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

Well....tickle,Swansea and Cardiff v Forest and Reading,you couldn't have ever had a better chance than this to get one of 'em to wembly?
Well done for the via BTW such a simple word yet totally missed by me.I think Fulham are going to give blues a hard time as for Villa IMO the still need a point but with Arsenal and Liverpool to play,no chance.

Rikii, the way Arsenal are playing at the moment, there's every chance that Villa will take a point from them. But I don't think they need it. WHU can only get 39 points max. Only one of Blackburn and Wolves can get more than 41 points - neither if they draw. Blackpool and Wigan can only get 42 points max: it's unlikely that both of them will, and even more unlikely that they'll both get above Villa on goal difference if they do.

It could be a Forest-Reading final in the play-offs - I hope so - but Cardiff-Swansea is more likely. They ought to switch it to the Millennium stadium if that happens.

Hi tickle,well you were spot on with the prediction,Villa held the gunners off and won.The blues could be in trouble with Blackpool or Wigan as nobody can know what sort of team Man u will field agin Blackpool next week,Tottenham V the Blues next week if Villa can hold back the reds the spurs could get that last euro spot?

Hi Rikii, a good win for the Villa to banish any lingering fear of relegation. Arsenal may not even finish third now. I guess that will mean a play-off match to get into the Champions League group stage.

That Spurs result is bad news for the Blues, I suspect: Spurs will need to win to make sure of finishing fifth, so should be well motivated. FA Cup winners have been relegated before.

Blackburn must be a bit worried, as well - I fancy Wolves to beat them, although I wouldn't bet on it. With five teams still in the relegation mix, it should be an interesting end to the season. I'm not even going to try and predict the outcome.

Am I right in thinking that a while ago you mentioned somewhere a new piece of painting kit that was much better than using brushes and/or rollers? If so, can you remind me what it was?

Have a good week, everyone.

Hi tickle,

I cant remember saying anything about painting,I have tried most methods and all the methods do the job,but painting around the edges first and rollering is about as quick as it gets.I will say though taping off areas with masking tape saves a lot of time and haviny a flat metal sheet or a very large scraper(4") to put agaist things you want to protect while painting such as glass,carpets etc,saves time too.goodluck

Well...tickle at least you've got one team in the final even if it is your second choice.I'd say Reading have a real good chance.I think the final's at Man u ?

Hi Rikii, The play-off finals are at Wembley, the Championship one being on May 30 (Bank Holiday Monday). Reading certainly have a good chance and I think they will do it.

The Swansea-Forest game was a cracker and could have gone either way. I don't know if you watched the highlights on the Football League Show, but they didn't really do it justice.

Billy Davies is the first manager to achieve back-to-back play-off failures with two different clubs (Preston and Forest) but I wonder if he will be given the opportunity to match Dave Jones' three successive play-off failures. At least Cardiff got to Wembley last season, which is more than Forest have managed in four play-off attempts.

Dreams indeed!

Hi tickle,I ordered a tool kit from premier but I had to send it back because there were no hammers in it.

A good day for the Villa, Rikii. I meant to ask if you fancied their chances of a top ten finish, and I see they have managed ninth, which is the best they could have done - unless Fulham had lost about 17-0.

As half expected, it was a bad day for the Blues. Still, at least B'ham Ladies are top of the Women's Super League.

Someone on Radio 5 commented that Arsenal have managed to come fourth in a three horse race. Rather droll, I thought. Of course, their ladies won the Women's FA Cup - but that's nothing unusual.

Bonjour tout le monde!

I trust you are well.

Our poor little Dreams thread seems to be deserted lately, so I thought I'd revive it.
You who have been on Sin's will know what I've been up to lately. But I seem to miss some of you

Tickle - would be nice to hear from you
Toots - what have you been up to?
Polly - how are you and have you sorted out your pooter yet?
Rik - I see you regularly on Sins so I know you're Ok - but you haven't mentioned work much recently - are you getting enough? (as the art mistress said to the gardener)

Let's try and revive our secret little thread

Hello, Folly, you're a stranger here. How are things at the house of Sin? Seemed to be ticking over quite nicely last time I looked in.

I seem to be getting accident-prone in my dotage. A few weeks ago, as I may have mentioned, I smacked my head against a wall while playing badminton. I don't suppose that did much damage. Last Saturday, during the course of an otherwise pleasant coastal walk in S Wales, I managed to impale myself on some barbed wire. And this morning, while I was jogging along delivering a few newsletters, I tripped on a manhole cover and came a real cropper. I think perhaps I should take to my bed and stay there.

There was a young lady from Belvoir
Who was dogged by a terrible felvoir.
The took her to Leicester,
Where doctors undreicester
And discovered a golden retrelvoir.

Hi all,I suppose we have all gone like the four winds,I only ever seemed to talk about my work because I never seemed to do anything else.I am actually very busy working at the moment I've only had two Sundays off in three weeks.
I guess the rest of you all lead wonderfully varied lives with lots of different hobbies and persuits to occupy your leisure times.
I cant find it in me to condider holidays and the like,I mean I've never even owned a passport and after working away from home for twenty years I cant even say I like travelling.
I actually dislike driving but it's a neccessary neccessity these days.
I've been on Sins place and the mornington crescent boards on zeta,but I've been neglecting my Hip poet thread,I must admit I miss the craic at the old R4 message boards a lot 'cus love 'em or hate 'em the posters were all a notch up the ladder from myself and I liked them all a lot.
I guess Polly still isn't very well and has had to move elsewhere with all the trauma that that can place upon us,add that to the fact the our Polly's still pooterless and Wallah a whacking great empty space.BTW way Polly if you are reading this,hurry back sweetie.
As for tickle, I think maybe you must be overdue a good slice of luck but... alas you cant always spend it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13644012.stm

Thanks for the link, Rikii. A bit of a bombshell that. I was more or less expecting the departure of Billy Davies, but not his replacement by the wally with a brolly - a Villa reject! He must be a bit desperate to take the job at Forest while there are Premier League vacancies in the offing. Quite brave of Forest to take him on as well - I don't suppose the prospect will be any more popular with their supporters than it was with Villa's. I think I'll suspend judgment on the wisdom of it.

I don't know about the others, but I certainly don't lead a wonderfully varied life. To be honest, I don't really have a life at all. That isn't down to bad luck, though - it's down to being bloody useless.

Sounds like you could do with a slice of good luck yourself, Rikii. I'm glad you've got some work at the moment, as I daresay you need the cash, but it can't be much fun at your time of life, especially with all the ailments you seem to have. But maybe you'd be bored without it?

High time I hit the streets. Forecast is for a dry day, although it looks rather threatening at the minute.

Have a good week everyone.

So, Rikii, I see Villa have gone for McLeish, which hasn't gone too well with all the faithful. I like Faulkner's comment that
"Unquestionably, Alex meets the criteria we set out at the beginning of our search which was based on proven Premier League experience..."
Isn't his main Premier League experience that of relegation?

I've just become a Gruncle again. It wasn't due to happen until August, but my niece and son #2 are doing fine, apparently.

Bon weekend, les tous

Hi, W4aT. And of-course Rick.

I haven't been here for ages because i wasn't able to log-on. I have yet again had to change my password. Anyway, I am here now!

I was telling Mathos, W4aT, that I miss you over at Sin's place. The poetry thread rattles along slowly. I still can't afford a new computer so i rarely go to Sin's place. Other than that i can say nothing (I would, though, if there was a pm here!!).Also, as i am a serious person and not inclined to be daft, I find that there are very few threads i want to join in. But that's my problem.

I am just off to Waitrose for some milk and strawberries. The sun is shining at the moment so I will make the most of it. I don't mind the rain as long as I am going nowhere special! My fringe tends to curl if it gets wet - and i don't like it doing that! It's a female thing!

W4aT, I do hope that all is well with you. Congrats on the new arrival.

Take care - both of you - Rick and W4aT. I hope your families are keeping well. I still am under the weather since my last illness.

Love to both of you.

-x-x-x-

Nice to see you here, Polly, but I'm sorry to hear you're still under the weather - especially as the weather lately has not been something anyone would want to be under. I've never had any trouble logging in here, as many people seem to have done, but I do find it irritating that there are two different formats of the board - old and new - and that there are so many discrepancies between them. For instance, I still navigate to the old style board, where the apostrophes in your last post, Polly, appear as gibberish - I presume you were on the new look forum. Frank is still posting on the BAD POETRY thread, although his poems are seldom bad, and posted a particularly good one yesterday - see Post 5028 here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F2606954?thread=5718865&post=109478680#p109476680 I still look at Sin's board occasionally, but less and less so as time goes on. Mostly I post on the zeta board that Rikii referred to, trying to keep the RBQ thread afloat - come back, Rikii, we need you there. It was Mrs Tickle's birthday today (Wednesday) and we went out for a meal with MiL and Grace III. (Grace I is away at uni, still working on her thesis, while Grace II is currently in Ecuador.) We ate at a "gastro pub" that we've never been to before. The food was excellent, but a bit pricey, so it was lucky that we had a 20% off voucher. Mind you, we probably wouldn't have gone there otherwise. BTW, Polly, have you found a permanent nest yet?

Hi tickle,in the urban dictionary bad = good?

Rikii, have you tried visiting the zeta board this evening? All I'm getting at the moment is a blank blue screen, whichever browser I use. Other zeta boards seem to be working normally, so I've no idea what the problem is.

Hello again, Rikii. I still can't access the zetaboard. I assume there must be a problem with it, but if not, could you possibly post a message on RBQ explaining that I can't get on there at the moment.

Everyone seems to know the answers to my latest quizzle, but no-one had actually posted any last time I was there. The theme was Fertilizers and the answers were "Hoof and Horn", "Basic Slag", "Bone Meal" and "Urea", although not necessarily in that order.

Cheers