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

The name plate looks very nice, i like the clean lines of the letters. Some that i have seen elsewhere have been far too fussy for my taste. You did a good job there.

What new bits are you referring to?

While i was out in my garden this afternoon, i was pleased to hear a familiar sound. The little Black Cap bird that has spent the last two seasons around my garden has returned They migrate to warmer places for the winter and return to mate and raise chicks. The male has a lovely singing voice which he uses to attract the lady. I could listen to him for hours.

Sorry Fibre optic , not really happy not any faster got to clean up everyday and my kid is not so happy either even tho her (DS)gameboy thing now is on line her puter is not so good

I m not happy either with it

What a nuisance, was'nt it meant to improve things?
I've never had any problems with the fibre optic cables that are connected. Having fibre optic cable tv and phone has proved alot better than the alternative of overhead cables.
Is there anything that can be done to improve things?

My geek mate may get it going a bit better when he gets the chance but my old Yahoo was better quicker all but radio 2 that is the only thing that is better no interference on it.

It's always good to have a geek mate, who knows what he's doing.
I'm useless when it comes to techy stuff and have to rely on others if the puter goes wrong. Luckily it's a rare day when that happens.
Are you originaaly from the uk?

Yep, can't you work out my nameI'm from a small village just outside of Swindon but been living away from England since 1976.
My geek mate is very good He is in fact an english/computer teacher in a university in Osaka but from NZ , most of us gaigin are all on mac's and the uni pays for most of our spare parts etc.

My Geek mates just played with my puter now it's very fast,

there were a whole lot of filters or whatevers that he took out which has cleaned and sped up the machine a big bit .
I hate nanny states.

You will have to excuse my lack of intelligence, but i havent been able to see the connection of your name to where you originate from. Put it down to me not being on form at the moment.
Do you miss England? I don't suppose it's possible to miss a place when you've spent most of your life living elsewhere. I can't imagine living anywhere else other than here.

How are you enjoying the new speedy pc?

The first of my native orchids is starting to flower, it seems a little stunted but i think thats down to me replanting it. Next year it should look a whole lot better. The other should be flowering around mid-end of May, which is always very exciting for me.
My little Magnolia has almost finished flowering now, i expect yours must be nearly over too?

Regarding my name* An old grey moonraker* try looking it up on the Weird Wiltshire site or even the Wiltshire site then (why) moonraker.

I still miss a good cup of tea, Meat pies, pasties, summer evenings , and english pubs , but when I come to england for a months holiday I start missing my Japanese home .

As for a speedy puter It really isn't much difference than when I was on yahoo,

I went to the garden centre today with the intent of getting some pic's of different flowers but after taking one I found I had run out of film/space? . not native but you may enjoyhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.chttp://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.com/photos/21128589@N02/om/photos/21128589@N02/

I will have a look at the Wiltshire site when i have more time.
I did look at your photos, those orchids look very fresh, were they picked ones or growing in a pot?
It's been raining all day here, so i did'nt get a chance to go out taking photos. I took a couple yesterday of some fern fronds, one unfurling and the other still curled up. They both have come out very well.

I went back and all the orchids in my pic are growing not cut,
Still not fast enough it takes quite a while to put the Swindon adver up ,yet I do read it everyday

Wow! I wonder how they get the orchids to put out so many stems of flowers at once. The most i've ever seen is three flower stems per plant. The Japanese certainly appear to have a way with plants and how to display them, it's all fascinating stuff.

Is there anything you can do to speed things up a bit more?
Do you still have family and friends here in the uk?
I still keep loose tabs on Dorset, even though i havent lived there since 1980. While i still had family there, i went back to visit every year. Since the folks have died i havent been back, thats 10 years now. Maybe i will go and visit again one day.

Those Orchids are in a shop for sale , I think most of the big ones(top shelf ) have been there all winter. As for family yes still a few around but not much contact, friends yes quite a few still in contact xmas cards E Mail , used to have an uncle in Dorset and a female friend living in Japan (Gone north now) is from Dorset,
Bit busy today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.com/photos/21128589@N02/

They certainly know how to make the most of the front of their houses, thats really impressive.
The two ladies in the photos, what is it that they are holding and in the bucket?

I've had an extremely busy weekend at work, so i'm not really with it at the moment.

I'm hoping to get some time in my garden this week, the lawn desperately needs mowing and there are so many weeds in the flower beds. There may be some more photo opportunities.

Bamboo shoots, the younger one has fresh bamboo shoots her husband dug yesterday morning and her MIL is holding the cleaned bamboo shoots ready for cooking.

Sorry Bamboo shoots for cooking then eating

Good grief, those shoots are huge Do they dig up all of the shoots, or leave some to grow and sustain the plant?
I've spent the last couple of days in my garden. It really needs weeding and all the edges of the lawn need trimming. I've done what i can for now and hope i can get out there again next week to finish off the edges. The weather is looking wet for this weekend, so i won't be out there at all.

Don't think you could get to the bottom of a shoot so broken off about a foot underground if I remember from doing it , I think they are at least a metre underground and hard to remove completely,The first house I lived in here (rented )I had them coming up in my lawn at least ten metres away from a bamboo growth at the side of my land , very difficult to kill.Cooked correctly very tasty .

Believe it or not we grow some bamboo over here, though god knows why, it's not suited to our climate. Anyway, quite often i have customers asking me how to get rid of it, as it's taking over their gardens and going into neighbours gardens. They always say the same thing - It said clump forming on the label I have to explain that no bamboo is really clump forming and that they will send out running roots as much as they can. I should show them some photos of 'real' bamboo shoots, it would make the spindly stick like shoots they complain about pale into insignificance.
How do you cook them?