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

Prepare to be even more impressed:- it was 31 miles!

Don't give up on the "bona fide author" bit just yet: remember Douglas Adams only ever finished anything if he was locked in a room almost at gunpoint. As he said:

"I love deadlines; particularly the whooshing noise they make as they fly past."

The rock steady ride of the modern automobile does seem to detract from the experience

Typically, the weather looks better now it's Monday

The gaps seem to be getting longer! Sorry!

I was impressed, even if I didn't immediately respond :o)

I'm definitely not an author, I haven't put pen to paper in weeks - too busy with the Christmas gift making. I hope they're ready to be underwhelmed on Christmas morning!

You'll be getting ready for the weekend I expect. The forecast is cooler so I expect,in common with the rest of the Newcastle revellers on Saturday night, you'll be donning your short sleeved shirt for the Bigg Market experience
Helen

No worries, it gives me longer to think up brilliant and inventive replies like this one

Now that Advent starts in October, Christmas presents can hardly fail to be underwhelming: the expectation has just been too long

Just watched a bit of Richard and Judy - someone from Washington, Tyne & Wear got through for the quiz. Why are the people from the north east we see on tv usually inarticulate and/or unintelligent wallies? He sounded nice enough but couldn't string two words together and they couldn't understand his accent - he still got £5000 though!!
Nice to hear from you again :o)
Not sure if I told you - we are making ALL of our gifts this year! One end of the living room is my workshop - sadly I have no elves, only the dog. :o)

It's a conspiracy

One of the things that differentiates this central and excellent part of the country from the more peripheral areas like London is that it's relatively uncrowded: the negative stereotypes help to deter the others from coming up here and spoiling it

Hope the seasonal manufactory goes well: it sounds like a great idea. I got a bit blase as a kid with home-made stuff: my grandad was a joiner & made some great stuff.

Well, it's all over bar the decorations which will be coming down tomorrow. That is if I'm able to stand in the gales that are promised in our neck of the woods for the rest of the week!

I trust you got suitably inebriated during the festivities and perhaps even latched onto a dazzling young woman?

Mine seemed worse than usual with highlights that were good - not sure that they made up for the general mayhem though. I now need to lose at least four pounds in weight and will have to throw the remains of the christmas cake out if i'm not to gain even more!

I am at last on Broadband having finally connected a router this afternoon. I've been paying for the service since the end of October but haven't had time to spend working out how to do it (you'll remember the gift making). It took me the whole afternoon and no lunch to put in an ethernet adapter card and connect the router. At one point I rang Netgear for advice and spent about 30 mins on the phone without any success - I thanked him for his time and then worked it out for myself! I have yet to work out the security of a wireless network - that'll be tomorrow's job - once the decorations are down of course :o)

As you can see, nothing's changed - I'm still moaning :o)

I hope you have a prosperous and successful New Year.
Best wishes
Helen

btw
They took me to The Jam House in Birmingham on my birthday - don't know if you know it?

Hi!

I had a pretty good Christmas - with the family over at my sister's, so we could see her kids opening their presents.

I lucked out with my niece: the prezzie I'd got her for want of anything else suitable turned out to be just what she wanted anyway. I don't know if that counts as "latching on to a dazzling young woman"

The main problem with decorations is that once they're down, normality appears so drab by comparison...

Good luck with the broadband.

And the moaning: you're getting quite good at it

Broadband's still working and decorations all down although I haven't yet disposed of the Christmas trees. Security not yet started.

Hmm - you have become a cheeky young whippersnapper I see :D

Trees plural??

How many did you have?

Hope the security goes OK

Started with one outside the french door on the premise that there would be no room inside with so many people and the dog. Just before Christmas thought there'd be nowhere to put the children's gifts so went out and bought another as well as a cast iron base, a tablecloth(festive) and more lights

Wot about this wind????

It is a tad breezy

So much so that we gave the rowing a miss at the weekend: there was surf by the steps ans driftwood shooting past faster than we could hope to be

I'm not a very good correspondent as you can see

I hope you were ouit enjoying the sunshine today - according to the local news, we were in the warmest place in Britain today! However, in the same breath, they said snow is forecast at the weekend.

I took the dog up to Hamsterly Forest for a long walk - she has been unconscious all evening lol

I hope you'll be watching the Six Nations this weekend - one of my ex-pupils has made the England squad at only 18!

Sorry it's taken so long
Helen

No worries

So what did you teach Mathew Tait? I'll definitely keep an eye open for him. He'll have his work cut out: as something of a rebuilding year for England, the other nations will be going for it on a "now or never" basis.

He's the same age my sister was at her first World Championships: dontcha hate these talented sprogs?

Stuck in the office unfortunately, but I got away a bit early to get down to the river: very pleasant.

I was an English teacher :D

Contrary to the Sunday Times last week, I thought he did ok. He was up against someone older, heavier and more experienced. I don't think he should've been left out this week, even if he'd only been a sub. Poor management all round I think. But then I'm biased

At the risk of sounding ingratiating, I'd agree with you: he had the misfortune to play opposite the man of the match but didn't do anything particularly wrong and laudably kept his composure through a couple of ferocious tackles. OK, he didn't set the park alight, but outside the Boys' Own Paper, that's never happened. I thought he'd done enough to be given another run-out to find his feet.

Judging by Saturday's result, natural justice was served in the end anyway.

Perhaps England should be warned that Scotland will not surrender their grip on the Wooden Spoon easily...

Sorry - I'm being inattentive again!

It's the flipping weather - will winter never lessen its grip?

I'm still reading a lot and watching a lot of dvd's :o) Can highly recommend The Motor Cycle Diaries and I enjoyed Bridget Jones II although they are not comparable :o)

Did I tell you I went to Bavaria for the weekend in January? I was in the West Midlands for 10 days in February and I'm off to London for a long weekend at the end of this week. Went to - the castle that features in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Bavaria - a brilliant concert at the Birmingham Symphony Hall and, I'm off to the Donmar Warehouse Theatre this coming Saturday followed by celebrity spotting (I hope) at The Ivy :o)

How are you?
Helen

ps
sorry if i'm repeating myself - it's age related
and i still can't do the smilies lol

No worries

Looks like it might be slackening off... ...a bit.

I'll have to look out for Motorcycle Diaries, although I suspect Bridget Jones isn't quite my usual tipple, although I did enjoy the original newspaper column: in that format it took a while to sink in that it was fiction, D'Oh!

Must-buys this month are The Incredibles and The Simpsons series 5.

Are you one of the few people on the planet I haven't recommended "Firefly" to?

Sounds like you've been having a great time: did you go anywhere near the hotel featured in today's Independent Review? They may have a tough time selling a luxury hotel in Berchtesgaden...

I went to see The Incredibles when it came out in the cinema - it was ok. I rather fancy Madagascar - saw the trailer when I went to see The Magic Roundabout :o)
It's raining again today. And it's cold too.

Are you running in the marathon on Sunday?

I've just realised. It says it's five weeks since your last post - sorry - I really don't know where the time's gone. I've been to London, and to the West Midlands twice. Last weekend we went to the Transport Museum in Coventry and then found the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham - both excellent. Also went to Cadbury World - I was able to compare the original with the one in Dunedin :o)
How are you?