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

I look forward to seeing the Nose family somewhen!

There is a laser tag place near me, but it's not something I've ever investigated - I can imagine it is expensive, though, as I have done the accessible crazy golf in the same building and even that wasn't cheap... Grassy bits around the corner are highly useful, though (I spent many an hour on one in my youth) - the nerf guns sound good, so I'm sure everyone will have fun!

That is a compliment indeed that your cartoon caricature is profile picture worthy for your friend! Not easy to capture key details of people - I deliberately changed people's appearances in my cartoon apart from me (and Steven Gerrard) so that made it easier!

Sorry to hear about the continuing system errors - I hope they get it sorted by next week, but that is good news that you get to enjoy short weeks for a while so you can have a day off from it all if it does continue...

I plan to see the Leonardo exhibition this weekend, so I will let you know how it goes!

I did a Laserquest once in the 1990s and lost quite considerably - I didn't realise that teams were split with red/green LEDs so I got several minus points for shooting my own side... But nothing to worry about there with the Nerf guns except trying to find all the Nerf darts afterwards as they're not ours!

It has been another hectic day full of panicking students with system errors so I'm looking forward to the weekend, but dreading the number of panicked e-mails we'll have in the inbox on Monday morning...

Enjoy seeing Leonardo

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Ah, such a subtle split is not helpful indeed, but yeah, you have to laugh! Taking part was something, and someone had to lose...

I hope you all had a great weekend I did, as the Raptorwatch was rescheduled so I went and saw an owl fighting a harrier, which was quite the spectacle! I added three birds to my list as well (the Peregrine Falcon was very far away, but the fuzzy blob sitting on a log in my photo is it!)

It was very good to see Leonardo - superb to see the sketches up close and be able to study them with a magnifying glass. A good selection of drawings from the collection - a couple of heads, some scientific and anatomical sketches, water and horses. Is it similar in Southampton Art Gallery, that it is a variety of different drawings, or is there more of a theme to them?

I also learned that there is a copy of the Mona Lisa in the Walker Art Gallery, so I went to see that as well More grand than the real thing from a distance, as it is bigger with a bigger frame, but not as impressive as the real thing close up, as the finer details aren't there...

Was the peregrine falcon a fast-moving blob as well as a blob on a log?

We did indeed have a good weekend – it was very busy and there didn't seem to be a spare moment, but it went well, from my son's birthday party on Saturday to my dad's visit yesterday. I also unexpectedly ran the Eastleigh 10K when someone that someone my wife knew had to pull out due to injury last minute. Considering that was the first time I've run 10K since probably last June I didn't do too badly, finishing 4½ minutes slower than my quickest time. I hope that the 'David' I was officially running as is happy with the time I finished in as the official records are against his name (it was too late to change the name).

I also had a haircut on Saturday morning ahead of my aunt's funeral this Friday, which came in handy for the 10K as I didn't have sweaty hair in my eyes.

The Da Vinci exhibition here has sketches on horses (including a statue of a man on horseback and how to make a dramatic pose with the weight evenly distributed), a man with a beard and also a sketch of a gun, but largely anatomy. Shoulders and intestines. So probably similar – a mixture only without a replica of the Mona Lisa. The gallery next door has some other interesting sketches, including the Lowrys, but predominantly a gallery of a modern local who has apparently been inspired by Da Vinci in a way that has encouraged him to do some squiggles, spots, stripes and splodges on paper.

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I didn't see the peregrine blob move, but it was there in one picture and not there in the next so it was fast! By the way I found out I didn't see a pigeon raised by wolves the other weekend - it was a posh pigeon (a Stock Dove)! I didn't see any feral pigeons in Liverpool, which was a surprise, but I expect I'll find at least one at some point during the year. I'm up to 60 different birds now, which is not bad at all (this time last year I had seen 40).

That was a surprise 10k! A very impressive time, considering. Did running 5k the day before help, or did it tire your legs more to have run 15k in 24 hours?

Sorry you have a short week this week because of a sad occasion.

That's good that the Da Vinci exhibitions are linking in with other exhibits in the galleries, but squiggles and splodges make quite the contrast to a copy of the Mona Lisa

Ah, there's quite a difference between a wolf and a dove . I hope you don't mind me saying, but personally I don't think that if the 1990 Kevin Costner film had been called 'Dances with Doves' it would have won lots of Oscars… Still, it gives you a chance to look out for one later this year. But 60 birds before the end of March is good going indeed.

Running 5K isn't normally recommended as it can tire you out. You can always tell when a popular race is coming up as the number of parkrun volunteers trebles and there are marshals everywhere, so those participating have fresh legs for the following day. Whether it would make any real difference for someone like me, a fairly average runner, isn't something I can say. I've never taken the day off parkrun because I'm running a race the day after, but if I've known I'd run the next day I usually jog gently round rather than run. I actually ran the parkrun (which is still quite a muddy course at the moment). Strange to think that this time last year was the snow weekend…

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Yes indeed 'Dances with Doves' would have been a very different film! Yes, I'm surprised by how many 'easy' birds I haven't photographed yet, especially when I already have 'difficult' birds like Kingfisher and Curlew... However, it does give me hope that I will achieve my target of 78 as I *should* be able to find the common birds later in the year even though I haven't seen them yet...

Ah! That is good that people can volunteer at parkrun when they're saving their legs for the next day. Your tactic to jog 5k as a warm up sounds good, though Very good that the mud didn't cause you too much inconvenience so you got pleasing times for both events It is a fascinating to compare the weather this time last year - it was quite cool outside this morning but nowhere near snow temperatures...

Indoors is even more sauna-like than it was yesterday, though, for some unknown reason It must be Thursday, actually - my swipe card malfunctioned so I had to get it reset before I could get into the office, and then there were problems with my phone and e-mail (not to mention Pliny is offline although Ripley is still here!) but thankfully it was all sorted by 10am when another arrived.

I hope you're having as good a day as possible. All the best for tomorrow and I hope you have a good weekend. My sister will be visiting for Mother's Day, so that will be good, and I will keep a lookout for birds to try to catch the pigeon, catch the pigeon, catch the pigeon!

Well, we're still in March so to be so close to your target already is surely a promising start. Does this mean that your plastic duck numbers might be down by the year end?

The Eastleigh 10K is an on-road event so there's no mud to worry about, which is why my 10K time was 53 minutes when my 5K times are still 28/29. Still I can't complain about slowing down as I know that the sure way to get faster is to improve my diet and particularly train more. Only running on Thursday lunchtimes and parkruns maintains fitness levels but isn't enough to improve it. But I can't spend time running without spending less time with the family, which has its own consequences.

Anyway, talking of nammet times, one thing that has happened this week is that I've joined a new nammet time club. Well, since Cooking, Nordic Walking and Swimming clubs finished I'm only doing Book Club on one Monday a month, Choir on Tuesdays and Running on Thursdays so I've just joined a new Wednesday club – Board Game Club. This is held 12:30-1:30pm which makes it a bit more awkward, but I managed to go along and play a dice Western game called 'Bang!', which I really enjoyed and the time flew by.

Funeral aside, it looks like it will be a quiet weekend – I wonder how work will cope without me tomorrow?

Have a great weekend and enjoy Mothering Sunday with your sister – don't steal all the daffodils!

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Yes, my bird list is doing very well as we're only a quarter of the way through the year - I caught the pigeon at the weekend, plus another species. I'm not chasing plastic ducks this year, so that takes some of the pressure off the list, but I expect I'll go to a zoo or aviary at some point even so, because I enjoy them

Ah, that is interesting the difference on-road/off road running makes Yes, it is a balancing act to do a variety of activities as there are only so many hours in a day...

Board Game Club sounds fun! I'd not heard of a dice Western game before! There are some great games that take less than an hour to play, so that is an excellent idea for a club - I hope it continues to be successful! (I haven't opened Queen Monopoly yet, but I fear I shall have to play it by myself, as it isn't a lunchtime activity and my family didn't enjoy the original game back in 1988 so they are extremely reluctant to play the timed game now...)

I hope you had a good weekend and weren't faced with too much backlog yesterday. I played tennis on Thursday/Friday and by Monday had turned into a Brontosaurus so I was ridiculously busy as it was batted into my court... I managed to squeeze in my little April Fool's Day fun before 12noon, though! Luckily the weekend was enjoyable but relaxing so I was ready to tackle all the tasks on Monday, but I'm glad today is quieter so far...

It seems a very strange time here, alas. Since my aunt's funeral on Friday two more people I know have passed away – a former work colleague and one of the officers in the BB. Still the funeral did involve meeting up with relatives I've not seen for years, as well as babies I'd not met before at all. Plus the trip led to two more 'It's a Sign' pictures for which will appear in a few weeks.

Still, in good news it looks like it will be farewell to the Turnip Fœtus as part of the restructure. It'll be turnipated, if you will.

I hope to go to the zoo this year, but mainly to see Lego…

I hope to be able to go along to the Board Game Club again tomorrow as I did enjoy the game, although it requires four people to play so probably not one I'd be able to play at home at the moment. We're not quite able to play board games without the children getting upset if they don't win or aren't in the lead. I would offer to play Queen Monopoly with you but I doubt the practicality of carrying it from one end of the country to the other…

Unusually I've started playing a computer game I hadn't played a computer game much since the kids were born, but my wife bought one second-hand for £2:50 that's really incredible and fun for all the family. I might possibly write about it for h2g2, not decided yet. Still will finish off the last dozen pages of 'Running Commentary' first, though. I thought the batch I uploaded yesterday (which were inspired by my 10K experience) were quite strong, but my daughter drew a bit on the page I drew yesterday, which might not be uploaded for a fortnight as we're off next week. We're heading your way to Cheshire for the weekend to do Wilmslow's parkrun and/or to celebrate one of my wife's friend's 40th birthday (delete as appropriate) and will visit the inlaws for a couple of days too.

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Alas indeed Sorry to hear that... a bittersweet time...

That is positive that the turnip foetus is to be a casualty of the restructure - that will go some way to improving the atmosphere by reducing the number of nightmares experienced by staff who have seen it, I'm sure...

Oh, yes - my sister went to the zoo to see Lego on Friday! Very impressive indeed. The Monsoon Forest is still closed to visitors, but the zoo staff confirmed that the animals still in there are well.

Ah, yes, it is a challenge for children to learn to play board games. Last year I was going to give you a Lego game that I got, as it looked fun for children, but I tried playing it with my sister and it was very difficult (one move involves stealing another player's and another move involves getting a fright, so the game didn't go down well...). I have played it by myself quite a few times, though, because I don't mind my imaginary players stealing from each other!

Yes, Queen Monopoly is not the easiest thing to transport... It makes me wonder if it is possible to play it via the internet... Hmm... I shall ponder this...

That's good that you've found a computer game that is fun for all the family - those are the best kind, and they are rather rare

I managed to find the batch of 'Running Commentary' last night - very good indeed! Impressive artistry as usual - I particularly liked the action shots eg runners picking up water at the 10k

I'm sure you'll all have a good holiday next week

Yes, I wonder where the foetus will go? Actually, I don't. As long as I don't have to see it I don't care.

I don't know when we'll be off to the zoo – presumably once our Legoland pass has expired, as we'd want to go on a nice day. Although again there's the question of not wanting to go when it is too hot for the animals to do anything, but also not when they're cold and shivering and not wanting to do anything either.

With board games, the children love to play the games, they just don't necessarily like losing. So if they can play a game that has no winners or losers, then that works. Mind you, some games they don't mind, such as 'Loopin' Lewie' and I have the 'Star Wars' version, 'Loopin' Chewie', but you don't get so involved in those. I went to board game club again today and didn't win this time, so it was beginner's luck last week.

There won't be any 'Running Commentary' next Monday, though I've drawn 4 out of the next batch of 5. Potentially I could draw the last of this batch tonight and scan them all in to upload tomorrow, but I'd better do the ironing instead…

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"I wonder where the foetus will go? Actually, I don't. As long as I don't have to see it I don't care"

Yes indeed...

I'd not heard of 'Loopin' Lewie', but having looked online it seems it is more about each player against Lewie rather than players playing against each other, so that perhaps makes it easier...

I hope you had a good weekend in Wilmslow - I see you got a good time at parkrun

I look forward to seeing the next batch of Running Commentary in due course I did a bit of drawing at the weekend, as I thought of ideas for a Prequel - I hope shows them to you

Hello from home, back again now. Yes, we had a good time in Wilmslow doing a parkrun in a carpark - or should I say Carrs Park? Very picturesque course but very narrow 2-lap out-and-back. Still, not as nerve-wracking as this weekend when I'm attempting to be a pacer and it is my job to finish in exactly 30 minutes to help those aiming to do a parkrun in 30 minutes. My cunning plan is to stay behind the person who is pacing 29 minutes...

I did indeed find 'Running Commentary' end enjoyed them. But now must finish the washing and ironing - after a few days away it all builds up...

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Hello! I'm in work - lunchtime was nearly an illusion, but I managed to finish the stuff I was working on with an hour to spare (I was working on it yesterday, too, and didn't have an hour to spare then, but it was what I would call fun so that wasn't too bad). I hope your housework didn't take too long last night.

That is a fascinating challenge for you to pace exactly 30 minutes! Yes, staying behind the 29 minute person and ahead of the 31 minute person will stand you in good stead

Glad you found my cartoons I'll see if I can do some more at the weekend, as I have quite a few ideas, as you can imagine, given that you've had 'interview incidents' of your own... Apart from that I will hopefully see more birds at the weekend - I went through my photos from earlier in the year again and found a few more that I hadn't added to the list at the time, so I'm up to 63, but there are still some 'easy' ones I need to find

I'm back – and back to the backlog

Alas I wasn't very good at pacing at all – and there wasn't a 31 minute person to stay in front of. So I don't think I'll give that a go again – I got to the end and had the dilemma of realising I was very behind where I should be and thought it would be more dignified to be completely wrong and keep to an even (if inaccurate) pace rather than have a mad panic dash to the end line…

I found another cartoon of yours at nammet time today too – yep, I can relate to that and being sent for any old thing, appropriate or otherwise, when unemployed. I told you about my interview incident where the interview went really well and then I had a spotty dotty test and was told that it was against their company's policy to employ 'my sort' in any capacity whatsoever…

I uploaded my penultimate batch of 'Running Commentary' too – only five pages left until I can stop. Hopefully my will last that long as it is running low on ink – I found one I'd bought 15 years ago and haven't found a replacement yet.

I had an enjoyable week off, visiting Cheshire and Leeds – and I even managed to watch a television series I missed a couple of years ago online ! 'Great Rail Restorations' hosted by Peter Snow. A lot of it was filmed on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, and not just episode 2.

How is the bird spotting going?

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Ah, that does make it difficult that there was nobody pacing behind you... A mad panic dash to the end line would have been funny to see, as the people matching your pace would have had to join in, but dignified and even sounds the best option indeed.

I found a stationery shop today - it is closing down soon, so there were some bargains, but I noticed they were not selling pencil cases large enough to accommodate the rulers they were selling! They had some '0.3mm' fineliners, but the ink was so wet it bled into a 0.5mm-width line... I found a green pen, though, so I bought it and shall have a tidy up later (I have a few green pens that I was keeping 'just in case', but the probability of getting anything out of them is very small...)

Glad you found my new cartoon - it was quite tricky to draw, but turned out pretty much as I hoped. Yes, your interview incident was particularly shocking, with that response being totally unjustified... I found your batch of cartoons last night and enjoyed them very much

Glad you had a good week, too - that is luxury for you to be able to watch TV online I didn't find anything on Radio4Extra that captured my interest, so I have taken to watching iPlayer more often these days - I'm lucky that my broadband is agreeable to that, and my tablet can just about cope (it won't show me h2g2 images or the RSPB website any more because they aren't 'secure', but it still likes 'apps').

I had a fantastic birdspotting weekend - the previous weekend was a bit disappointing as I wasn't quick enough with my camera, but this time I added seven birds to my list! I'm up to 71 already! I think the next seven might be more of a challenge, but we shall see

That's disappointing that the fineliners bled so you didn't get the fineline you were expecting – surely it defies the point of getting a fineliner. Still, it is handy to have a green pen. My pen is a pentel superb grip fine pen, but I've not been able to find any nearby. So will we be seeing more green in your cartoons?

I quite enjoy having the radio on in the background, but it is getting time to listen to it at a time that something to listen to that's the challenge. I refuse to listen to the Archers.

The 'Great Rail Restorations' programme was very enjoyable as heritage railways around the country were set the task of completely restoring a carriage in six months and taking them to Llangollen Railway. These included:
1864 compartment composite carriage – Isle of Wight Steam Railway
1880s Royal Carriage – Bolton and Embsay Railway
1912 corridor brake composite corridor carriage – Llangollen Railway
1960 First Class Pullman Dining Car – Tyseley Locomotive Works

Curiously, the Island's carriage is older than the Llangollen Railway But it gives a good idea of what the Island's railway carriages are like and how they differ from all other heritage railways in England, having short four- and six-wheel carriages, rather than bogeyed carriages.

71 birds already – you're definitely up and above where you were last year!

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Yes, it was disappointing about the pens - I'm better off with a I did struggle a bit last night to squeeze text into a diagram, but it is OK. Yes, more green will appear, and I also found a purple pen so I used that last night as well

"it is getting time to listen to it at a time that something to listen to that's the challenge. I refuse to listen to the Archers"

Yes, and yes

Ah, that is interesting about the programme being based at Llangollen but featuring other heritage railways Sounds like the comparisons were fascinating indeed

Yes, I'm very pleased with my bird list so far - I am hopeful of adding to it at Easter, too, as the weather is expected to be good Do you have any particular plans for the long weekend?

This weekend we hope to go to Legoland somewhen. I don't know if you've heard that Legoland opened the new Haunted House ride last Saturday, but then it closed immediately: http://news.sky.com/story/legoland-haunted-house-monster-party-ride-forced-to-close-on-opening-day-11694412 So at the moment the kids are saying they don't want to go on the new ride – but even if they don't ride it, they're doing a special badge to celebrate the ride opening which we can hopefully get.

On Saturday I'm hoping to persuade the family to go to Moors Valley Country Park first thing – so I can do the Moors Valley Country Park parkrun! It is the second closest event I've not done (Romsey being closed for Easter) and I might keep away from Eastleigh for a week in case anyone is upset about my pacing failing... The trouble is getting the children out of the house in time.
And on Sunday I get to eat again! Mind you, I do mean to get a nice Simnel from somewhere.

So how about you, do you have plans? Going to a RSPB reserve or similar?

I have plans for tonight – namely going to the first RR10 run of the year. I'm definitely a lot less fit than I was last year, so doing these runs should help. This will be in Royal Victoria Country Park
http://www.rr10.org.uk/RR10_RVCP_Final_Race_Instructions_2019.pdf My only concern is that my running shoes have disintegrated…

Have you uploaded the purple penned picture yet? If you wrote using the purple pen, does that make it purple prose?

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