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

Yay! My American friend and neighbour Eric just dropped off his VCR that plays both American and European videos, for me to use over the holidays while he is away. This means I will be able to watch some Christmas stuff I had brought here from Canada years ago including the wonderful Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol as well as A Charlie Brown Christmas.

I bought the dvd of the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas last year and have just finished watching it with one of my students. Of course I cried at the end!

What's going on with the rest of you???



az

Well, Spain, reputedly a hot place, then.

School finished two days ago, so I'm basically just chilling.

Last day at work until the 29th!

After working retail for so many years, Christmas doesn't really become a reality for me until about 5pm on the 24th. Having a 9 whole days in a row (5 of them paid) seems such an incredible luxury.

My mother wanted me to go to Toronto over Xmas to spend the hols with my sister-in-law and my two nephews. However, I spent a single day there last year and vowed never to do it again. The youngest one has ADHD and is a holy terror (shades of his father when he was that age). I want a disfunction-free Christmas, thank-you-very-much!

hi Mudhooks,

So does this mean that you will be on your own with your cat? That's what I'll be doing on Christmas day (well, except with more cats). So we must make a date to show up here and have a glass of together! Sound good to you?



az

You betcha....

Roadkill,

Blues Shark can confirm the fact that in August Sevilla is a VERY hot place. The poor thing almost melted during his holiday here when it was about 45ºC.

My problem (so to speak) is living in a very old house and not having central heating. So often it feels warmer outside than inside during the winter, especially on sunny days. But I just wear lots of sweaters and scarves indoors and keep my little portable radiator next to me.

And I have three cats that pile on top of me at night to help keep me warm! Kind of like having little furry hot water bottles. The amount of heat they put out is really quite amazing and I always try to get Azar to get under the duvet with me (he actually quite likes this, unless I move around too much).

So you are chilling. Well, me too. I'm very chilly in fact.



az

Mudhooks,

Great! So it's a date then! Oh, how lovely. Though I shall have to wait until mid-late-afternoon at least before it is time for you to be up and about.

Hope I still have some left by then!



az

Oh, How I wish my Banjamin liked to get under the covers. IF I manage to manhandle a cuddle out of him, I have to hang on for dear life. I can always tell he's not pleased. He glowers and whines (unusual in a cat, that) and tries to make a dash for freedom. I think he thinks I am going to put him in a sinkful of water (a residual memory from when he was a little kitten and didn't keep up with the necessary hygene and I had to give him two baths) or that I am going to clip his toenails (you would think I was trying to do home-surgery on him when the clippers come out....)

Ironically, I have no problem getting him into his carrier to go to the vet. He just walks right in and doesn't fuss all the way there. Although, when I do get into the examining room with him, I have to tip the carrier on end and shake him out while he hangs on, spreadeagled and clawing at the sides. By the time I get out of the office, I have more hair on my clothes and in my mouth and nostrils than he has left on his hide.

That was Benjamin.... not Banjamin....

I will either spend the night at my sister's or o over their early in the AM. I go there for Christmas morning, now. I will have to be up fairly early to do that. Once there, my niece gets to open her stocking and then we have a terrific breakfast with French Toast, pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, little oranges (the kind in the can.... tradition for our family), and lots and lots of tea.

After breakfast, we go to the main event... opening the presents. Later in the morning or early in the afternoon, I go home and then to my friend's house for supper (not sure when she has that planned for....) with her family. They are Polish and I feel like I am one of the family.

Her daughter is the only Polish Mohawk I know of..... (her father is distantly related to my ex, via Joseph Brant).

While at my sister's I can use her computer, so will come on while I am there, and then, again when I am at home.

Mudhooks,

I don't clip my cat's claws often enough and the state of my sofa is a prime example of this. I just have shreds of sofa left though I have quite cleverly covered it with a nice Indian cotton throw which looks very nice. Anyhoodle, I think they do more damage with blunt claws (bigger holes) than with finely sharpened claws.

I have never been suicidal enough to even attempt bathing my cats! What are ya - nuts?

I can always get Lua and Sunny into the cat carrier to take them to the vets. No problem. Though they scream their heads off the entire time and there is the spread-eagled thing when I try to get them out again. But once on the table at the vets they are so intimidated they behave so well (totally docile, not at all like they behave at home) that all vets have commented on this. About what wonderful cats I have! Ha! Azar is a whole other kettle of fish. To even get him into the cat carrier is impossible. Try putting the Tasmanian Devil into a cage! The last time - many years ago - that I had to take Azar to the vets I had to drug him first. I mean, there was no way no day that guy was going to be put in a cat carrier!

And while the cats surely find trips to the vet's very stressful it is no way as stressful as it is for me! I always get back from the vet's limp from anxiety and worry and totally wasted. But when I let the cat out of the carrier they just go - 'hey, don't I get a snack now?'

Azar only started doing the 'under the duvet' thing last winter. I couldn't believe it! He is the total scaredy cat, the one who had his front leg almost ripped off in the street by someone trying to kill him. But somehow he decided he liked getting under the covers. At first - last year - I would barely move once he got under the covers lest I scared him. Now I just think - oh, what the hell - he can stay there or not. And he mostly stays. I also usually wake up with Lua (total bitch cat from hell) sleeping on my head and sometimes with Sunny - somehow - wrapped up in my arms with his head on my pillow. Cats are just so weird!



az

Well, I wouldn't be foolish enough to try bathing him now!

This was when he was a kitten. He and his brothers were abandonned between the doors of our store. I think he was just a bit young and hadn't quite got the hang of washing himself yet.

I once had to bathe my in-laws' cat. She tangled with a skunk and got sprayed right in the face. We could smell this horrendous smell and commented "Gee, somebody got it good!" Then there was a horrific yowling outside the door. My ex opened it and in barrelled the cat..... along with what smelled like a tire factory fire.

We managed to corral her before she made it completely through the house. We sent our houseguest out to get tomato juice, but didn't know you have to let it dry on the cat before washing it out. I was holding her under the tap in the tubto wash it off her, when she managed to get one claw loose, cathching the shower knob. I was standing in the tub in my undies and t-shirt, holding an already VERY ANGRY cat, who got even angrier when the shower came on.

She got out of my grip and climbed me.

When I finally got out of the bathroom, I was covered from head to foot with blood, tomato juice, skunk spray, and cat hair... and was soaked to the skin.

....and the cat smelled horrific for several weeks afterwards.

Mudhooks,



Poor you! I shouldn't laugh but you tell it well .

az,

I went to France in the summer, it was only ("only"!) 40 degrees, but still hot enough that noone felt like doing anything. Oh, wait, I remember, we tried to play tennis . We stopped after a bit, though, due to everyone's inability to a)serve b)return a serve, in the event of a serve. We then played boules with tennis balls, which makes it very interesting finding a jack.

Oh we also melted Haribo in the car window. Created an uber- haribo, which we chopped up with scissors and ate. Yum.

and what, praytell, is haribo?



az

They make gummy sweets. Mostly... scrap that: entirely artificial (I should think).

Nothing says Christmas like a colonoscopy!

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/19/medical_gifts031219

Thanks for the link; interesting story.

Oh no!

I just set up Eric's VCR and was rewinding my Christmas tape and it went . . . SNAP!

Dang!

Well, I still have the Grinch and It's A Wonderful Life. And Blues Shark said he is sending me a dvd of the Alistair Sim version of a Christmas Carol.



az
counting her blessings

I hope it was the tape and not the VCR, at least....

hmmmm . . . not sure. It was making some very strange noises so now I don't want to play any other of my Canadian tapes in it in case they also get eaten.

Oh well. Life goes on . . .



az