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

I'm your Sub-editor for JRR Tolkien's 'Father Christmas Letters'. The new version is A87911733 - please subscribe!

I enjoyed reading this again and just had a few more questions:

"By 1923 the letters are also addressed to John's brother Michael Henry and they receive Lotts Bricks for Christmas"

The letters arrive after Christmas Day and talk about the toys they have received that year, is that right?

"The chief hall is under the biggest dome "

Cliff House has domes? The hall floor is decorated with tiles?

"As the sun doesn't shine for three months, he hires a comet and/or asks the Great Bear to help him pack, or uses the Northern Lights to help him see."

The comet helps him to see while the Great Bear provides light and also helps to pack presents, is that right?

Hello

Thanks for dropping by to sub this.

The letters weren't actually posted and arrived by 'magic' in the same way as the presents, but they can arrive at different dates. So the letter you quoted was dated Christmas Eve and arrived on Christmas Day along with the presents – the envelopes are labelled 'by hand with presents' - but there are also letters that are dated October and November. Most are dated between 23rd and 'Christmas', with the latest dated Boxing Day. But it looks like the majority were intended to be opened on Christmas Day along with the presents.

Cliff House has domes and looks like a palatial, multi-roomed igloo with towers too, built onto the side of a cliff with cellars beneath either built into the cliff or they are possibly re-purposed natural caves in the cliff. And yes, the hall floor is decorated with tiles. There is a lovely picture drawn in 1928 of the Polar Bear having fallen over on top of them, so I'm not convinced that tiles are the most practical floor decoration in freezing conditions, but as I'm not an Arctic-dwelling bearded present-distributing immortal gifted with flying , who am I to judge?

Most years, the light Father Christmas needs at the North Pole during the long night is provided by the 'Rory Bory Aylis fireworks' (Aurora Borealis). When these are unavailable, due to, say, the North Polar Bear setting them all off at once, he has two back-ups, neither of which is as bright as the fireworks are on their own. He hires a comet and also asks the Great Bear (constellation Ursa Major) to provide light enough for him to pack. The Great Bear is the North Polar Bear's cousin.

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Hello Thanks for dropping by to answer my questions so promptly!

I like the idea of a palatial, multi-roomed igloo Yes, tiles aren't the best surface for a polar bear in freezing conditions indeed...

Is it Father Christmas who usually sets off the 'Rory Bory Aylis fireworks', and only once the North Polar Bear set two years' worth off by mistake, or is it the North Polar Bear's responsibility each year?

Hello - just another fly-by visit. It is supposed to be who sets off the fireworks and the North Polar Bear was always (before and after the incident) expressly forbidden to touch them. But he couldn't resist...

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Thank you!

Now I just need to check: " He writes that the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis are actually fireworks that he creates and calls the 'Rory Bory Aylis fireworks'."

Is 'He' Father Christmas here, so he both creates the fireworks and calls them Rory Bory Aylis?

Yes to both - creates the fireworks and does indeed call them Rory Bory Aylis.

Normality resumes tomorrow.

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I've finished reading through and had no more questions, so let me know if there is anything else you'd like and then I'll send the Entry on its way to the next stage

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