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

Hello az,



I'm replying to my own postings now.

Is it me or is it a bit quiet round here at the moment? Perhaps everyone's out Christmas shopping.

How are you and the cats?

F

hola!

Yes, I've also been wondering where everyone has got to and asked people on my Christmas thread (no grinching allowed!) F119314?thread=353919&skip=0&show=20 if they were all out shopping.

I don't have anyone to buy presents for this year but will still have a nice Christmas with the cats (who are all just fine, thank you!)



az

Hi az,

No-one to buy presents for? I'm not sure if that's sad or a relief after lugging carrier bags all round town searching for just the right gift. It sounds a bit sad though so if it helps; you should know I consider every word you've written here as a gift which I've unwrapped with pleasure.

Glad the cats are OK. I hope you all have a lovely Christmas.



F

Oh sweetie!

What a lovely thing to say! That in itself is a wonderful Christmas gift for me. Thank you very much.

My American neighbour and friend Eric has just dropped off his VCR that plays both American and European videos, so now I'll be able to watch some of my old Christmas videos that I brought here from Canada, including the wonderful Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol and also A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Last year I bought the dvd of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and have just watched it with one of my students. Totally cried at the end, as usual.

az

Oh dear!

Earlier today I set up Eric's VCR and rewound my Christmas tape and it went . . . SNAP!

Ah well, at least I have my cats!



az

Hi az,

I'm sorry about your tape - a sad end for Alistair Sim. I doubt if it's repairable either.

Most recent VCRs will play both PAL (Europe) and NTSC (N. American) tapes in my experience. Buying a VCR might prove to be easier than replacing the tape, although there are firms who specialise in old classic movies. We've just acquired a (cheapo) DVD player but it was a challenge connecting it to the TV. All to do with SCART plugs and things.

Wishing you a lovely Christmas.



F

hi Fathom,

Yeah, too bad about the tape. Sigh! Oh well, still have a couple of other good Christmassy things to watch.

Last year I bought a dvd player, which is great. So now I can actually rent films on dvd here and see them in original version. Previously most of the videos for rent here were dubbed (ick).

I wouldn't buy a new VCR at this point. The one I have is about ten years old, which is why it doesn't show the North American stuff. And it looks like Eric's dual VCR should be put out to pasture. Tape eating monster that it is!

What are your plans for Christmas? With family? Friends? I don't even know - do you have a family (wife, kids) of your own? Do you like Christmas?

Meanwhile, I actually connected my dvd to the TV last year with no problems at all. I needed something called a 'euro-connecter' which happily my very old television had a connection thingy for. Took about five minutes.



az

Season's Greetings azahar,



Personally I still mourn the loss of Betamax. Sounds to me like Eric needs his head cleaned.

The 'euro-connector' is another name for SCART. Great if your TV has a spare one but ours was in use for the Sky digibox leaving us with a problem.

Planning a quiet Christmas at home. Just me, my wife and her (grown-up) daughter. Always a bit hectic on Christmas Eve: collecting my step-daughter from a hundred-odd miles away (no trains) then sorting out the prezzies for a ninety mile round trip to the rest of my family. After spending all day driving on the 24th I like to have a quiet day in on Christmas Day. I usually cook Christmas Dinner for the three of us but otherwise it's a relaxing day eating and drinking, watching TV, opening presents and phoning the family.



I do like Christmas but all the younger children in my family live too far away for me to see them on Christmas Day. Christmas for me is all about children so it's not the same as it was when I still lived in my home town. Strange really because on the whole I don't like kids...

There's a Christmas film thread on here somewhere - hang on while I see if I can find a link...

Here it is: A348552

Plenty of good ideas there. My personal favourites are probably Groundhog Day or Home Alone for a good laugh and It's a Wonderful Life for a good cry.

Hope you have a fun Christmas.



F

I quite envy all your 'hectic-osity' of picking up this person or the other and getting to this this and that Christmas celebration.

I always think Christmas should be full of hectic stuff.

Mine will be very 'tranquilo' with just me and the cats.

Last year I had a quite different sort of Christmas with some American friends here. They took me out for a lovely late lunch on Christmas eve, then we went to a special midnight mass ceremony. On Christmas day I made them a wonderful lunch at home and we just hung out together and then took a long walk as it was such a gorgeous day.

But this year it will just be me and the cats.

You don't like kids???? Well, to be honest, very small kids tend to totally intimidate me. I have no idea what the hell to say to them! And they always look at me as if I have four heads and snakes for hair. Ho hum. Mind you, I can totally *make them behave* in a manner that their parents seem incapable of doing. But that's only cos they're scared of me.

Cats are way easier.



az

You realise we are now conversing on two threads at the same time?



Cats are easier and dogs are easier still. The problem is I have no idea how to relate to kids. I didn't speak their language when I was a kid myself so I can't communicate at all now. It's OK if I'm teaching them something or if they're very young but from six to sixteen I just don't know how make general conversation.

Yes, the hectic stuff is part of Christmas which is probably why I always leave everything to the last minute. Every year I promise myself I'll be better organised next time. Every year I start Christmas shopping on about 13th December and probably always will. this year seems worse than ever - last night I wrapped all the presents so we've got today and tomorrow to do a final late-night shop, clean the house and (yes, really!) put the decorations up.



Better get started I think...

I do like the Christmas smileys.



F

Hi azahar,

Have a nice Christmas and a happy New Year.



I probably won't be on site over the festive season so take care, have fun (and other salutations in that genre) and I look forward to reading your posts again soon.



F

Feliz Navidad!

az

Hi az,

Happy New Year!



Well, Christmas was pretty much a non-event this year. Aside from the initial rushing about, once Christmas Day arrived I just sat about overeating and watching TV.

Everyone round here seems to have had a cold this past couple of weeks so of course I had to join in. I've sniffled and coughed my way into the New Year so I hope it can only get better from now on.

They're advertising Easter eggs on TV now - is there no let up from this commercial nightmare?

Hope you are well.

F

hi Fathom,

Nice to hear from you. I'm having a bit of a worried morning because my old female cat Lua has seriousy hurt her hip (which was broken about 8 years ago) and she can barely walk, yet I'm loath to go through the trauma and expense of the vet's as my last few trips to the vet's have cost me about 100 euros each time only to be told - 'he/she just has to take it easy'.

And speaking of cats, I've started a photo gallery at:

http://public.fotki.com/azahar/

Well, I have a couple more days off - I should be back to full-time classes again on Thursday. Which means I seriously need to clean my flat.

az

Hi az,

Sorry to hear about Lua. I think €100 sounds a lot for a consultation. Has she been out in the cold or could she have fallen or suffered some more serious trauma recently? Has she really injured the same hip again or could it be arthritis perhaps, or age related wear and tear aggravating the site of the earlier injury? How, exactly do you tell a cat to 'take it easy'? And don't they do that mostly anyway?

Is Lua a common name for a Spanish cat? My stepdaughter has a cat called 'c-for'.

I'll visit your photo gallery when I get home. I can't access such exotic sites from w*rk unfortunately.

Well, don't want to get in the way of your vacuuming...

F

Well, it would be 100€ after x-rays, consultation fee, taxis and probably some injection of anti-inflammatory/painkiller that would only last for a few hours.

She fell three storeys about eight years ago, off the terrace, landing on a metal staircase and breaking her hip. The vet at the time charged me approx. 120€ for all the above and said there was nothing to do unless I wanted to pay an extra 300€ for an operation that might not help. In the end she got better on her own but recently she's been limping a bit, which I assumed was arthritis. But this morning Azar was chasing her around and suddenly I heard her growl and hiss and spit and suddenly she could barely walk at all. Poor old thing. I think this afternoon I'll go out to buy her some anti-inflammatories and some special food.

Lua means 'moon' in Portuguese or Gallego. As I adopted her when she was two she came with the name (from friends of mine who owned a bar called La Luna - the moon).

<>



You have a point . . .

az

az?

I hope Lua's feeling better soon. Did you take her to the vet after all?

In my wanderings on the site I came across a researcher called 'Member'. It appears some people suspect this person of being a reincarnation of Hoo. I'm not convinced myself, although he does appear to post in a similar style, because he isn't as precise in his punctuation and spelling. Also Member says he is a teacher whereas Hoo is an industrial chemist.

Unless he's posting under a pseudonym (I always wanted to write under the name of 'Parker' - it's not my real name; just a pen name ) Hoo's last appearance on the site was back in October. Pity.

Seems a bit quiet on here today; unless I'm just bored and looking for a decent conversation to join in with. How're you today?

F

hello!

Yes, Lua seems a bit better today. Thanks for asking. She is 'taking it easy' At the moment she is happily curled up on her favourite cushion topped stool next to me (though I had to help her up - she cannot jump up anywhere with her sore hip, poor darling). I also spent most of last night making sure she was comfy and warm while having her sleeping almost on top of my head. It was just that whenever she had to go to 'the box' or get a drink of water during the night I woke up and then had to help her back up onto the bed again. But I do think she will be fine - it just might take a few days for her hip to heal.

Re: Hoovooloo and Member. Well, I have no doubt at all that they are the same person. No, Member does not post in a similar style to Hoo, he posts in exactly the same style. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Anyhow, it doesn't really matter. If Member wants to be known as Member, then okay. That's how I shall address him. No skin off my nose.

Meanwhile, I tell everyone here I am an English teacher. Which is true. But if I turned up tomorrow using another name I could say I was a clothing designer - which would also be true enough. And if I wanted to - though why would I? - I could pretend to be someone else.

Given my very bad memory I could never pretend to be more than one person as I could never remember what I had said in my other 'persona'. And anyhow, I have no desire to be anyone but me. For others that like doing this, well fine. But they don't seem to realize how obvious they are. Like with Della/Adele. Unless these two are twins who read each other's minds and speak and write in totally the same voice (this is something very hard to hide) then I think they are also the same person. Again, I truly don't care if these people pretending to be different people are actually the same person - it means nothing to me. But it is almost impossible to hide a peronality, especially when one isn't taking special care to hide writing styles. I do pick up on writing styles. It's like fingerprints. No two people can write exactly alike. Anyhoodle . . .

Looking for an interesting thread? I just came across one about Opus Dei.

F100861?thread=241466&p4648999

Opus Dei totally gives me the creeps. Really, I often wonder why I spend so much time on threads about god and religion when I am not religious myself and have no god concept but Phred. I think it is because so many people define themselves by the gods they believe in. I always find this quite curious.

az

Sorry, not convinced about Hoo / Member. Member started a thread asking for some image editing software: Hoo would have been one to provide an answer to that request. Hoo's style is very precise; always the correct spelling, just an odd typo, perfect punctuation. Member's is much sloppier and that is really hard to fake. There's no signature on Member's postings as in 'H.' or even 'FB' and Member's use of smileys is different.

Intrigued by the Della / Adele suggestion; I've not really looked at much by Adele although I have heard of her. Must look into that. A few people have alternative personas: especially since single sign-on or in an attempt to bag a 'cool' user number. When they start conversing with themselves you want to worry.

Going to look at the Opus Dei conversation...

F

...and found it a bit creepy.

But in reality it is little different to the way all organised religions work: "if you leave you'll go to hell". Just a bit more extreme in operation.

What DO they do with all that money?

F