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

Hi Anna,

He had soap in his eyes! I'd given him a flannel to help with that earlier. He's OK now.

I still have work to prepare for the playlet and for tomorrow. I want an early night as well.

I hope you are all well. Please don't be cross with me that I've not made suggestions for your entry yet. Mostly it will be suggestions for improved wording. I thought that the general concept was excellent. You included things that I would have, so it's looking good.

Hi Anna,

Mixed weekend. Had an enjoyable day with my friend on Saturday. Just found out that my dad is in hospital again.

I think he's going to be all right, however it is a little worrying.

He will see the consultant on Monday, so I should know more by then.

Hi , (I have always to think about the fairy tale of Pushkin named 'little golden fish'), don´t worry, I´ve asked other parents from the parent and child forum on h2g2 to take a look. Nevertheless I would be glad to know your opinion about it or to hear your suggestions.

Thank you very much for a X-mas card. As for the personal message, well, I wish you all the best. Just take care of you and everything will be fine.

Howling children! Sometimes there is a nice duo here, then I howl with them.

Kata has her neurodermitis now, she has to itch and her humour is down. Poor little thing!

Very best greetings to your parents and I hope your Dad will get well soon.

Not at all for the gingerbread, enjoy it and have a nice holiday.

Yours Anna Banana

Thank you Anna!

I couldn't sleep and I've been awake since 3.45 am. I'm sure dad will be OK. I feel a bit helpless. I'll find out more this evening on how he is. Thanks for the good wishes.

Thank you for being patient with me about commenting on your entry and I've noticed that you have had some positive comments on it. I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment.

I'm glad my card arrived and that you liked it. I will take your gingerbread to my parents (Kenneth will get most of it, I'm sure). Also the lovely musical box!

Yes, I've howled with Kenneth from time to time as well, so it seems you're in good company here!

As for the personal message, yes, I'm sure things will work out fine as long as I am patient and don't rush things.

I'm not sure that I know the Pushkin story of the little golden fish. Something for me to find out about, perhaps?

lots of

Dear , have a nice Christmas and see you next year.

The children stories of Pushkin are very nice, he had 4 or 5 children and wrote a story for each of them. That one about the golden fish is about greed and the golden fish is a magical fish which fulfills wishes. Perhaps there is an adequate translation into English somewhere, I´ll look after it and will let you know as far as I get something.

and to Kenneth

Anna Banana

PS: All the best from HELL too . How was your playlet?

Hi Anna!

How nice to hear from you.

The playlet went really well. I was most pleased. I was very worried because I didn't know if I had prepared enough and i would only know on the day how many children (and which ones) would be there. At first there were only four, which wasn't enough, however a little later there were sufficient children.

I rehearsed them four times until they knew the story and were comfortable in the costumes (cloaks made from curtains!) and when they came to do the playlet, they were brilliant.

I think I may remember the golden fish story. Is it the one where the fisherman catches the golden fish, who talks to him and the fisherman agrees to release it, in exchange for a number of wishes. His wife wishes for bigger and bigger houses, more and more servants, a kingdom and finally something which brings her back to the poverty she started off in?

I have also some good news. My dad is out of hospital again. he came home this evening, so when we go to the Isle of Wight to spend Christmas there, he will not be in hospital!!!

I wish you and Hell, Kata and Pavlik a very happy Christmas.

and for K and P.

Hi Anna!

We're now back from the Isle of Wight, where we had a lovely quiet Christmas with my parents. Dad was very pleased to be out of hospital. He was only allowed outside for a short walk if the weather was warm. Mostly it wasn't - rainy, windy and cold - although he did get out a few times. He is still very cheerful.

Kenneth loved the music box! (So did I.) He wasn't so sure about the lebkuchen - I love them and mum and dad did too! His favourite present was a taekwando suit, which he wore all day and slept the night in. He was disappointed that Santa did not bring him a quill pen and an inkwell (it's the Harry Potter influence), but I did manage to find a ball point quill pen a couple of days later, so he was well pleased.

I spent New Year's Eve with a very special friend, which was lovely! There were fireworks and someone came out and drummed at midnight. Nice.

I hope your Christmas and New Year were very happy and gemuetlich and that everyone enjoyed themselves. I'd like to hear your news.

Good evening, , we are also back from Hannover where Hell´s parents live. Christmas was nice although there were too much gifts for all of us, especially for children. They couldn´t understand what all the things were for, most of them these awfull blinking electronic toys which are terribly noisy. But we left them there because we will come to visit our parents-in-law at least once this year. Next month we are going to travel to Brasil (our late honey-moon) and to leave the children in Hannover.

I am very glad to know your Dad is going better and you liked ginger bread. Are there some special Christmas meals in the UK?

You are right about the fairy tale of 'Golden Fish'.

Our new-year-eve was very nice and funny, as my Mum and her husband, Jürgen (nickname Marvin), were there as well as our friends - another crazy couple - she from the Ukraine and he from China. They met each other in London and moved to Munich a year ago.
Our son, Pavlik, decided to spend the new-year-eve with us, so he was the entertainer number one.

Now we´re returning to our normal life. We have to prepare our travel to Brasil (to buy some gifts for Hell´s grands and friends) and at the beginning of February children and I will go to Hannover. The have to acostumate (spelling?) to the grands. I am not sure if I can leave them for two weeks alone. But I should...

I guess, one of them is crying ,

bye-bye Anna Banana

Hi Anna!

Good that you enjoyed Christmas despite the over-abundance of presents. How exciting to be going to Brasil for a second (or is it belated) honeymoon! I hope you have a terrific time.

Kenneth had sufficient presents, and no electronic ones - I don't like them either! He liked the kaekwando suit best, as I said.

Yes, we enjoyed the gingerbread very much. And the music box!

As I am vegetarian, we did not have the traditional Christmas turkey, crispy bacon, stuffing, roast potatoes and brussel sprouts, although we did have the mince pies and Christmas cake. Although there was also Christmas pudding and white sauce, I didn't have any this year. On Christmas day, we had some very nice fish cooked in foil in the oven with rice and vegetables, which I very much enjoyed.

It's also traditional to pull Christmas crackers after the meal, although we didn't - and to watch the Queen's speech at 3pm on TV.

These days, people are going back to eating goose for Christmas, which was the fashion before turkey became available. We had one once when I was married and I rather enjoyed it.

Dad wasn't his usual self, although he was still cheerful. After I got back home, he rang me up and said that he hoped he hadn't spoiled our Christmas. I told him, no, of course he hadn't - although the weather had put a damper on it - we came because we love him.

When I was at school, and we did an exchange visit to Germany, I went out with a boy called Jürgen for a short while. Funnily enough, when I went back a couple of years later on a second visit to another family, he came to visit me and took me out for a couple of days. He stayed in a local Gasthaus.

I also had a very enjoyable New Year's Eve with a special friend who came over for the evening.

I wish you luck in choosing presents. These days, I don't like shopping much. I am sure the will do fine without you for a short while. I'm sure they will become accustomed to their grandparents.
Have a great time! I think you deserve it.

Dear , sorry, but I am quite busy now and don´t have any time for nothing. And next week my mother-in-law is coming to Munich for a week because she wants show it to her friend (female one). Then we are going to Hannover and then to Brasil, which is our belated honeymoon. I was pregnant with Kata as we married and it was too difficult and too exhausting for me.

Our Pavlik´s first birthday is on 29.01., so I had to complete his photo album. It took me two hours to organize all the photos and to put them into the album. But it was also very funny to see him as a little, tiny baby, always sleeping. We called him 'Sleeping beauty'. Now he is a little giant: about eighty cm tall and weighs more than 11 kg. I´ve got muscles as Schwarzenegger just by carrying him around. Pavlik´s current nickname is 'huligan' which is Russian for 'hooligan'.

Thank you for explanations about the typical British Christmas meals. It doesn´t seem to be as bad as the rumors.

Sorry, but I cannot think clear any more, it´s too late. bye-bye.

Anna Banana

Don't worry, Anna.

Look after yourself, that's the most important thing.

I still carry Kenneth on my shoulders from time to time, and he's seven - although he's quite light. Yours sound more robust.

I am now a one person woman - I have spoken to both and decided to give up one and I'm happy with that. I think that it will be an adventure.

Dear , good luck in your new relationship.

We have some unpleasant news like our landlord plans to renovate our house (we are living in a 3-room flat in an apartment building) which means for us a lot of dust and noise and the worsest thing is that we cannot use a backdoor. Now I don´t know how to entry in my house carrying a huge (for both ) preambulator. We also cannot look for something different because Hell will be ready with his PhD in less than two years and than we have to move to another place. BUT we can ask for a reduction of the rent (750 Euros for 68 m2).

But children are doing well and Pavlik is running now around bringing me different things like shoes, books or kitchen stuff. He shows them to me and bring them back. Pavlik is really a big one, but he is not fat, he is just a bear . Meanwhile Kata is rather a light-weight, I think she should weight also nearly 11 kg. She is like this | and Pavlik is like this --.

How does Kenneth? Is his school OK? Does he still love taekwon-do?

Hell said there´s an entry about the Ukraine, I have to take a look at it.

Good night, dear.

Anna Banana

Kenneth is like this | not like this , so he is more like Kata.

Yes, he loves taekwando. He is doing OK at school - not brilliantly - they would prefer him to concentrate more and to be better at reading and writing. However, he is exceptionally bright and has superb language and analytical skills.

It sounds a bit miserable about the house. I wish you well if you are looking for somewhere better, although I think you may not be able to afford to at the moment. Carrying a big perambulator (up stairs?) sounds hard.

Thanks for the wishes about my new relationship. It is early days and I need to take things slowly, however he is really a very special person.

and and

Germans say that somebody who is in love has butterflies in his stomach. Isn´t it funny?

Good night, Anna Banana

I know the feeling, Anna . I have 'burnt my bridges' as we say with the other people I was in contact with. The best way, I think.

Dear , many for you and good luck once again.

Burning bridges is probably the best way.

Another topic to discuss with the community is how to deal with the antisemitism or xenophobia or racism of artists. After I learnt that Mihail Bulgakov was quite antisemitic, I have to rethink my attitude to him and his work.

I would like to know your opinion as well.

Yours Anna Banana

Yes, Anna . Someone suggested I was still casting round and I feel the chances of success are much greater if I 'nail my colours to the mast' as we say here. (It means to be committed to something or someone.)

I agree that xenophobia, racism and antisemitism are hugely undesirable and mostly come out of fear and often out of poor self-image. I've seen something recently that suggests that race memories have something to do with it, so I suspect that it's not a clear cut issue, but is many faceted one. If you are interested, I'll sent you a summary of what was said. I found it fascinating.

How are you intending to address it in the community? You could do an entry, or go via <./>Askh2g2</.> - or even the Soap Box. It's an area of interest to me, so perhaps I could help with it (do some research if you like).

You may have noticed that I've been off-line for a few days. I've had no connection to the internet since I signed up for broadband. Ptui!

Dear , I´ve put the question into Askh2g2 and there is an interesting discussion. Of course it deviated a bit from the topic, but one has to reckon with it by mentioning Nazi or racist.

Yes, I would like to read the summit you´ve mentioned. How is Kenneth doing?

I am very tired and will to bed now.
Anna Banana

Hi Anna

I'll do you a summary of the article this evening when I get back from work. I'll also have a peek at your question to <./>Askh2g2</.>

Kenneth is doing well. He thinks I've chosen the wrong man, though as he really liked the other. I think is is 'cupboard love' (liking someone for the things they give you) as he was impressed with his house and the things he gave him.

Oh, Anna!

I'm so , so tonight, I'm not going to do the summary. Tomorrow, perhaps.