the company who produce the Norton products, aren't falling over themselves to warn Tiger users of the harm that their products can do, or even of the number of products they currently produce for Macs that simply don't work with the latest build.

This was the exhibition I was so impressed with:

http://www.spliteye.com/richardserra/exhibition.htm

http://www.spliteye.com/richardserra/installation.htm\\

Reading round about Richard Serra, I see that one of his pieces (Tilted Arc) caused great contraversy in New York and was voted out and taken away and broken up. I gather that people objected to having to walk round it. I can see that it might have been inconvenient; it was about 12' high and 120' long.

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1122017,00.html

Dear Zarquhon

What a lovely cruise. I went to Bilboa thirty five years ago so I imagine that it must have changed!!
But the Guggenheim Museums are wonderful. I did not know who Serenity was!! You seem to think that the film was excellent. I hope it comes here.

Must

With affection ot you all

Christiane
AR1

Hi my dear Christiane,

I subedited this about the TV series Firefly which pre-dated the film: A2890866. I was *so* pleased to get it to sub-edit. A bit of a swash-buckler with an interesting story-line. The young lass who plays River Tam was amazing - I think I said earlier that she did the splits just below the ceiling of a corridor to hide from the baddies at one stage. It may have been at your cinema, however it's no longer at my local one , which is a shame, as I wanted to see it again.

Yes, Bilbao was a real treat. I managed to learn a few Spanish phrases and they came in very useful, however I didn't know as much Spanish as I would have liked. I'll keep learning and maybe the next time, I'll be half decent at it.

You would have enjoyed the Guggenheim, I'm certain.

Funnily enough, since I've got back, I've had an inner ear problem. My boss thinks that as the crossings were rough in each direction, although I felt OK on the ship, that it might have been caused by the crossing. I get waves of feeling dizzy as though I was still on the ship. It's becoming less serious - I had to go home from work on the Monday, I was feeling so rough.

I believe you are suffering from what is technically known as "vertigo", Zarq. The standard rememdy is Stematil tablets. There's obviously something wrong with the balance sensors in your ears, which was made worse by the motion of the boat. This happens to me from time to time. The stematil deadens the sensors in your ear until the problem has worn off. I don't think you can get them without prescription, though.

Thanks, Gnomon. Funnily enough, when we went up the bit of the Guggenheim that looks unfinished, Roy said it made him feel dizzy looking down. I had no trouble at all - it's only now that I've come back that I have the problem (well, if I'm honest, I had it a bit on the boat going over too - we saw the film 'Kinky Boots' and I was feeling off all the way through. I thought it was something I ate.

'Kinky Boots' rather formulaic and bits of the plot creaked however there were a couple of nice scenes, including the one where the drag queen lead went off on one about how the heels of boots were all about sex and the finale was fun, too!

Mmm, reading your post again, the Stematil doesn't fix the root problem, just the symptoms?

The stematil does just stop the symptoms, which will be enough to make you live a normal life.

The root problem may be a minor infection which might just go away of its own accord or you might need treatment.