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

Humblest apologies, my dear for the prolonged silence.

No sooner thanI recovered from rampaging tonsil absence that I was struck down with a nasty combination of stinking cold and essay deadline. So I have been working by butt off and getting early nights - leaving no time for online chattering and the like.

So, I hope you are well, and that the weevils and their followers are all thriving.

I shall be starting my extended Christmas hols (another 2 weeks off work - so far I will have worked 4 days in December!) on Thursday, but I shall take my h2g2 logon info with me so I should be able to keep up-to-date from my Dad's house where I shall be spending the festive period.

Anyway - hope everything is fluffy with you,

Frizz

Sorry to hear you're under the weather again, Frizz. Colds suck, but it must be a mild irritation compared to your tonsilectomy recovery period.

I kind of figured you might be busy, though it had started to cross my mind that perhaps you were growing tired of the H2G2 adventure.

The weevils are indeed thriving. the maypole is going up on thursday, and most of the kegs have arrived (corn syrup, mar-gin, and otherwise).

I am currently trying my darndest to get hold of a copy of Gran Turismo 2 for the Sony Playstation. Everyone's sold out, and the store at which I paid ten dollars to reserve a copy phoned me once (I wasn't home) and then went ahead and sold it to someone else. Was I upset? Angry, even? Oh-ho, you betcha. since then (two days ago) I've been scouring every store I can find to try and obtain a copy before they get their next shipment (tomorrow). Then I can screw them out of a deal in much the same way that they have screwed me.

Of course, if I can't find a copy anywhere, I'll have to go there tomorrow and buy it, which ticks me off, but I would have had to go there anyway to get my deposit back, so I might as well buy it if I have to and tell them that I don't like the way they do business and that they'll never see me again. Apparently, having previously spent literally hundreds of dollars at their shop counts for nothing.

OK, I'm done ranting now. Hope you're having a positively weevil-ish holiday season.

Shop assistants can be so hard-hearted... after the "tell them that I don't like the way they do business and that they'll never see me again." you should do evil laughter, and preferably have a big cape you can swirl around you dramatically as you make an indignant exit. Top drama all round.

Maypoles in December - a little perverse don't you think?

these smileys are acting very strangely - I though I was going mad at first (strong feelings of insanity have been knocking around the flat for a number of days now - pre-christmas excitement I guess! ho ho ho and all that...

The cold is indeed minor and on its way out - I actually managed to do 3 hours at work today (took the afternnon off for a laugh) Actually had all my hair cut off - I am no longer frizzy, more a sort of skinheadchick - all rather dramatic and rather gorgeous, even if I say so myself (no one else will )

I have now over 4 weeks without having to even think of college work - hooray indeed! Let the party commence. Pass the gin, my good man.

Hey - the christmas tree on your page has an angel but mine doesn't - bah, humbug

What kind of silly looking angel is that, anyway? It looks as though it's been 'stuck' on the top of the tree, if you know what I mean.

So what's the deal with the hair, then? Don't you realize that every time you change your hair in some way you, I and possibly others have to update their pages?

So, now you're just 'chick'?

I still feel frizzy at heart, if not on head

Yeah - but at least you've got an angel - I feel cheated...

I don't even think it's an angel. It has no wings, and it's got some kind of wand. I think it may, in fact be some kind of poke at my state of mind as presented on my page. Sort of a 'as you're quite obviously a loony, here's a rediculous-looking faery for your tree' that tells everyone that you're mentally unstable and should be approached with caution.

Ah, in which case you can keep your perfectly ridiculous fairy and I am quite content with my relatively unadorned and perfectly sane looking tree

It really does look rediculous. That is the most un-graceful 'angel' I have ever seen.

Maybe it is punishment for all the weevil nonsense. I can just imagine the powers that be at h2g2 thinking "that silly O'Teen chap speading that lunatic coleopteron-related rambling around our previously rational and generally informative site. Let's give him a christmas tree with an ungainly and frankly disturbing fairy-like figure on top. That'll teach him" A bizarre seasonal comeuppance?

Well, I am about to try and do a full day at work. Although I have already arranged to leave a little early in order to have a quick drink with select work chums. DM and I shall be celebrating our christmas in a minor way tonight - she has the misfortune to be working over Christmas, so whilst I am partying away with old school friends back home, she will be working her socks off looking after a bunch of v. old people (almost as old as you).

I worked New Years Day last year - that was very silly. I hadn't had a great amount of sleep the night before and had had a few drinks, so getting up and dragging myself to work wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done! But not this year.... a whole two weeks off

Unfortunately it does mean I shall be deserting my dear computer and lettting it survive Y2K by itself, the poor mite. So what's your take on what will happen with this internet business when the clock ticks over to 2000, and do you happen to know what time (GMT) the first time zone goes 2000?

First off, nobody is as old as me.

About the Y2K issue, Y2K problems will not spell the end of the world at midnight, December 31, 1999. Many existing Y2K bugs are not related to the current date and time. Birthdays (past dates) and credit card expiry dates and task scheduling (future dates) will manifest themselves spread out around several months before and after January 1, 2000. The world has already experienced several Y2K problems. Do you notice a difference? I don't notice a difference.

Most of these bugs have been fixed. None of them will spell the end of the world. Remember that, even if a Y2K bug does cause a power outage, or the trains to stop running, or your phone to stop working, these are _temporary_ problems (some people seem to think that a Y2K bug that slips by is a problem that cannot be remedied).

Y2K bugs do not cause your toaster to explode. Nuclear reactors do not switch into meltdown mode when they get confused about the date. Nuclear weapons do not fall into launch mode, etc...

Y2K bugs are nothing to worry about. Here's what you have to worry about on December 31, 1999, midnight:

People.

People, in the form of terrorist attacks, in the form of religious maniacs with stockpiles of weapons, in the form of people with hair-trigger nerves who start lighting buildings on fire because of a power outage that had nothing to do with any Y2K problems (just a coincidence - power outages happen throughout the year, especially around the new year).

Y2K software bugs pale in comparison to the kind of economic devastation that hasty, uninformed people can do.

OK, having got that off my chest...

Have a great x-mas, and wish DM the same for me ("The bug-guy wishes you a merry christmas, DM", "Oh, really? My goodness, just look at the time...")

Goodness, just look at the time...

it is Christmas eve here already - i have spent the last (drunken) 1/2 hour trying to get logged on here as me - perhaps shoud have waited unitl tomorrow morning and increased levels of sobriety.

But anyway, fonaly got things sorted out... and forgotten if i actually had anything exciting to say

Liz
xx

Gosh, Frizz, are you sure it's wise to drink & surf? Sakes, you might wake up the next day and not remember all the wild and outrageous posts you made the nigh before.

It's still only Dec. 23 here. I have to go to work tomorrow. But only for half the day, then it's four days off. Woo hoo!

Blimey - yes, you're right Nick I ought to be careful about surfing when drunk - I have never done that before -and all my previous posts (from the year dot)have been done in states of utmost sobriety. Boy, I should be careful, in case I ruin my reputation of being a totally normal sober type person - oops....

Well, i am going to turn in now (with it being almost 3am and all) and tomorrow I have planned a serious drinking session - so if I don't get a chance to visit here before the big day, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas (don't work too hard) - and I hope Santa brings you everything you desire

Liz
xx

Oh yeah. It's been so long since I conversed with you whilst you were under the influence that I was no longer familiar with the situation. Where was my head at?

Well, it's morning here, Dec. 24, and I'm off to work in ten minutes. You, however, have likely already opened your presents and are probably preparing dinner about now. I hope you got everything you wanted (I suppose I can assume that Renaldo got what he wanted ).

So, Merry Xmas, Frizz (and DM of course, and your various critters). Next stop: New Years! Yay!

New Years - a thoroughly depressing time, I always find.

My travels around the UK are continuiing today - from the North West back down South for a few days in Brighton. Then back up here for a bit before back to Dover in a week or so. I am notching up a few miles this year.

It is some ludicrously early time in the morning (I'm on holiday for crying out loud) and I guess I ought to be getting ready for another scintillating train journey...

Happy New Year, if I don't get to a pc in the next couple of days (unlikely).

Well, the new year has already arrived for you, but it's still only 7:20pm here. Four and a half hours to go.

I'm on call at work till after midnight, so here I sit at home with my little airline bottle of sambuca, waiting for midnight.

Surprisingly little has happened elsewhere in the world as a result of the Y2K rollover. Of course, it hasn't hit this continent yet, so we'll see.

Have a weevil-tastic new year, Frizz!

*crawls through alcohol-induced haze and remanants of hangovers of years past*

boy, wasn't that a party and a half

I hoped the weevils enjoyed the festive season, the little devils. I am preparing myself for another journey across the country tomorrow back home (thank god) and then back to work in a week's time ( ).

I really can't wait for things to return to normal.

Why are you doing all this travelling, Frizz? Realise that I ask this in fear of being punished for asking about something that you may already have explained to me in the past.

Annual pilgrimage to friends and relatives.... first off is 200 miles north to visit my dad and several school friends in Cheshire. Then 100 miles round trip to see a friend from university, then 170ish miles down south (south west rather than south east) to spend new year with some other friends, then 170 miles back for a couple more days with family, then 200 miles back down south (today) and home - hurrah. I am so pleased to be at home again. Although I had a great holiday and it was lovely to see everyone, I am absolutely exhausted now. Thankfully I have another few days before I have to go back to work. I'm actually going to France tomorrow for the day, but after that I am going to spend the next few days relaxing at home and psyching myself up tp go to work again (scary).

So how was your holiday? Do anything exciting (like travel the length and breadth of the country several times)?