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

Thanks Douglas! I have to admit I succumbed to temptation and purchased a similar sort of thing in Sinsburys the other day - an animated furry chick singing the Birdy song. Actually it's much worse than your Hop song - that's far more restrained! The fact I was shopping with Little R may have influenced me. By the way she's just got her Grade 1 Piano result - she passed with Distinction, 135 marks. She'd been a bit worried that playing an F natural in the scale of G major would have cost her a good mark!

Jane
xxx

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Today's Freudian slip, MJ ?

Good evening all

It looks like it was a busy morning here! Hi Achilles. I expect we won’t be hearing from Douglas now until after Easter. Have a good time in London Douglas. I hope your grand-daughters’ flat is a sound purchase and a pleasant place for them to live.

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I’d have made her start again from scratch. Fancy playing an F natural in the scale of G major. Unpardonable! Actually, I’ve no idea what it means. Congratulations to little R.

Congratulations, too, to Liverpool FC. Did you see the game, Mimi. I don’t know what PSV were up to. Giving the ball away to Riise in a position like that was just asking for trouble. The opposition was very poor but Liverpool still had to take the chances on offer – and they did it very effectively this evening.

The Runnicles ‘Tristan’ sounds great so far. I’m looking forward to Act III tomorrow.

bye for now

H

Thanks for the good wishes, H.

I think it will be a sound purchase if the market doesn't crash. I seems to be in a very convenient position for where they work, near enough to walk if they feel energetic.
I'll just be seeing the one grand-daughter, the other is away on holiday until the end of next week.

D

Try this H:
http://gardenofpraise.com/key14a.htm
Now imagine the 7th note played flat - a semitone lower than it should be. ie
http://www.musipedia.org/tmp/MPROvMo1.midi
Hope this works!!!

Whoopee it seems to work! 2nd oink thanks to Musipedia - er that should say link!

Goodnight everyone,

Jane
xxx

Good evening all

Thanks for the illustration, MJ. The 2nd link didn't work for me but I think I know what you mean. I am, however, lost when it comes to music theory. I just like the noise it makes, as someone (Beecham?) said.

I hope all went well in London yesterday, Mimi. I'm guessing you're back home as I saw you were on the War of Mouth board earlier.

I'll be around at the weekend if anyone else is.

goodnight all

H

Good afternoon all

I noticed this a bit late but the admirable T Quasthoff is singing in the St John Passion this afternoon, MJ. The rest of the company looks good, too:

Susan Gritton (soprano)
Michael Chance (alto)
Mark Padmore (tenor)
Toby Spence (tenor)
Thomas Quasthoff (baritone)

I was going to listen to recordings of Parsifal this afternoon and St Matthew Passion this evening but now I think I'll go with the St John and leave the Wagner for the evening.

H

Good evening all,

Just a quick situation report from my grand-daughter's computer.
I've been getting spiritual and cultural uplift today' courtesy of my daughter and grand-daughter. Litany in procession (Tallis) at St. Pauls (There's a bishop that looks like a bishop.),Gilbert and George at Tate Modern, self-indulgent tosh, then Hogarth at Tate Britan, excellent.
Boat Race tomorrow. I've brought my Selwyn scarf to show my support for Cambridge among otherwise exclusive Oxford company.
I'm booked for Mozart's Coronation Mass at St Paul's on Sunday.
I can't say when the next report will be.

D

Good evening all

Glad to hear things are going well. I'm with you on the Tallis & Hogarth. I've never seen anything by G&G apart from pictures in the media of their exhibits. I can't imagine I'd like it though I'm reluctant to be judgemental about something I haven't seen. Where are you going for the boat race? I lived in Richmond for a short time and the boat race crowds gathered in the town centre there, even though it's a couple of miles past the finish. I expect it must be chaos anywhere on the route of the race.

I've been very spiritual myself today for an atheist. I enjoyed the Bach this afternoon and, after tea, I realised I didn't really have five hours to spare for Parsifal so I listened to the Arvo Part Passion this evening. I enjoyed that too. I expect I'll get round to Parsifal on Sunday. I can't remember the last time I went the whole Easter break without listening to a performance of that masterpiece.

If we don't hear from you in the meantime, enjoy the Mozart on Sunday.

bye for now

H

I'll be going where I'm taken but, as I understand we're visiting someone in Putney first, I expect it will be somewhere near the start.
I made an unpremeditated purchase of a CD of Arvo Part's 'Passio' some years ago but must confess I have yet to sit down and listen to it all through.

D

Enjoy your day, then, Douglas. If you have time you could go and visit St Mary's where the Putney debates took place. The church is still there just by the bridge.

goodnight all

H

Hello H et al,

Sorry I haven't visited for a while - have been avoiding WoM for reasons you can probably imagine (btw H, love 'War of Mouth' - very apt!). That shouldn't have made any difference to being amongst friends, though! Also situation with my Mum is not too good - she has now lost all mobility and there is a question over whether she will be able to go back home. It makes you wonder, though - she has now been in the care home for 6 weeks, she was walking from room to room when at her home, but they just put her in the wheelchair all the time because it is easier for them - now she's in it all the time, even when sitting in the day room. The consultant said we shouldn't blame the home for her apparent deterioration but it's hard not to.

Still no word from M - will be interesting to see what happens over the next few days - o/h's birthday on Easter Mon., daughter's 2 days later!

'Bye for now,

Love
Mimi

Oh Mimi, from what you say it does sound as if the care home is at least in some part to blame for your mum's immobility. That's so awful. Is there anyone who can try to help with some physiotherapy to help her regain any mobility? How frustrating for you. And your poor mum of course. And the rest of your family. I do hope communications improve with M as you have quite enough to cope with without her hostility.

I had a really lovely memorable day out today with the kids, my dad and my brother N's family. We went in convoy to Formby to the enormous sandy beach and the pinewooods where the red squirrels live. We saw at least 10, feeding on nuts (you could buy them from the NT kiosk) and running up and down the trees, chasing each other. The kids were brave (mad) and insisted on a dip in the sea then we had a picnic and played beach cricket. So nice in the sunshine but the wind off the sea was actually very nippy. At about 5pm we walked back over the sand dunes and through the pinewoods where we watched the squirrels.
http://www.redsquirrels.info/Richard-squirrel-formby.jpg
http://p.vtourist.com/1021212-Formby_beach-Formby.jpg (though much prettier in the sunshine than this picture shows.

Goodnight everyone,

Jane
xx
PS H - I guess you might know Formby well?

Thanks, MJ
I didn't want to go into detail about my Mum's situation but really you need to know a bit more to get the full picture. When they were talking about getting her ready to go back home, they did arrange for a physiotherapist to go in every morning and work with her for about an hour. I think he did manage to get her to stand but E told me it was only possible for a few seconds. That happened for one week, since when there has been nothing. M had a meeting with the physio and the social worker on Friday and s.w. has to report back to her superiors (she's new) - apparently, Mum was not having a good day on Fri., sometimes she is very drowsy and goes into a light sleep quite frequently, so s.w. did not see her at her best.
As for M, nothing came in the post for A's birthday, it will be very interesting to see what Weds. brings ... if she ignores the latter, she will be getting another letter from me in a rather different tone!

Sorry, I meant to congratulate Little R as well - what a fantastic result!

Now I'm going to be very brave and post a message on WoM and see whether this provokes a certain someone - if it does, I've got a great Lou Reed song to dedicate (wonder if you can guess what that is, H?) - I'm working on the compilation album!!

Love
Mimi

Good morning all

Sorry to hear about your mum, Mimi. I hope you can get something sorted before it’s too late. Like MJ, I find it a bit of an unlikely coincidence, on the limited information I have, that she goes into the home able to walk and loses that ability while in the care of the home. You’d think at the very least they’d have told relatives of this change much earlier than six weeks into her stay. My stepmother is unable to look after herself and we dread anything happening to our father (selfish, I know, but probably quite natural). Not only is he a very competent carer but he is, of course, always there to make sure the agencies that are supposed to provide support are up to their job.

I don’t know Formby well at all, MJ. When we were kids we’d go to Southport or Morecambe (or Blackpool for the illuminations) but the appeal wasn’t that great anyway because we had New Brighton (still a fairly big resort in those days) on the doorstep. I’m glad you enjoyed your day out. I can’t remember the last time I saw a red squirrel. Swimming in the cold sea and being thought mad by the grown-ups brings back memories, though.

Here’s one you couldn’t make up. I’m currently in the process of letting BT know what I think of their new policy of charging a collection fee for payments not made by direct debit. I had a reply yesterday from someone called Aisling Swindle.

back later

H

I saw the church, H, as we were making our way to find a bus. I had quite forgotten these debates but, even if I hadn't, i wouldn'd have had the chance to go in.

We saw the start and then tried to follow the race on a large screen on the far bank. We could never be too sure of the camera angles until we saw a view from astern late on and then the crossing of the line. I was the only one of our group to come away happy.

D

>>>I was the only one of our group to come away happy.

Ah, I didn't know the result. My mum'll be happy then! She was a mathematician at Cambridge - but they kicked her out after her first year.
Are you still away then Douglas? My dad's been up here for a few days but he's off back down to Devon tomorrow.


HAPPY EASTER!!!


Jane

Good evening all

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Did your daughter and grand-daughters go to Oxford, then, Douglas?

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I don’t think I’ve been inside St Mary’s myself. I remember walking around the outside of the building but I didn’t see any museum or anything. Perhaps it was shut. Or maybe they think such an enterprise would be too much of a distraction from its function as a parish church. I hope you enjoy the Mozart tomorrow.

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It wouldn’t be one in which the ingestion of certain shaving implements is proposed, would it Mimi? Personally I’d rather just ignore that character and several of the others who have appeared recently. I know some of the names from other boards and they’re the half-educated type who are actually incapable of seeing when they’re wrong. There’s just no point engaging with them.

Exciting escape act in prospect for your team after today’s result, eh? And you’ve done Liverpool a favour, too.

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Were you listening to ‘Andrea Chénier’ together, MJ? I had it on in the background and I can’t say it was my kind of thing; which might be just as well because, had it been my kind of thing, the interruptions would have driven me to distraction. I have seldom heard it worse than it was this evening. Is dramatic continuity of so little importance in these pieces? From what I heard it might as well have been a series of unconnected songs.

Anyway, I’m going to post this in case the bar comes down at midnight.

goodnight all

H

And the audiences seem to applaud the set too, H, in a new production. I don't mind the audience applause too much as it's worth putting up with to hear a live performance.
No, I was listening at home here but my dad was at my brother's a couple of miles away. That's where I had to go this evening and missed the last two acts! My dad would have enjoyed hearing it but my brother's house is an opera-free zone; probably a R3-free zone...

Goodnight everyone.

Jane
XXX