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

Hi team,lovely day here in Brum,although I had four days work last week at the mo' I have nothing on next week so I'll be busy doing nothing as even though there are loads of small jobs that require my attention it seems when you've the money you've no time and when you've time you've no spondulux

I trust all is well with everyone and w4t you can watch most of the beeb telly progs on the "i" player without a tv licence(if viewing on your pc)blues Reading

Morning all! I'm still suffering from a chronic sorethroat cough lurgy, which is an excellent excuse to do what I want to do and not what's on MOH's list (teehee). Got to go back to doc next week and he'll prob send me for a chest xray as its been dragging on.

2 1/2 hours of bliss last night on BBC4 - anyone see it? The blues progs? Wonderful - I was reliving my youth time and time again - good to see the Yardbirds as we'd often see them atthe local Kingston TA hall. Made me want to get out all my old lp's and cd's and dust them off - maybe that's a little task for tonight as long as the dust doesn't start my cough off again.

Nice day here today, I suppose I ought to get some fresh air - I can't call going into the garden for ten minutes to put out the washing as exercise really, can I?

have a good weekend all.

Hello.

It's been a lovely day here too although in the shade it is still rather chilly. My little garden is looking sweet. Anyone got any plants/roots that I may have please?? Wookie has been lying on the grass watching the birds on the feeders. He is too large and slow for birds so he just chatters to them from a distance. I wish I had the know-all to put my photo of 'Wookie and the living mouse' on here. The mouse sat in front of Wookie's paws whilst I ran to get my camera (2 summers ago). And the mouse lived to tell the tale.

I've been battling with attaching a new bolt to the door. It is right at the bottom of the door so I had to lie flat on my tummy to screw it on. It was such hard work and took absolutely ages! My back is aching now. I've poured myself a glass of wine and it seems to be making my back ache more than ever! It must be because I am relaxing. Or something.

Frank~~~In case you are able to pop in - I hope that you are having a lovely time in Gibraltar. Please could you bring me back a miniature furry ape.

Folly~~~how are you feeling today? My throat has been really sore. Hope you are feeling a bit better/lots better.

Rick~~~what about some gentle walking? I know you have lots to do in the garden but what about some time for enjoying the beautiful Spring at your leisure?

W4aT~~~I rarely watch television either. I've got my new licence but I have very little TV reception. So I just don't bother! Instead I have been catching up on my pile of unread books. I've just finished the 'Shardlake' series (C.J.Sansom). I thoroughly enjoyed them.
I'm missing our 'pome' threads. There's very little else that interests me on the R4 MB at the moment. I haven't yet looked up the links that Anna left for us. I can't really see what harm the pome threads did. We did often have a laugh on them. And what's the difference between them and the song threads! Nothing. Or have they now been shut down too?

I hope each of you are enjoying the weekend.


Polly
xxxx

I guess 'spondulux' means energy?!

Hi Polly,I do hope you are feeling a lot better than the last time I heard,I am on my own at home at the moment my OH is staying at my sister's I am picking her up in the morning,as my youngest son moved into a swanky city centre flat(4th floor)he shares the rent with a mate the house seems mega quiet(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spondulix sorry Polly I never could spell)so I can watch what I like on the telly.

I used to be able to read quite a bit at one time I read quite a few of Shakespeare's plays but while I was working in London 20 years ago I got mugged opposite Finsbury Park tube station,I was hit over the back of my head with an iron bar?and saw nothing for I guess about an hour when I came to at the Whittington hospital they were stitching the back of my scalp and injecting me with antitetanus at the same time,so now often if I try to do my crossword puzzles or attempt to read a book within minutes I cant seem to stop myself from yawning,yet I seem OK on the PC.

Anyway team enough waffle and I sincerely hope everone has a great weekend and that Reading beat the Blues.(COME ON THE VILLA!)

Hi folks,

I'm glad you clarified which team you're supporting in the Reading v B'ham encounter, Rikii. I thought maybe you were hoping for the Blues to be promoted so your lot can put them in their place next season. Don't get your hopes up too much, though: Reading haven't won at home since January, when they beat Wolves, and have only three points to show from seven games. Not promotion form, I'm afraid (they should have clinched it long ago) but I suppose you could argue that they're overdue a win.

I have the same trouble as you when it comes to reading (with a small r) although I've never been hit over the back of my head with an iron bar. I was set upon once when staggering home from the pub on Christmas Eve and got kicked around a bit, but the only real injury I suffered was a broken nose. That was the year when John Lennon was at #1 with "So This Is Christmas" - 1972, I think. You could always load up your ipod or whatever with audio books, Rikii, and go for a walk, as Polly suggests.

Yes, Polly, it's a shame about the poetry thread. As you say, it's much the same as the song thread, except that there we do restrict ourselves to very short excerpts, on the whole. Personally, I suspect that abuse of copyright was only an excuse to close it down.

You know I mentioned Nicholas Winton a few days ago? Well, I've just found out that one of the regulars in our badminton group is the daughter of one of the children he helped to escape from Czechoslovakia in 1939. She would probably have been at the concert if she hadn't been away on holiday. Life's full of these coincidences, I guess.

I'm not going to be as busy working next week as I thought. The mag I deliver every other month won't be available until Thursday, rather then Tuesday, as I was expecting. However, I do have a big stack of poll cards to deliver, which should keep me occupied for most of Tuesday. And I have an interesting(?) day's work lined up next month, when I'm going to be acting as a poll clerk for the Euro elections. That will be a 15½ hour day - almost as many hours as you do on your shifts, Rikii. Maybe I could listen to a few audio books.

And that's all. Hope the sun keeps shining for you.

Hello my dear R4 friends.

What amazing lives we have led and still live. I'm not joking. We all have stories to tell and each are interesting. What can I come up with tonight? Well, I've never been 'beaten up'. That must be a horrid thing. How does one ever get over it? I don't think that I could.
I remember my brother having his car broken into whilst it stood in his tax office car park. Everything was taken from it ~ wheels included. All that they left was his Bible.
I once had my handbag almost snatched from me whilst standing in a crowd! I pulled it back to my chest!

W4aT, do you post poems somewhere else, like we did on R4? I loved seeing what gems others would come up with.

I tidied the garden again today ~ dug the borders to make them look cared for. Digging is good for one ~ if one hasn't got a bad back.

No wine left so maybe a glass of pomegranate juice as a substitute.

Love from me.
xx

Hi Polly,I am glad you are keeping in touch occasionally as you are are host on this thread,I couldn't have done any digging here today as our weather has been wet and it feel really chilly here,at the moment I still have Winter style clothing on and I'm wearing a nice thick cardie.

I did venture outside in the garden earlier to check on some seeds in one of my raised beds(carrot,parsnip and lettuce but after a few weeks there is still no sign so at the begining of next week if there's still no sign I shall have to resow the bed again

I haven't seen any of your usual postings so I suppose you are getting out more or delving into your book collection,my OH has got to go down to Harborne to one of the charity shops there to take in loads of French language books that my younger son has left lttered around his now vacant room,it will be nice to have a spare room although I suppose it will just become an extension of our bedroom.

I do hope you yourself are feeling a bit better and with us all being on the threshold of warmer weather(hopefully)we can all get out and about a bit more

Hello, dear Rick.

It wasn't warm here today either. But I felt in the mood to make my little garden look 'loved'. And once I started to dig and weed I warmed up bodily. I visited a friend later in the afternoon and was glad that his heating went on at 4.30. The afternoon turned very chilly.
I am sitting here in my old long wool skirt and warm jumper! I don't believe in suffering the cold. My daughter told me that their heating was now switched off (after I remarked how cold I felt in their cottage)! My heating isn't on yet tonight but it doesn't seem at all cold in here (or is it because of my wintery clothing?!). If I do start to feel chilly I shall switch it on immediately.

I have lost a lot of interest with the MB recently. I'm no good at humour at the best of times so a thread like RBQ is no good to me! And the other threads aren't visited very frequently any more. So I have been putting my feet up each evening and immersing myself in books. I have plenty of unread new books to wade through. I've also been watching some DVD's ~ 'Middlemarch', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Emma', 'Wives and Daughters'....A Wimborne friend has collected so many lovely DVD's from The Mail and I borrow them.

Yes please~~~I would love some chocolate. Have you possibly got a Crunchie?? I must buy one tomorrow.

Well, Polly, I'm not sure about amazing. The blood transfusion service reckon that it's amazing to give blood and yet what amazes me is how few people do. Surely it's not a lot to ask. Perhaps giving blood should be made a condition of eligibility for state benefits. But there's no doubt that, even given how little we really know of one another, our lives encompass quite a variety of experience.

I don't think that my experience of being beaten up quite compares with Rikii's. I was making my way home with a couple of mates when we were attacked from behind by a few young lads who were looking for a fight. Just for fun, you understand. One of our number was sober, on account of recently having had jaundice. He legged it - with a view to calling the police, if his account can be believed. The other gave them a taste of their own medicine. I lay on the ground, having been pushed over from behind before I had any inkling of what was happening, and got kicked around a bit. I was very well anaesthetised, so didn't really feel any pain: it was only afterwards that I noticed the blood and the broken nose.

On reflection, that must have been Christmas '73. I'd broken my nose playing football about 14 months previously and knew how painful it was to have it straightened in hospital, so I didn't bother having that done second time around. Remember, if you break your nose anytime, the best thing is to push it back into place straight away.

As for poetry quotation threads, I wouldn't be surprised if there's one somewhere on hootoo, although I haven't come across such a thing. The Poetry As You Like It thread is still in existence, although not much used at the moment. Of course, you could always set one up in your journal space, Polly - Jabberwock has all sorts of conversations going on in his. Or on the Games Board even. I'm sure there'd be some takers.

The RBQ thread isn't just about humour, you know. It's all things to all men (and women) these days. When I first frequented it, quite a while ago, it was essentially a quiz thread and more or less entirely a male preserve. As time went on, more and more ladies joined in, most of whom made little or no attempt to solve or set the quizzes. Some of them do now, but not very often, and it's mainly just a chat show. Stout pops up now and then and often quotes a bit of poetry. He did venture to set the odd quiz a while back, but seems to have given up on that now. I am a bit of an outsider there, as pretty well all the others, including Mathos, know each from the WH forum, which I will certainly not be joining (I'm not woman enough for that) although I believe Stout has been persuaded to. It's quite fun and quite lively most of the time, and my last quiz was very well received. RC, the retired maths teacher and crossword fiend, was particularly impressed with my 18 letter anagram (here's another strong = Stranger on the Shore). I hope we'll be seeing more of you there in future, Folly.

Think I may have done a bit too much digging over the w/e, as I have a slight hip strain. I hope it won't inconvenience me tomorrow, when I have about 740 poll cards to deliver.

In view of which, it's high time I went to bed.

BCNU

Well, while all you lot have been gardening - or not - over the weekend, I've been indoors suffering from this awful sorethroat/cough lurgy that doesn't seem to want to leave. I'm now on antibios and have another docs apptmt to see if he thinks I need a chest xray.

I feel a bit better this morning, though and will get out and about, at least as far as the post office in the next village (ours got the chop in January, which is incredibly inconvenient. They say we can use the other villages nearby, but for the old folk, that means a bus ride and then a THREE HOUR WAIT to come back! Can you believe it! These closures are almost as shortsighted as Beechings axe was. Only the bottom line matters, I'm afraid.

Sorry about that rant, but I feel better for it!
Anyway, at least I'll find some fresh air today, though it's a bit dull out there.

Have a good day tout le monde


Fol

Hi Folderol,I had a sore throat that lasted months until I saw a doctors at guy's hospital A&E as I was working away from home,he told me to gargle with soluble asprin BP,thats the cheapest one at the chemist's because this one goes all cloudy in the glass N.B.not clear,he told me to gargle three at a time and if you wish spit or swallow three or four time a day,I must say I have now been doing the same for years at the first sign,no work either this week?(like me?)

Well, that was a good morning's work. Finished my deliveries soon after 1 o'clock. Stopped at the Old Manor for a pint (rather nice and only £1.79) while I filled out my returns, took them in to the council offices, called at the donut stand and was still home for 2:15. And earned about as much as I normally would in 2 days (which is not a lot, I grant you). I think there ought to be more elections.

The weather's been lovely here, although it has clouded over now.

I see the Blues beat Reading, Rikii. Can't say I'm surprised, though it's rather disappointing. Three points from their last eight home games (having taken 38 from their first 15) and still only missed promotion by 6 points. Inexplicable. I'm not very optimistic about the Royals' chances in the play-offs, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Hope you manage to see off the lurgy, Fol.

Hello.


A warm and breezy day in the Forest. There have been a few glimpses of blue sky and the sun.

Folly, I do hope that you will get better very very soon.

Guess what I bought today? A 7 pack of Crunchies (Rick's fault. )! They cost 69pence each in the supermarket or less than £2.50 for a pack of 5 plus two extra ones. I've already eaten 2. Never mind. I shan't eat any more for a few days as I shall be away. I shall instead buy my favourite freshly cooked beetroot and lots of black grapes. And licorice from the health shop.

Yesterday I watched a recorded programme about a mammoth elephant that was found in Siberia.

Thanks for wishing me well, everyone. I do feel better today but this blessed cough won't go away. I suppose I should have given up smoking sooner! (I gave up about 30 years ago )

Problem is I can't drive safely as a coughing fit can hit me at any time and I'd lose control. Sometimes, I fgind myself down on my knees here at home. Spoke to the doc today on the phone and he doesn't think I need a chest xray, unless the cough lingers after a week after the antibiotics. So I'll have to keep plugging on.
Just don't any of you get too near me or you might catch the lurgy

Sunny day here and I've been out a bit. That must help?

Hi Folderol,did it come over you like a Mexican wave

No, Rik, I just opened the window and .....

wait for it.......


You'll like this one......


Ready for it? .......


Here it comes.......


Influenza!!!

Tara!!!!

Now, time for a whisky and honey and lemon. It doesn't help the cough much, but it's a good excuse

Evening all - and especially Frank who seems to be getting it in the neck from a certain person that you are all aware of.
Please, Frank, don't rise to it. Just let him rant and don't respond. Rise above him. He is certainly beneath you - beneath all of us.
Look at my last posting on Haiku time - it's how I've learnt to keep cool under stress.

Cough's getting better though I don't trust myself driving as I get a fit every now and then without warning and its uncontrollable - I'd hate to lose control of the car!

Good day weather wise till about 6 when it clouded over - went foe a walk round the village - so peaceful - I'm very lucky to live in such a quiet corner of Beds. Blackbirds were doing their nuts earlier - and a thrush too, I think. Must be spring!

How you lot doing?

I have not cut my little lawn yet, so the path that holds the bird's water and crumbs is somewhat masked by long grass. The sparrows still manage to find it though. They are waiting for lazy old Frank to clear the weeds from their dust bath (their name for my seed beds). Starlings are making a welcome appearance this year, and thrushes and the blackbirds, of course, but the tits have given up on me since I cut down the all invasive but beautiful Budlia Variabillis, the butterfly tree.
I have a big Rose of Sharron bush just about to flower, and the bees are always calling in , obviously remembering it from last year.
Wasps are nesting in the shed of the house beyond my back wall, and my compost heap is alive with all sorts of insects and beetles. The cats prowl around looking for fledglings and I swear at them through the kitchen window.
A far cry from all the hassle we meet at that other place. What a strange unfriendly man he is? I do try to get him to cheer up.
Hope all your sniffles and snuffles are receding.

I am thinking of buying a dragon to scare the cats away. I may set it onto Hairy, too.

Permission granted re

Funny how, a few years back, starlings were the 'bovver' boys of the garden, always muscling in onothers. Now, in their declined numbers and with their recently high profle mass cavorting - been on telly a lot this spring - they are not nearly so frowned on. And when you look closely at them, they are incredibly beautiful. So, now, I don't mind them barging their way onto the fat filled coconut.

My new fish in the pond seem to be settling down, although they do run for cover when a human looms large over them, so I creep up and peer at them through binocs from a few yards off.

Well, a whisky and lemon call before bedtime, so have agood night all. Should be rain overnight here which will be welcome - the garden's parched

Had a good sleep last night - cough didn't trouble me - must have been the whisky

News talks of Swat and I recalled a nonsense poem that mentioned the Akund of Swat. MOH, though a teacher and into nonsense verse - her 9/10 yo's love that sort of thing - didn't know of it. Googled it and eventually found it - Lear of course. You can read it on

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1682199

Have a good day