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

Yes - I'm out for lunch on Saturday and Sunday, so hopefully the food will be good.

I presume you saw Red Dwarf last night - I did, and thought they were on good form for this new series

I did – a great, strong start. Part of me started thinking, 'I wonder if I could write an entry about all the historical people/eras mentioned in 'Red Dwarf'?' That's the third appearance of a Hitler, plus the Second World War is frequently mentioned in other episodes…

Recently I've discovered that the more Narnia I read, the more I appreciate JRR Tolkien...

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That would be an interestingly unusual angle on Red Dwarf if you could do it...

Lord of the Rings vs Narnia always fascinates me, as people seem to tend to be fans of one or the other and rarely both - I couldn't get on with JRR Tolkien at all, but I devoured CS Lewis novels when I was a child...

The food on Saturday was OK - quite a number of people commented that the soup was too salty, and the chocolate cheesecake wouldn't have won any prizes on The Great British Bake Off but it was not bad overall, as the company was good Lunch on Sunday was up to the usual high standard, so that made up for things I hope your and were good as well

Well, I've written entries on Doctor Who hats and London, as well as babies and children in science fiction as a whole, so a Red Dwarf Guide to History (or whatever I call it) shouldn't be too hard a challenge – mind you, I've not managed to write about James Bond Sheds… But still, I've written about Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, the Avengers, Babylon 5 – so I'm probably due to write a Red Dwarf entry. I've plenty of time to complete it too as I'm seeing how never having more than 10 entries in Peer Review works out, and I've got 4 completed entries waiting their turn to be put in Peer Review, including three on Narnia.

I enjoy Narnia and Lord of the Rings, I think I've decided that Narnia is much more accessible, especially for younger readers. 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' particularly has lots of child-friendly elements all stirred together, including Father Christmas and a mix-and-match mythology, with dollops of 'The Box of Delights' and 'The Snow Queen'. This worked well and the book is one of the best-selling on . If you want to read more into the Aslan/Jesus angle you can do, but alternatively if you just want to enjoy Aslan being a powerful lion, then that's fine too.

The trouble is, there's little things in the sequels that spoil it for me. I loved the idea of Narnia being a magical world without people but full of talking animals and mythical creatures, but we later learn that actually Narnia is only a small country and there's a vast empire ruled by humans surrounding it. For me, that took away some of the magic. Susan's eternal damnation for liking lipstick and/or no longer believing in Narnia seems excessive. Also why is it that the children are constantly told they're too old to be in Narnia despite 'once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen' when Narnia and surrounding lands are full of humans of every age?
The White Witch is Narnia's best or second-best character after Aslan, but she seems a bit confused. She's a great villain, there's no doubt about that, but her origin story keeps changing. In 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' (1950) she is a cross between the demonic descendants of Lilith on one side, and giants on the other. In 'Prince Caspian' (1951) we're told witches never die but can be resurrected. In 'The Silver Chair' (1953) the White Witch and Green Lady are 'of the same crew' and the same 'kind' and we're told that 'Northern Witches always mean the same thing'. Yet in prequel novel 'The Magician's Nephew' (1955), it is revealed that the White Witch was the last survivor of a dying world, having wiped out all life on her home world of Charn before being brought to Narnia, and so is the only one of her kind in Narnia.
The White Witch is a great villain, but none of the Narnia books comes close to having as good a baddie as she is, and the exciting hints that she might be resurrected don't really go anywhere.

With 'The Lord of the Rings', the story is much more structured. While Lewis wrote Narnia almost out of instinct, and had great instincts, Tolkien had spent decades crafting his world to the nth degree, knowing the backstory in incredible depth. All this preparation shows through – Middle Earth is much more textured, layered and consistent than Narnia.

Glad you had a good weekend – I'm afraid I'm one of the few people not to have watched the Bake Off programmes. Until they find a way to let you taste what is being cooked on the telly, I'm afraid I don't see the attraction – I don't find the idea of watching people doing hard work relaxing.

The & weekend was good – I'm trying to decide whether to write about it for or, as I wrote about it last year, would it be too repetitive? Did you have a spooky sun and sky on Monday? I wish I'd had my camera with me, or that the hurricane had hit 24 hours earlier. When else would I ever have the chance to photograph 1950s buses beneath a post-apocalyptic sky?

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Ah, that's a good idea to keep no more than 10 Entries in Peer Review at any one time. I see that there are still just about two pages in Peer Review, so that's my main criterion (if it were to drop to just one page, that would be a worrying problem, I think...). I can now sympathise as well as empathise with your situation that Entries tend to sink to the bottom, as a couple of my Entries have surprised me by getting no comments at all for more than a month... A couple got good debate, though, so it balances out overall

Your assessment of Narnia vs Lord of the Rings sounds reasonable indeed - the details you picked up on in Narnia were ones that passed me by as a child, so I perhaps wouldn't enjoy them as much as I once did, and perhaps would enjoy Lord of the Rings now even though I didn't then... I just liked how clean Narnia was, and I could imagine myself as Prince Caspian, or in a coracle at the edge of the world (a scene which looked in my imagination like a beach I'd been to on the north of the Wirral )...

That was the 'good' thing about the chocolate cheesecake, that I could taste it because it wasn't on the telly, but I could imagine what a professional chef would have said about it (weirdly grainy texture, but at least it had a good chocolate flavour)...

I have bookmarked your and pictures to look at later A writeup for might be good, as you could compare and contrast with the previous year to find something not too repetitive...

I did indeed see the spooky sun and sky on Monday, while I was driving so I couldn't take pictures either... I wondered which vehicle had an orange light on, reflecting in the mirrors, and then realised it was the sun in the sky! I saw some good photos on the internet, but that would have made a fine scene with the buses indeed, if you could have captured it

I have a few Entry ideas brewing, but am also trying to prepare entries for a couple of competitions so I'm having to watch the deadlines to make sure they don't go whooshing past... Fun to enter, even though I probably won't win, as I enjoy photos and writing, and the competitions are one of each

I just realised that Dmitri has 9 entries in Peer Review – he might overtake me to have more than me! Seriously, I must spend more time reading the entries in Peer Review, but as you know it is often hard to know what to say on topics we know nothing about, such as television series we've not seen.

I have just sent off letter Q to

I did still enjoy reading Narnia, and watching the old television series with my kids, and hope that they'll read Narnia one day too. They do capture the imagination and there is a reason the books have stood the test of time and are still deservedly popular today. They aren't as detailed as Tolkien, which many will consider a good thing as Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion' doesn't appeal to everyone. It's like asking whether you prefer 'Star Trek' or 'Star Wars', but just because you prefer one it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the other.
Still, on the whole I prefer Tolkien as it feels more epic and less episodic, while knowing that many people will prefer Narnia for exactly the same reasons.

I did see a from Liverpool and tried to take a photo of it from out the bus window as it passed by. The experience was quite different from last year as we avoided going West and South, heading East instead and encountering a lot more birds.

Good luck with the competitions!

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Wow indeed - Dmitri's doing sterling work there... I'm sort of procrastinating about Entries, but I've been 'driving only three wheels' lately, so I have a bit of an excuse... (I went to the supermarket at the weekend, and tried to pick up speed on the smooth floor but something went wrong, and I couldn't. Took a while for me and my dad to find that the wheelchair's front wheel had picked up a bundle of hair so it wouldn't turn... Got it fixed quite quickly after that, though. Then the same wheel on my car got a problem so I was late home last night after getting it sorted out by the RAC...).

"Still, on the whole I prefer Tolkien as it feels more epic and less episodic, while knowing that many people will prefer Narnia for exactly the same reasons "

Yes indeed

"I have just sent off letter Q to "

Yay! I need to catch up on those...

That's good that you were able to do a different and route so it was different from last year as well as being similar

I've finished the first draft of my essay, but I definitely need to give it a good rework to tighten up my argument... The deadline is approaching quickly, so that will focus my mind... The photo deadline is not until the end of next month, so that's not too bad - I should be able to fit in writing a new Entry before then, as well as reading in Peer Review Your comment on my RuPaul Entry was appreciated, to move it to the top of the list for a bit, although people still aren't interested in it yet Let's hope that's because it all reads well so it will be picked eventually

Not been a good week so far.

On Monday we had my grandmother's funeral (the kids stayed at home). Unfortunately my sister and mother were there, and my sister and I are very different people. For example, I do not think it is appropriate to sing 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' at our grandmother's wake, but obviously my sister disagrees. She and my mum then proceeded to delight in listing all her failings and negative qualities, so it was quite uncomfortable. At the end of the day my wife was so appalled that she's said that she never wants our children to spend time with my mum or sister again.

On Tuesday our cat went to the vets for an inoculation but later had a seizure and several fits, so my wife spent the day rushing to and from the vets.

Yesterday our cat died. The children were devastated, I've never seen my son so upset. It's been particularly hard trying to explain why we can't just bring Alfie home and keep him to cuddle as if he was a stuffed toy and why he needs to be either buried or cremated. Our daughter asked, 'Will Alfie be waiting for us in Heaven?'

Today we've been phoned by the vets asking permission for Alfie to be given an autopsy to discover whether his death was caused by his inoculation.

But in good news, we did see 'The Lego Ninjago Movie' at the weekend. Though not as good as 'The Lego Movie' or 'The Lego Batman Movie' it was still perfect entertainment for the children (who aren't having the best half term what with everything going on). Thanks again for the Ninjago pyjamas last year – they still fit him, in fact they're some of the few pyjamas he hasn't outgrown in the last couple of months…

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Oh gosh that is not a good week

In relation to relations, people may think things, but surely they can wait for a few hours before delighting in them... Horrible uncomfortable situation indeed...

So sorry about the cat, too - you've not had him long at all... My sister and I were lucky to enjoy 10 years with our cat before the vet gave her a disease... We certainly contemplated taxidermy, but didn't. I took refuge with a cuddly soft toy cat instead, and my sister got a new cat. I hope Alfie helps to improve things for future cats... Your poor children - a hard life lesson indeed...

I'm impressed about the pyjamas - I'm so glad they have been so appreciated Glad the Ninjago Movie was entertaining for you all - I've seen the trailer, so I must make a list of DVDs I need to get, including that one and the Lego Batman Movie. I watched the 2014 Yves Saint Laurent 'biopic' the other day, but it was very much style over substance - depending on how good the DVD extras are, I may or may not add it to the list of Entries wot I want to write...

I don't think taxidermy is going to be an option if there is an autopsy. I believe we will get another , not sure when yet. We're still quite shocked over Alfie.

I've got a List of Entries Wot I Want to Write too - the list has been hanging around for a while and I normally end up writing about something completely different, although I did recently finish an entry that I've been planning for a long time and will be able to enter Peer Review on Friday when my current 10th entry leaves.

I've not seen the 'Yves Saint Laurent' film, but if it didn't impress then I probably won't go out of my way to watch it. I'm kicking myself about your 'Jennie Hodgers aka Albert Cashier - Pioneering Soldier' entry because I remember reading something somewhere somewhen and thinking, 'I'll have to mention it in the Peer Review conversation for that entry' but can't for the life of me remember what it was. I think it was in an old issue of a history magazine, but we've recycled them all now. I'm sure they also had an article about the spies that Dmitri has written about too.

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Yes, that is a shock indeed...

I look forward to seeing the new Entry - a massive flock of archaeopteryx tasks were released at work on Monday, which was a challenge, but I've managed to get them under control now I see an exciting new Entry has appeared in <./>info</.> Red Dwarf last night was another strong episode, especially at the end when the inner voice was visible...

Yeah, it's definitely not worth going out of your way to see the Yves Saint Laurent film, as you did need to know his biography already to understand it - my mum picked up on details that I missed because she'd been to a fashion show in the 1960s, and I picked up on details that she missed because I'd followed his work in the 1990s!

Ah, that is so annoying - I know the feeling well of seeing something somewhere somewhen but not remembering what/where/when... Thanks for thinking about it, and the details may come back to you at some point! What were the history magazines? BBC? I've got a couple of art magazines from 1985 which may prove to be fruitful for Entries somewhen - they're from one of those mail order series.

I'm fairly sure it was in one of my History magazines, possibly BBC – I alternate with the BBC one as well as the other available ones depending on what articles they have, and sometimes you can buy two for the price of one. Just before we got our kitten we had a clear out of the lounge to make some room and so a lot of magazines were just chucked in the recycling.

Ah – my knowledge of Yves Saint Laurent is limited to that it is a name on bottles of perfume. Fortunately I know more about 'Red Dwarf' – I've started work on the entry, but have a lot of decisions to make, from whether or not to explain that there are different Rimmers? Should I include the actors names? And do I treat the different categories differently in different sections, or have them all in the same one? Historical characters features:
When they've been back in time and met someone famous
When they've been back in time and mistaken someone for someone famous
When they've met a replica (robot/clone etc) of someone famous
When they've discussed someone famous.

But once I've ironed that out it's coming along nicely.

The other thing I've started doing is reading through my grandmother's letters. She always said she wanted to write her autobiography, but only started a page or so before she had a stroke. So I wondered, as she sometimes discussed her past in the letters she sent me, can I use those paragraphs from a letter here and a letter there, put them all together and make a coherent text that is all in her own words? I don't know – it won't be long and it would have far too many gaps to be a true autobiography, but it would be something. Worth a try at any rate.

I hope you have a great weekend – looks like we've got a quiet one ahead.

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That was one of the very disappointing things about the YSL film, that the perfume wasn't mentioned at all! I enjoyed the art of the film, with all the moody camera angles and things, but it definitely barely qualified as a biopic...

Yes, those are key decisions for your Red Dwarf Entry. Some questions are easier to answer than others, though, especially the one about mistaking people for famous people, like in the episode the other week...

That's a lovely idea about the letters Worth a try indeed

This weekend I'm going for a haircut so I don't get mistaken for Cousin It at Halloween but apart from that I'm not sure what else I'll do. I found a 'hidden gem' on the Wirral (the Transport Museum) that you'd enjoy reading about if I took my Ford Prefect Notepad there but I'll have to find out about access first... A quiet weekend for you all sounds good, so you can look after each other

He loved sitting on my lap while we watched 'Planet of the Apes' (1974 television series) together – he'd give me a look that clearly said 'this is unrealistic, everyone knows cats would rule in a post-apocalyptic world…'

I've decided to go for a 'bung everything together and see how if fits' approach for now, and then if it doesn't work I should find it easier to remove what is there and keep the flow, rather to later try and add things that weren't without interrupting the flow. There's loads of time to get it ready as there are 4 or 5 entries ahead of it waiting to go into Peer Review first.

The Wirral Transport Museum definitely sounds intriguing I hope they have good access and you can visit, but whatever happens at least you'll be free from archaeopteryxes (what is the collective noun for archaeopteryx?) for a couple of days. I must admit I did consider writing an actual entry about the Isle of Wight Beer and Bus Weekend – how often do you think something has to occur before you can write about it?

Hope the haircut goes well, let me know if you discover words that do the spell and make it come out just as you want.

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"he'd give me a look that clearly said 'this is unrealistic, everyone knows cats would rule in a post-apocalyptic world…' "



"I've decided to go for a 'bung everything together and see how if fits' approach for now"

Sounds like an excellent plan, that you can hone things at leisure once you have gathered all the information.

I've decided to go to the Transport Museum on a day other than Sunday, as that will be better in case of problems. This weekend I was quite busy anyway, what with the haircut and h2g2 editing stuff as well as a good Sunday Lunch

I *nearly* found the magic words - I booked the haircut online and it all seemed promising, but I didn't receive a reply to confirm the booking. I rang up on Saturday and it turned out that they hadn't received the booking, so the magic got lost in the ether... The word for the haircut is 'adequate' - I definitely don't look like Cousin It any more, but I have a pair of hair scissors so I can trim off the strangely large sideburns when I get bored of them

I think the challenge with things that happen every year is to create an Entry that doesn't go out of date too quickly - if an activity has taken place for a few years, that helps to ensure that it has become established, so the Entry can capture key details rather than things that are more likely to change next time... Is the Weekend 4 or 5 years old now? That sounds about right, I guess...

I assume you realised that I was talking about Alfie sitting on my lap and watching 'Planet of the Apes'…

Well, at least the haircut was 'adequate' and not a disaster. The barbers' blackboard that's round the corner next to the Co-op has this week been saying 'Have a Halloween half-term haircut'. I'm not sure I'd go into the barber's and say, 'Can I have a Halloween haircut, please'. The one I actually go to luckily doesn't do bookings and just involves turning up and sitting in a chair, with the queue in the mind. Which reminds me that at least we have Goodish to look forward to this week, though I hope it isn't the last series. I'm on Dave Gorman's mailing list, and he e-mailed today to say:

'It's [the date of broadcast] Halloween, but we didn't know that the show was going to go out that night when we made it, so it isn't a Halloween themed show. Even if we had known it, I don't think we'd have made Modern Life Is Ghoulish. It's not that kind of show.'

There's been 4 Bus & Beer Weekends now with announcements that they're planning on one next year. It is certainly popular, so as long as bus drivers are happy to take part I imagine it will continue.

This weekend was a fairly simple one. On Saturday I did parkrun and was pleasantly pleased to see one of my old work colleagues from a previous job there who was trying parkrun for the first time, so I ran round with her. As it was muddy I wouldn't have got a PB and as it is run 151, I've 99 to go before my next t-shirt. Then Saturday afternoon I took the family on a bike ride to Eastleigh Lakeside Country Park, which is about 2 miles from our house. They were setting up a spooky train ride event, but it looked quite expensive for what it was. And yesterday we also went on a bike ride to Fleming Park. So lots of cycling. The kids are getting more confident all the time, which is good, but now they both insist on being in front and squabble about it, which isn't quite so good…

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Yes, I did given that the only other options were YSL or Cousin It...

Yes indeed about the haircut - it could be worse, like the time when I asked for a 1920s style and ended up with something closer to a pudding bowl, so I had to cut the front myself as soon as I got home... The mind boggles about what a Halloween Haircut would be like... I'd like to try again for one where the queue is in the mind - the last time I tried, I was turned away because of my wheelchair

Yes, a good telly week this week, with Taskmaster, Red Dwarf and Goodish I've joined the mailing list now too I'm glad it's not Halloween themed episode, as it is a bit of a Petty Hate of mine when the Christmas episodes of QI and things are repeated on Dave channel in the middle of Summer, never mind anything else...

That does sound promising that an Entry about the Beer and Bus weekends would be good to add to the Guide

Glad you had a good simple weekend and enjoyed the weather. Very good to welcome your former colleague to the parkrun by running together That's excellent that you were easily able to cycle to the parks as a family to enjoy days out, too

Do your children squabble much at home as well? That's a shame that they were fractious out and about, but hopefully they were able to blow off a bit of steam in the parks...

Ah yes – well, you're right in that to the best of my knowledge, neither Yves Saint Laurent nor Cousin Itt have sat on my lap, nor vice versa. What Yves Saint Laurent would have made of Cousin Itt I'm not sure – did Yves Saint Laurent even ever visit Saint Lawrence, Isle of Wight?

I caught up on 'Taskmaster' yesterday and was surprised by the mention of Bob Mortimer and the National Poo Museum. That should have won the prize category.

I can understand what you mean about the Christmas episodes, mind you the opposite can be just as annoying. My wife and I were watching an ''Allo 'Allo' boxset a few years ago and halfway through watching all the episodes in order it seemed as if lots of things had happened while we weren't looking. We only realised that they'd put a missing episode set at Christmas on the extras disc right when we'd finished watching it all, and finally the gaps were filled.

The children don't squabble too much as long as they're able to let off steam, I think it was largely the result of having been stuck inside for too long in a week in which their died. Normally they play quite nicely together but sometimes they can be a little competitive, which isn't always for the best.

Are you looking forward to the writing month tomorrow? Are you planning on doing a novel?

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"Ah yes – well, you're right in that to the best of my knowledge, neither Yves Saint Laurent nor Cousin Itt have sat on my lap, nor vice versa."



Yes, I don't think Cousin Itt would have been to YSL's aesthetic taste, but I could imagine Kaffe Fassett and Billy Gibb could have designed something impressive A87839293 No, I don't think YSL visited the Isle of Wight, sadly, even though it can rival the South of France as a coastal resort

Ah, that is annoying about the extras, that the series included an episode that just happened to be set at Christmas, so it wasn't a 'special' even though it was treated as one... I can imagine it made you want to put a note on your boxset to remember the correct order to watch the discs in!

I am looking forward to the writing month, yes I'm not doing a novel as I've run out of inspiration (I want to do something with last year's novel, but didn't have any enthusiasm for it yet, so I can't face another one at the moment...). More time to devote to h2g2, anyway, as you've given me some excellent inspiration for NaJoPoMo

I've no idea what I'll write about this year – it's not as if I'm living an exciting roller-coaster ride of a life, just general day-to-day being skint, paying bills and trying to work out why HMRC send us a letter each week, each of which completely contradicts the one they sent the one the week before For example, on Thursday they said we'd overpaid tax and enclosed a cheque for £429, this week we've had a letter saying we owe them £280.

At least we know that Modern Life is Goodish. Did you see it? I must admit I'm with Dave Gorman and that there's nothing wrong with shop-brand Weetabix and loved the bit on animated mockbusters (I won't say more in case you didn't see it).

Are you excited about the ?

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