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

I didn't realise they spoke Oz in NZ

What twinge?

I am still suffering the after effects of the flight - totally shattered and also with some probs with my leg. Seemed to be much worse on the return journey.

However there were some compensations - I saw some whales, penguins and seals ( not all at the same time) I did some kayaking, some luging and some walking. It all seems ages ago now. A land of contrasts.

I've just booked a long weekend in Barcelona :o)

August and esteemed - wow

Well, I've never actually heard an NZ accent, so I used the closest available....

I'm afraid I fell victim to a vicious piece of moss during the Kielder challenge. There was I, inoffensively pulling it up to act as insulation for the team's overnight bivouac, when quite without provocation it decided to put up more resistance than I expected, with the net effect that I pulled one of my intercostal muscles. IT actually wasn't too bad for a few days, but then it decided to become immobilisingly painful and take its own sweet time about recovering. It's more or less OK now although not above giving me the odd reminder now and then.

Hope you recover soon from the flight I always found jet lag was worse going east. Hope the leg gets better: it's not that DVT is it?? Jumbos are pretty big, but stuffing all those people in doesn't give much room to move around.

Glad you enjoyed yourself (jealous - moi?) sounds like a great place. It's always the same with holidays: over too soon and receding too quickly into memory....

Barcelona should be fun though.

I'm afraid I don't know what an intercostal muscle is! Could be anywhere in the body as far as I'm concerned

I've been wondering about DVT - the symptoms were all there although I didn't realise it at the time - I seem to suffer from the 'it'll never happen to me' syndrome at times. I've been reading up and appparently, unless it moves, the body reabsorbs it. You're the second person to tell me about the West to East effect - I wish you'd all told me this BEFORE I went!

I've also been invited to go to Karachi in the New Year. I'd like to but I need to change my car so I'll have to see how funds go.

I think I may have boobed on the Barcelona trip - one of these 'cheap' flights which doubled when all the charges were added but still a bargain...until I realised that the plane doesn't fly into the main airport but the Luton or Stansted equivalent! Should be an adventure

I expect you're feeling very Friday pm by now

Yep,

Just about to bugger off for a fortnight in fact

(Nowhere exciting by comparison: a science fiction convention in Brum will be the highlight)

Sounds like you'll have plenty of opportunity to practise your Spanish

It could be worse: they could kick you out over the Bay of Biscay...

The intercostals are those muscles between the ribs: quite handy for breathing...

See you when I get back.

This is just to let you know that you did take my breath away when you said Sci-Fi Convention

Well, I'm back: a tad later than planned Damn 'flu

So Sci-Fi Conventions make you breathless with ... Hmm, do I want to go there?

Welcome back

It's simply that I have an image of Sci-Fi buffs lol

Hope you're feeling better. Was it real flu or a masculine cold?

I'm off again on Wednesday - flying out to Barcelona for the weekend

Speak soon

Hi,

Well I'm no medical expert, but there was definitely some emesis involved: particularly unpleasant when you haven't eaten anything for hours...

Anything along the lines of "Ace" Rimmer's line when the Cat has his cool sucked out by the Emohawk:

"He's looking so geeky he couldn't even get into a Science Fiction Convention" ?

Enjoy Barcelona, is it serious party time with the weekend starting Wednesday, or is that just how the cheap flights panned out?

I was going to book it for Friday but found by going on Thursday that the flight only cost a penny (minus the various charges of course). Gives us two full days to see the sights.

So they've not quite reached the stage of paying you to go....

The 'one penny' flight is one way only! The whole thing is £80 for both of us
The hotel is a bit more of course

There's always a catch

Hello I'm back!
The 'catch' was the bus from Girona aiport into Barcelona - a real bun fight on both journeys ( a taxi would have cost 125 euros each way for the 100kms). It's put me off going anywhere if I can't fly into the main airport even if the flight IS cheap! Made me wonder if visitors to the UK feel the same about Stanstead - Gatwick is less of a problem I think since there's a good rail link.
Overall I enjoyed the visit though - it's an intersting place and there's lots to see and do although I cannot imagine going in the heat of the summer.
We were staying in the Barri Gothique so simply walked out of the hotel into a pedestrianised area full of interesting shops
Helen

Bienvenida

Glad you enjoyed it, although you have to wonder if airports that far away don't violate the misleading trade descriptions laws...

Can't stay long: I'm off to donate some vital fluids to the National Blood Service...

I'm glad you didn't say The National Sperm Bank! Not in your lunch break anyway!

It's not quite got to that yet....

... I give Plasma & Platelets by Apheresis. (Which got a brief mention on the Channel 5 daytime series last week.)

I've just started up again after a year's hiatus as my Haemoglobin count was always at (or just below) the limit they set for donation. Turns out it still is, but they've come round to accepting that that's just my physiology.

There are a number of advantages to apheresis over donating whole blood:

1. You can do it more often: up to once a fortnight

2. You get to sit in a comfy chair rather than be laid out on a bed: it makes reading magazines and chatting with the nurses a lot easier

3. They bring the tea & biscuits to you while you're plugged in to the machine, with top-ups as necessary

4. For those focussed on numerical measures of achievement, you donate 2 units per session rather than 1, so you can rack up some big numbers a lot quicker

Oh well, I'm on again next week....

I must confess - I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about (apart from donating blood that is)

I did notice the reference to nurses though

I think I've almost finished the Christmas cards and I'm all written out. Also - wasn't going to bother with a Christmas tree since I won't be here again this year and last year it stood here in solitary splendour with no-one looking at it! However, I have succumbed and bought an outrageously expensive non-needle shedding one yesterday. Now I have to decorate the blinking thing!
What are you doing for the festive season? Getting blind drunk and propositioning lots of nubile young women I hope

Well the idea of apheresis is that they give you your red blood cells back and just take the rest, from which they can make many useful and life-saving products.

Thought you might notice the reference: no-one ever said you had to donate for entirely altruistic reasons

As I tend to spend Xmas away down South with the family, I've never bothered with decorations for my flat. Besides, why amend what is already a perfectly tasteful decor with a load of gaudy tat??

Getting blind drunk isn't on the agenda: sadly I'm cursed with a memory that continues to function whatever my level of alcohol intake; the consequences of inebriation are a lot less palatable without the comforts of denial...

We'll see how the propositioning nubile young women goes....

So....you are suggesting that my house is full of gaudy tat then!!!

What do you consider to be 'South'?