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

Just thought I'd drop the and around to your PS in case someone gets grumpy about chatting where we shouldn't be - they don't like me leaving coffee rings and cake crumbs everywhere, you know....

Anyway, am not bad thanks - am just watching England trying desperately to beat the mighty Azerbaijan

What music brings you to the Musicians Guild then? My credentials are pretty grim unfortunately, terrible guitarist and worse singer

How did England do? Well done moving the conversation...I'm always thoughtlessly galumphing about (tsk! I mean tiptoeing in a dainty Elf-like manner) and chatting inconsequentially but I do that in WPFRL (Wot Passes For Real Life) too...
I sing a lot and play the guitar somewhat. Someone told me in the acoustic tent of a small Welsh festival that I played guitar as though I'd never seen one before and didn't know what it was and when I beamed and said "Thank you!" he glowered and muttered "It wasn't a compliment!" Ah well, it keeps me humble...
Have a listen at http://www.hybridstudios.co.uk if you'd like to.
(Two songs in the 'War Exhibition' and one in the 'Jukebox' section)
What are you singing and palying at the moment? I'm trying to get past a conviction that if God had meant me to play bar chords I would have been born with a capo on me hand

Well, my most incongruous guitar moment was playing in a pub in Cork on St. Patrick's Day in exchange for dinner and a couple of pints. Unfortunately I got waylaid for the entire day in a different pub and my drunken appearance was greeted with near silence, cottage pie and the requisite beers. I was only playing cos I happened to have a guitar with me

England won 2-0 but it was a bit crap, really....

I've had a quick listen to your stuff, very impressive! You've a lovely voice. At the moment I'm re-learning after not playing for about eight years (bought a guitar off a bloke in a pub in Dublin - see the theme developing?) so I'm getting to grips with the old faithfuls, Beautiful South, Marley, etc as well as trying to figure out Elliott Smith chord changes and wondering at the ease that is Travis with a capo. I know my limitations, will never be a great musician but will have a lot of fun trying But yes, barre chords are so difficult, in fact can do a Bm almost every time but none of the others sound right for some reason. Well, keep trying, eh?

And by the way, why *did* you want to know about solitons? Sounds a bit complicated to me I ask merely for information

That sounds like quite a way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! I like singing for my supper: it seems like a very honest transaction somehow . I once got thrown out of - no, mustn't exaggerate - frozen out of an irish pub for singing the wrong sort of Irish song, if you see what I mean. Just a practical joke by a couple of student friends, who after a or three thought it would be a wizard wheeze to tell me it was the ideal place to sing "Roddy MaCauley".
Glad you like the songs
Oh yes, I know what you mean!

Must've been a bit of a worry.... and the solitons?

...solitons, you said? I used to live on a narrowboat (this sounds an unlikely connection, I know, but bear with me, Gentle Reader) and have persuaded a few friends to do the same. If this seems like vicarious boat-dwelling to you, then I have to plead guilty, happy in the knowledge that (so far, at least) it isn't a hanging offence...
So... while looking for a website on How To Live Afloat or some such, I happened across one John Scott Russell (sp?) a Scottish engineer who discovered, while walking a towpath and watching the wake of a narrowboat, that the wave kept its shape all the way down the canal, losing it briefly when encountering the wake of another boat, then regaining it again.
He bacame so interested in this phenonenon that he built a tank in his back garden to recreate the effect. All his engineer friends thought he'd lost his mind but it seems JSR stayed convinced that these coherent wave forms would be useful one day even if he couldn't see quite how.
And indeed they are, as today solitons in fibre optics seem to be the best way to convey data very fast over long distances .
I could go on, but I'm afraid your eyes might be glazing over..
Well you did ask!

Wow, you used to live on a narrowboat? What was it like? I always thought that would be a sweet way of living, but I suppose the reality os probably a bit different. Don't feel you have to shatter all my narrowboat fantasies at once!

I'm not gonna pretend I'm suddenly an expert, I get the gist of the solitons business now and just love the whole madness of scientist who see something a bit odd, get obsessed with it and end up changing the world from some dreamy mindless wandering. Although I can't think of any examples at the moment, except a chap called John Scott Russell


>I could go on, but I'm afraid your eyes might be glazing over..

I thought they might, but then the whole image of some mad Scotsman turning over and over night after night in bed thinking of waves going down the canal took over and I ended up quite intregued So I guess we're as bad as each other then

Well they say great minds think alike ...
Now that you mention it, there must be more scientist/dreamers who've been vindicated later (often, I imagine, after they'd gone to some celestial dream factory) and it would be fun to discover who they are. (Do I sense another guide article brewing?With the help of the ever-friendly askJeeves, a few glasses of and some midnight oil to burn, no doubt )
Oh narrowboats... Absolute as far as I'm concerned. I see the year I spent living on one through such rosy-hued specs that I'm certainly not the one to shatter any illusions. A swan used to share my cornflakes when I sat for'ard to eat my breakfast on sunny mornings. And there was a water-vole just like Ratty in Wind in the Willows nesting in the bank next to my mooring. I'm sure people who've lived on the canal longer will have tales of woe to tell but even though I fell in twice (once in the canal and once in Worcester Dock ) and had the odd mishap it didn't dampen (!) my spirits.
Oops..being called away to go and see 'The Heffalump Movie' ...more anon. Have a good weekend!

Sounds absolute heaven on the old narrowboat... I used to hitch everywhere and saw these boats now and then and always just wanted to take a few weeks out and relax on one somewhere nice, never got round to it! I just imagine sunny days, nice wine and a good book, for me not being a particularly stressy person anyway it's probably one of the few ways I could actually move down a gear

The dreamy scientist entry is a great idea! Even Einstein wrote his relativity while twiddling a pencil and looking out of the window. Definately worth a look.

Anyway, enjoy the Heffalumps, I'm spending my weekend working in the hotel and trying to sort out a series of surveys and audits for the Wildlife Trust - am heavily on the midnight oil myself trying to get my head around which gates need replacing and which paths could be upgraded for wheelchairs

Enjoy!

*waves from rainy Cardiff* Did you get your wheelchair survey done okay? A few years ago I helped scout out which campsites were wheelchair-accessible on part of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostella. Halfway through I realised that I'd made a mistake in the measuring and had to go back and check again
Hope your May Day's going well

Hi Elfrida!

Got the survey done ok, but am getting really bogged down in the write up We had to assess about 20 gates, all of which need replaing or adjusting or repairing, and there's only so many ways you can put it without dozing off. The bird surveys are going really well, though, I've even been up at dawn on the heath clipboard in hand so must be keen - unless I'm working, 10 am is early for me! Had a really happy morning last week when my friendly stonechat appeared carrying nest material, which got me disproportionately excited

Have you walked any of the Camino de Santiago then? I've had the entry on it (A3782531) go through Peer Review now, have really happy memories of walking it back in 2001!

Nice to hear from you again!

Great Camino de Santiago entry! Congratulations I've only done a small part of the Spanish route but was delighted to be told by a pilgrim along the way that 'once you've set foot on this road you never really leave it' which has proved to be true as since then I keep 'happening across' people and places connected with it. Have you found something similar?
Your friendly stonechat nesting is a worthy cause for excitement indeed ! I woke my longsuffering daughter at 3 in the morning recently to hear the nightingales in our back garden (they visited us last year too; not sure how common that is in downtown Cardiff ) And then they were so loud they kept her awake for ages..hope I haven't put her off birds for life!
Glad the survey went well, but I do know what you mean about writing-up. Someone should devise a program for saying the same thing differently in twenty-five elegant phrases

Thanks! I think it's a bit the other way round; the Camino never really leaves you. The intensity of the experiences along the way is so incredible, the shared hardships (I did it in August, 40+ heat in the meseta), and the depth you find yourself immersed in the lifestyle really stay with you. I can't see the word written without feeling uplifted and tingly, even 4 years on. So when I do meet someone who's been there, even online, there's an instant bond in a weird way. I don't know the person but there's almost a nodding understanding, an instant common respect. Does that make any sense whatsoever?

I'm always really cheered when people in cities notice the birdlife around, I'm as guilty as anyone for spending too much time in the car or plugged into music and don't hear half of what's out there. I've organised this survey as a volunteer project, so none of us are bird experts and most of them don't know how to survey. I'm hoping that, by havin g loads of visits, everyone's little bits of knowledge will come together in some coherant way. Unfortunately, I'm having to take the lead by going out at dawn every week The stonechat should be interesting if there any more sightings of nest material being lugged around, or territorial calls, or in a few week if he's heading back with food If we know they're nesting on the heath, great; if they're successfully breeding, we'll know we're doing a good job. The site I voluteer on was used illegally as a motorbike track for many years and was in a bit of a state when we took over, so anything that seems to be flourishing is disproportionately exciting.

But I really need to get the other survey looking good as there's a contract going for the work in a couple of months; not just a large pile of cash involved but a foot in the door of the Trust

Been a long day today; don't know why I'm so chatty all of a sudden

August, at those temperatures I pootled along in May between Burgos and um...name escapes me for the moment...and then back again as I explained 'Twas me, partner and daughter and a friend who spoke good Spanish. Just as you say, I found a quick understanding with many people I met. They were extraordinarily friendly and hospitable, and doors opened then and afterwards. (Literally, as one encounter led to apartment-sitting for six weeks in Manhattan while the owners hosted a refugio...)
I wrote a song called "Field of Stars" before I knew that was what Compostella meant or went to walk part of the Camino. It has the lines "We are not visitors who meet and part/although at times that's what we seem to be/and I will carry you in my life and heart/ as I believe that you will carry me".
Sounds like you're doing great things with the heath survey. Say hello to your friendly stonechat for me
I was awake at dawn today (unintentionally) and there were implausibly pink pompoms of cloud in the brightest of blue skies. I love May!

I was thinking about your nightingales during a particularly sleepless night, thinking how we don't get them in Devon, and the conventional wisdom occurred to me. This states basically that if you draw an imaginary line between Bristol and Humber, you'll only get nightingales south of that line. I checked this out today, seems you're quite lucky to hear them; there's a ten year distribution map here http://blx1.bto.org/bbs-results/results/bbsanim-347.html from the BTO.

Makes you feel special, eh?

Have you got any more of your songs online then, or (dare I say it) on the market? Was really impressed with the chilled-out heartfelt nature of the tracks I've heard and if you've written stuff relevant to the Camino

The stonechat has a mate! I saw them together today, 'sweet-chick'ing away in alarm at my presence. Our butterfly surveyer reckoned I was going to be giving them names next, which hadn't occurred to me up to that point Romance on the heath!

Well what would you call them? If it were a Yorkshire heath, Heathcliff and Cathy (sp?) spring to mind, except they were a bit too tragic anyway. I like the picture you conjure of them "sweet-chicking" away
Goodness, I didn't realise nightingales usually followed that pattern of distribution. Even more delighted then to have had such distinguished visitors! (And so very LOUD, my daughter's reminding me )

I haven't any more songs online but I'm working on it. I'm glad you like the ones you've heard A friend is helping me with recording new ones and MP3ing existing songs at the moment

Well, the BTO surveys have picked them up as far afield as Llandudno, but that really is exceptional. And given the time of day and time of year you heard them, there can't be any doubt whatsoever about the species. Seems you and your daughter were very lucky

Let me know when you've got more music online, I'd love a listen! My music credentials are limited to a 'band' my friend and I *were* when we were about the age of 15; set up a website to pay homage last year - http://www.cutthroatrazor.co.uk/ - and am trying to work out how to get old tape recordings made into mp3's without having to pay some techno-nerd a stack of money to do it!

I was thinking about calling the stonechats Eric and Ernie. Don't know why those particularly sprang to mind; Morecombe and Wise, obviously, but why a name for stonechats?

I like your website! And I'll continue trying to find out about converting tape to MP3, too, and let you know if I happen across any helpful info.
Yes, Eric and Ernie sound like excellent names. I once broke a rib laughing at M and W - it took the guys in accident and emergency a while to figure out if that was really possible, and once they'd decided it was (apparently people break ribs coughing so why not laughing?) of course it turned into a "When does it hurt the worst?" "When I (ouch) laugh!" routine.... Eric would have been proud of me and little Ern would no doubt have turned it into one of those plays what he wrote
Have a good weekend...it's starting to feel like summer at last!

Was having a good weekend until I decided to w*rk instead of taking it off; then Torquay United got relegated and, because I decided to w*rk, can't have a consolation pint until 10pm All this sunshine and I can't get outside

Glad you like the website; just a daft thing I put together to remind the now-sensible Rog that he used to be a bit odd too Still, I was quite happy with it.... would be great to have some crap mp3's on there for download though!