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

Good Morning

Good morning to you too!

It's a quote from 'Black Books' - Manny announcing his plans for his weekend off, "watching the Test Match, in bed, eating tiramisu with a long spoon" (I left off the bit about the test match - basically, I was getting a bit bored of 'Badger Magnet'). Have you seen 'Black Books'? There seem to be quite a few fans around the site, quoting some of its more genius-like moments.

And while we're on the subject, since it is morning (here technically, there definitely), shouldn't that be 'dayowl'?

(oh and tiramisu is a fluffy Sicilian pudding - very nice - and the long spoon is because ... I have absolutely no idea why anyone would need a long spoon to eat it)

Black Books! *jumps up and down excitedly*

I watched an episode last night (where the landlady dies and her cat takes over and Bernard has to try and exterminate it). I'm not sure if this is the most recent series.

What episode is the Tiramisu quote?


Despite being a nightowl I don't worry too much about it being morning (although it has slipped into afternoon now) other than I usually can't find anything more exciting to say first thing than "Good Morning".


*wanders off to find breakfast*

>> fluffy Sicilian pudding <<

*imagines the mafia sitting down to dessert wearing pink and lavender feather trimmed leasuresuits with animal paw slippers and teased up hairdos*

The one with the cat is the latest series, the third (have you had the one with the book for children yet? That made me laugh *so* hard). The 'tiramisu' quote is from the second series (Manny has been promised the weekend off but gets roped into playing the piano instead). I love 'Black Books' *joins in with the jumping up and down*

Quite right about the mafia - zabaglione when they're being butch, tiramisu for later, when they've slipped into something more comfortable.

Not having tiramisu for breakfast then? I think I might (though it is nearer to midnight snack territory) *sits up in bed and reaches for the long spoon* Had quite a couple of days on here - seem to have got involved in a larger than usual number of arguments. And *that's* why I need the tiramisu, to calm down a bit.

Yes I remember the children's book episode Manny being promised the weekend off episode sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it - I might have to sit through some vids of series two *sigh*.

It did occur to me half way through breakfast that I could have been having tiramisu. Except I still don't know what it is

I had noticed your increased presence on a few of the Serious threads, although I must say that in the ones I saw you were coming across as particularly calm, clear and rational, rather than argumentative (*wonders if missing out on a good h2 barney somewhere*).

I've been not posting much anywhere is the last few days - just the odd foray here and there. Sometimes I get a bit of conversation burnout (well real life burnout that interfers with hootoo life ).




Yes I'm not sure about the long spoon either. Maybe the extra length is necessary because Manny was going to be in bed, lying down?

Although for some reason I keep thinking of Edward Lear.

Just posted some info on tiramisu on the 'Exciting Nature Thing' thread. Apparently it's from Siena originally (my mistake - I'm sure you can get it in Sicily though, even if you're not wearing animal-paw slippers). Though the zabaglione originally comes from Illyria - so I suppose, technically, it's an Italo-Croat pudding. Hmmm - interesting. Well, a bit interesting.

Sit through the video of series two? Oh, what a chore - you poor thing!

All right, then, not argumentative as such (as in "I'm going to win this even if I'm reduced to posting 'No it isn't' as many times as necessary until everyone else gives up"); as rational as possible followed by a brief period of seething in the corner . I don't seethe that much, but some things just get my goat (or would do if I had a goat).

Sorry to hear about the burnout. That does seem like an excellent reason to veg out in front of series two of 'Black Books', having first ordered out for some tiramisu (airmail from Tuscany? - might be a bit squished by the time it gets there) and having equipped youself with as long a spoon as seems necessary.

Lear? That'll be the revised version of 'The Owl and the Pussycat', where the runcible spoon is replaced by a 'long spoon' and the scansion gets a bit fudged - 'The (night)Owl and the Tiramisu' I believe it's called.

"The owl and the tiramisu went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat
Which also happened to be the colour that kea turned when she realised that tiramisu is made from custard and coffee"


Sorry The chocolate and sponge bits sound nice though. Maybe when it's all mixed together the custardyness is hidden?


I'm not long up and thinking of breakfast again.

Is there coffee in it? *thinks* I never realised that (though, for me, that's another reason to like it ). Actually, I never knew anything in detail about tiramisu before you asked - I just ate them in ignorance!

It's not really custard custard - they vary, but the nice ones have a kind of frothy, light, creamy thing that may have been destined for custard at one point, but is probably going to be meringue when it grows up.

Enjoy breakfast - even if it's not tiramisu, you could still go with the long spoon (makes cornflakes a lot more challenging, I should think)

The only long spoon I have is a teaspoon which is not good for hungry kea at the first meal of the day.

hmmm...maybe I was wrong about the coffee - I'm sure you would taste that. They might have been talking about caffeine (lots of choc ) instead?

>>It's not really custard custard - they vary, but the nice ones have a kind of frothy, light, creamy thing that may have been destined for custard at one point, but is probably going to be meringue when it grows up.<<

That sounds more appealing

Oh it is, very appealing! Not that I'd want to give the impression that I do nothing all day but eat tiramisu *hastily clears up some plates and bowls and gives the long spoon a quick wash*

Caffeine I can easily believe, though it's probably counteracted by whatever spirit it is they put at the bottom (Marsala, I think?).

It's quiet in here today, even by weekend standards. It is pretty hot though - all the UK researchers are probably in the garden or in the park or at the beach. Much too hot to stay in bed eating tiramisu, anyway I feel too listless even to read - though I did read the entry on keas, following the link on your PS. Very interesting! I wondered what that scratching on the roof was (and there was me thinking it was squirrels )

Hey there! Just noticed your lights were on - I assumed you were having some hootoo downtime the last week or so. You were missed round these parts in any case (maybe that's why my tiramisu intake dropped off so suddenly - time for a new nametag, methinks)

Only been in a bit intermittently myself: this backlog is chaos! I was away dogsitting with an unfamiliar computer with a very sticky keyboard. I don't think the dogs had anything to do with that. I hope they didn't, anyway.

Hey there yourself

I just dropped in to Ask to check on a thread on browser problems. We're snowed in here today (well mostly, I guess if I really had to drive somewhere I could). It only happens once every 5 or so years here (despite it happening last week), so the novelty usually doesn't wear off. Although I hope it clears up tomorrow and I can get someone to bring more wood up to the house. Winter finally arrives, just in time for Spring

I've had some time off h2. I seem to be attempting to get my life in order, which is fairly intriguing. Trying not to think about the backlog . I've been missing these kinds of conversations, and feeling relieved to not be in the serious het up ones (my tolerance for stress is exceptionally low at the moment).

btw I think one of your links confirmed that tiramisu does contain coffee

Did you have fun dogsitting (the mind boggles )?

cheers,
kea

Snow! Even in deepest winter, it no longer seems as common in Britain these days, so I still get pretty excited about it. Still a bit to go though (not that you'd know it was August here - it's set to rain all this week).

Wood? What, for fires and stuff? (I live in a 'smokeless zone' - I haven't seen an open fire in at least a couple of years).

Right - here's a stress-free, non-het up dogsitting report.

I'd probably give myself a B- (could do better)

It was going all right for most of the week. They absolutely hated the dried stuff that I'd been left to give them, so I went out for proper, soggier dog food. I danced around the kitchen for a bit, going "Yummy! Looks so good, I could almost eat it myself!" etc., trying to work these two little dogs into some sort of feeding frenzy. Put the food down. They took one sniff and went outside in a distinctly 'not bovvered' mood. They must have eaten it in the middle of the night in the end, but they showed no gratitude whatsoever.

And yet, by the end of the week, there was discipline, there was routine, there was man and dog in total harmony: I bought them some bacon treats, I let them sleep on the sofa, I tickled their tummies at regular fifteen minute intervals. At that point, I was giving myself an A+.

Then my uncle and family came back from holiday. The dogs greeted them like they'd just been let out of some sort of canine dungeon, jumping all over them going "Thank GOD you're back!". That was a bad start, but it then got worse. Now, I'm not saying these dogs are pampered exactly, but having had dry food for three days and tinned food for four, that evening they got ... chicken kievs. Not doggy chicken kievs, mind you, but human supermarket type chicken kievs. Not as a treat, but as a return to their 'normal' diet. They tucked into these in a manner that suggested I hadn't fed them all week and, by the time I went home, I could barely get a tail wag out of them. "Oh, you're off are you? Bye then. Ta."

Ungrateful little gits. Very cute on the surface, but with underlying gittishness running through them from nose to tail.

hmmm, this doesn't seem to be the Serious thread, does it?

I thought I'd stop and note that it's been snowing here this week. Not on the ground, but on the hills. I got really excited - it's so much better than it just being wet and miserable. And then today it was t-shirt sunny again

Anyway, off to search again...

Hold it! Having just had to do this first ...



(because snow is always exciting), this is now the serious thread.

*Puts on a donnish air and a pair of pince-nez*

*puts on smiley restraint*

*waits for inspiration*

Actually, as no doubt you have seen I ended up posting about Englishness again in the racism thread. I think it deserves a thread of it's own. I'll put it on the list. Or maybe just post back here.


Good to have this thread reassigned.

Oo, haven't read the backlog on the racism thread yet ...

Ah right - that is getting interesting (I posted something near the start of it and had one of those 'did anyone see this?' moments that sends you into an irrational thread-sulk).

It was St George's Day here on Saturday, so the flag debate is very much in the air. There was someone in the supermarket in an England fottball shirt with a St. George's flag painted on either cheek and a tiny little one on her nose. I was half-laughing and half-wincing.

It's always seemed very odd to me that you should celebrate national identity in your own nation and with nobody else watching (I get that in the US too, where, in some parts of some towns, virtually every house has the Stars and Stripes flying in the garden). Either it's wholly inclusive ... in which case, there doesn't seem to be much point doing it in the first place ... or it's putting up some sort of implicit challenge: 'Either you feel a swelling-up of pride or you're not part of the nation.'

It certainly never feels like 'a nation at ease with itself' (in John Major's somewhat over-optimistic phrase).

I should have been in bed quite some time ago....