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

Hello MJ,

Do forgive me - I said I'd come here for chats while H was away but I have been neglecting you - not spending so much time on the mbs these days. It's now 11.55 so I don't think I'm going to get much said tonight ... or is the 12 midnight curfew lifted here? I'm not sure what's going on these days!

I will do my best to return tomorrow and send you a proper message - I think I may be able to post directly onto your page now but I haven't actually tried (I'm so honest!). But I rather like these 3-way conversations here. H will be back very soon so they can resume
.

Love
Mimi

It is now past 12.00 so I guess I'm going to find out whether or not I can post!!

Good morning all

I got back last night but was in bed by the time you posted, Mimi. It seems you can sometimes post after midnight! I've found a couple of times that the system seems to sign me out at midnight and won't let me sign back in; but it seems to become active again before 0100, judging by some of the timings on the messages that appear by the time I get up in the morning.

I'll be around this evening after I've caught up with my work - not such a backlog as there was after my Texas trip!

bye for now

H

Hi Mimi and H,

Lovely to hear from you again. Nothing at all to forgive Mimi - at times it's quite a good thing that Real Life gets in the way and gets us off the mbs! Certainly in my case it is. I come here far too often to escape reality!

Worn out already by the new half-term - and I've only been back 2 mornings! I've just had an interactive Smart board installed in my classroom and I feel very ignorant as I don't know how to use it properly. I reckon the 5 year olds will catch on quicker than me!

Hope your trip was enjoyable H - any embarassing/amusing tales to tell?

MJ

Good evening MJ & Mimi

I did enjoy my trip, thank you, MJ. Santiago de Compostela is a fine city with a most impressive cathedral at its heart. I did, however, find the behaviour of some other tourists rather depressing. After mass at the cathedral there is dispersal of incense from huge thuribles swung from the ceiling on chains. It's quite a spectacle but marred, for me, by literally scores of people clicking away on their cameras. I was similarly depressed by the proliferation of cameras and flashes at the Alhambra when I was in Granada last year. Ironic, isn't it: a convinced atheist like me getting upset by such lack of respect?

The city also has a very well laid out Galician Folk Museum. I would have liked more English-language notes to explain the exhibits; but it was still fascinating. I'd happily go there again as I'm sure there's plenty I missed.

We went to La Coruna for half a day but it's a working port, not really set up for tourists. Then we went by train to Santader. Because of the limitations of the Spanish railway network we had to break the journey at Palencia. I expected more from that city as it is a provincial capital; but it's a bit dull.

I've been to Santander before but I always like to revisit cities I've enjoyed. You'd have enjoyed it Mimi. On Sunday evening all the bars seem to be turned over to football: 1700 Atletico Bilbao v Racing Santander; 1900 Real Madrid v Celta Vigo; 2100 Espanyol v Valencia. So you could have sat there for six hours eating lovely food at bargain prices, drinking all that exotic booze and watching the footie very enthusiastic company.

Sorry there's nothing embarrassing or amusing to relate, MJ. Unless you count my elderly father. He, too, had been to Santander before...when he was in the merchant navy in the 1950s. He seemed to be under the impression that this would be of interest to anyone we met - the hotel receptionists, the waitresses, the museum curators. I couldn't help thinking of Uncle Albert in 'Only Fools and Horses': "During the war..."

must dash now

back later

H

Buenos dias, mes amigos (bet that's not right!) - also it might be 'nochas' at 4.00 p.m., I'm not sure!

Have had some internet problems the last few days - A managed to drop the network router and then plug in the wrong power supply so we had a very feint and spasmodic connection ... but he's now bought a new one and it's very state-of-the-art - a white rectangular box with a clear round window in the middle with blue flashing lights (looks like it should be on the Tardis!!).

MJ - some school notes for you. I'm finding it quite tiring as well now, my job is very different to last year. Most of the time I am working 1-to-1 with one girl and she is VERY dependent on help so I am trying to make her more independent ... it's s-l-o-w progress and I have to do quite a bit of nagging! Our school has interactive white boards in all classes (some paid for by the Parents Association) and they are FANTASTIC - I know they seem a bit daunting but you will learn to love yours, they really do transform teaching and learning and are really handy when you have a bit of spare time left at the end of a lesson because you can log onto the internet and play educational games. When we bought ours, it was a package with training included but, in fact, the best training comes from other teachers who know exactly how you're going to need to use them. Also, ages ago you asked me about behaviour problems at my school (I mentioned our last INSET day was about this but, in fact it wasn't - we just had to fill out a questionnaire about it!) - on the whole, we don't have too many problems, though our current Yr. 6 has more than other years. For some strange reason, all classes have a ratio of about 2/3 boys:1/3 girls. They have been somewhat challenging since Yr. 3 but the classes have only been mixed up once to separate certain individuals. I think the reason we don't have that many problems on the whole is that our Head Teacher sorts them out a lot of the time and deals with the difficult parents that often go with the problem children (I'm sure you know what I'm getting at here ).

H - thanks for regaling us with your tales of Spain ... even better than a postcard! Yes, I would have enjoyed Santander, I think .. you'll have to take me next time!!

Love,
Mimi
xxxx

Hi Mimi & MJ

I'm glad you enjoyed my little travel report, Mimi. I don't think your little bit of Spanish is perfect but it's at least as good as what I was speaking last week. That was definitely basic words backed up with sign language!

You can fly to Santander from Stansted, you know. Not as close as Gatwick but still not a million miles from you, eh. You might even like it more than I do if you're a sun-lover (I'm not). It's just a bracing walk along the coast road - or a short bus ride - from the city centre to the beaches.

Are you going to London at the weekend? I'm going there for a couple of days next week so I might go a bit quiet from Tuesday. Are things still going well with your mum? I hope so.

I got involved in a discussion on the Woman Sour board for the first time in ages last night. I'm not going to make a habit of it - it just happened to be on a subject of which I have personal experience. The rest of the threads look as depressing as ever. WoM looks a bit dull right now. Or maybe I just haven't seen the interesting bits. I do tend to skip over large chunks when catching up after a significant break.

bye for now

H

Hi H,

I had a look at that thread on the Woman Sour mb (that renaming is SO appropriate ... only sometimes it's Man Sour as well!) - that was very interesting. Boris is completely nuts - I don't think I've ever read anything by him before. He's always good for a laugh on "Have I Got News For You" but I always assumed he was playing up his eccentricities because of the nature of the programme. Now I think perhaps he was just being himself! The problem is that the valid points he made were seriously undermined by his hysterical outpourings ... but I read some of the comments on the Torygraph article and it seems he's not alone in some of his more extreme opinions! Yours, of course, are fair, balanced and non-judgemental ... not the sort of thing that sells newspapers!!

Back soon(ish),

Mimi

Hi Mimi & MJ

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a point I've often made myself, Mimi (see message 38 on this thread). In fact the MB has regular demands from blokes saying how sexist the WH concept is and demanding a 'Man's Hour' to redress the balance. I suppose, strictly speaking, they have a point: but I hope they never win! Do you remember 'The Locker Room'? Imagine a daily 45 minutes of THAT with a Saturday highlights programme.

On the other hand, there's always 'Fellah's Hour' by The Cheese Shop. That was hilarious - especially the 'Desert Island Birds' feature. But even that might get a bit tedious if they broadcast it every day!

back later

H

Hi MJ

I've just noticed that 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk' is on BBC4 TV at 1900 today. DON'T MISS. It clashes with the Mozart on R3 so, if you want to hear both, I suggest you tape the TV. Eva-Maria Westbroek is the Katerina we saw in Amsterdam and John Tomlinson sings Boris. Should be great. Just one word of warning: it's all about sex, passion, murder, betrayal, sex and sex (typical opera really) so you might not want the younger children to see it. I don't know this production but, as I'm sure you'll appreciate, some are more expicit than others.

H

Easier said than done H! We have so much marvellous new technology in this house that I feel completely de-skilled - I could work the old video recorder but this new DVD recorder's beyond me! I could get a child to start it for me but how I then retrieve it to watch is another thing! It's all digital so there's no disc to take out and label! I'd like to see/hear it but I have to take the kids to a neighbour's Bonfire party this evening...you can guess which I'd rather be doing! Thanks for letting me know.

MJ

What a pity, MJ. For some reason this is not repeated in the middle of the night as so many BBC4 cultural programmes seem to be. I don't know how to work those hard disc recorders either. I just have a DVD recorder that puts the stuff on DVD+R(W) discs. I should have thought, though, that the recording stays on your disc until you delete it, so if you can get someone to record it you can wait until the same person is available to recover it for you. Anyway, you might get back for the tragic ending (told you it was a typical opera!).

Hi again H. It's blowing a bitter gale out there and the rain's lashing down so we might not bother with that party out in the neighbour's garden after all! Even the kids aren't keen. Eldest says I can watch the opera - even though there's Italian football on!

MJ

Hi MJ

The weather's the same here. The firemen are picketing the church because god's putting them out of work!

<>

Hmm...I presume you haven't had the Xmas present hints yet, then!! Or have I got too suspicious a mind? I hope it goes well for you. I'm hoping the weather doesn't play havoc with the signal - freeview box dependent on roof ariel.

back later

H

Good morning MJ

I hope you caught Lady Muck last night. I see old Gwynne Howell is still going strong. There were further signs that Tomlinson is past his best, though. I wasn't impressed with the production. I suppose it's not fair to judge the camera viewpoint we get on TV against what I've seen in the theatre but I can't help it. All three stagings I've seen have been more convincing than this one. Still, the music speaks for itself.

<>

I meant 'aerial', of course. Knowing your fondness for wild creatures I'd hate you to think I'm keeping a gazelle on the roof. I shan't pretend it was a typo. I can never remember how to spell that word and I was in too much of a hurry to look it up.

Hello H,
Only managed to watch the 1st hour or so and the DVD recorder wasn't working despite the kids knowing how to operate it. Now I'll have to find out wht happens as I don't know it at all. Quite surprised at those graphic scenes being shown on the ROH stage! Thanks for the warning - I couldn't lock the kids out of the room so once they returned that's when I decided to stop watching it. Perhaps BBC4 should have scheduled it for 9pm.
Re ariel - funny that - I'd read it twice, knew it wasn't quite right but couldn't think how it should be spelled and was too lazy to look it up! Recognised your spelling as washing powder but didn't know it was a gazelle as well. Shame we can't post photos here or I'd find one to grace this post.

Jane
xx

Looking for a picture of an Arabian ariel gazelle (Google didn't find any)I came across this tragic fishing boat disaster story from 1881:

http://heritage.scotsman.com/diagrams.cfm?cid=7&id=56302006

The only fishing boat not to lose lives was called the Ariel Gazelle.

Hi MJ

A terrible story indeed, especially with so many victims coming from the same village.

Here’s a picture of an ariel to be going on with.

http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Gazella_dama/GES013219.html?size=medium

back soon

H

Thanks H - I wouldn't mind one of those on my roof - very decorative.

Hi MJ

<>

Pity you stopped. The first hour contains the rudest bits so you didn't really need to worry. And you'll have missed your old mate Gwynne (you have met him, haven't you? Or is my memory playing tricks?)
who doesn't appear until the last scene.

<< Quite surprised at those graphic scenes being shown on the ROH stage!>>

That was the mildest production I've seen (with the caveat, of course, that the camera doesn't show us the whole stage). The Amsterdam production has topless extras wandering round in case anyone had forgotten what a temptation firm young bodies can be (I hadn't - I'd just forgotten my opera glasses!). You can't skip the naughty bits anyway - that extraordinary musical evocation of detumescence is quite unambiguous.

<>

I remember discussing this on one of the old R4 boards. The TV companies tend to relax the watershed requirements when they think no riff-raff will be watching. I actually find this tendency more offensive than the material they broadcast. I certainly remember Peter Hall's production of 'Salome', in which Maria Ewing's dance ends with her completely naked on the very stage you mention, being broadcast at teatime one New Year's Day. There were few complaints. The complaints that did arise, though, tended to concentrate on the nudity and passed over the fact that the final scene has Salome snogging a severed head and being dragged away to be killed!

<>

I presume you left it with Katerina & Sergey's affair in full swing. Boris (father-in-law) almost catches them at it, draws (correct) conclusions and has Sergey whipped and locked up. K puts rat poison in B's mushrooms and steals the key to get S released. They manage to pass off B's death as being down to bad mushrooms. The affair continues in Zinovy's absence, though K is plagued by visions of B's ghost (in this production it appears on the TV!). Z returns and almost catches K & S at it. S hides in the wardrobe and hears Z accuse K of infidelity (the cheek!) and proceed to beat her. S comes to her defence and they kill Z and hide the body in the storeroom. After a while K & S get married but during the wedding feast a drunken peasant, thinking there might be good booze in the storeroom, stumbles upon Z's body. K & S are sent to Siberia. S has now tired of K and fancies a younger convict called Sonyetka. She says she's only interested if he'll do something for her viz get her some warm stockings. S charms K into giving him her woolen stockings which he immediately passes on to Sonyetka. K is utterly betrayed but the last straw is when Sonyetka taunts her about her lost love and her lost stockings. K drags her into the freezing river and they are both carried off by the current. The convict transport continues on its way.

There is more to it than that, of course, but those are the main points. The tragedy, in case you didn't get it, was that one minute Sergey had two birds, the next he had none. Or have I been listening to too much 'Fellah's Hour'

bye for now

H

Posted: Sunday 12 November 2006 15:09:14

I certainly remember Peter Hall's production of 'Salome', in which Maria Ewing's dance ends with her completely naked on the very stage you mention, being broadcast at teatime one New Year's Day.

I certainly remember that production as well, since I've still got it on video recorded off the TV on Boxing Day 1992

Don't know what time of day it was broadcast without putting the video on and looking at the date stamp.