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

Good luck with bathroom news for today

I'm not sure how long the diversions will be in place - the first one was newish, the second diversion was in place last week, and the third road closure had only just happened. This coming Saturday we're due to go to a supermarket in the opposite direction, and hopefully in a couple of weeks all the roadworks will be finished

Glad you had a good figurehead walk - I enjoyed seeing your photos on

That is impressive that queues at Alton Towers are better than Legoland even in summer! Years since I've been, too, although we used to go every summer as it wasn't too far away from us. Each time we went, my parents and I went on the Teacups twice and the Swan Boats once, and then enjoyed a walk around while my sister and a friend went on rollercoasters etc A large site indeed Glad your daughter enjoyed the day, too

We've been expecting them to come today to finish the bathroom, but nope, not seen anyone this week at all, alas...

Ah, that's a good plan with regards supermarket shopping so hopefully all will be finished indeed.

It isn't surprising that the queues at Alton Towers aren't as bad as ones we've experienced at Legoland and Chessington, largely as Legoland has 2 rollercoasters to speak of and is located just outside London, so has 10 million people on its doorstep and all rollercoaster riders having two choices, whereas Alton Towers is comparatively in the middle of nowhere, so people have to plan in advance to go there (cutting out some of the spontaneous visitors) and there are several rollercoasters for rollercoaster lovers to choose from. It seemed a lot of the visitors went to the CBeebies Land. I think Legoland is the only large theme park for under 11s whereas there are a few theme parks for thrill seekers. (I must admit I got confused with what rides I'd been on there before and which had been at Lightwater Valley, but it looks like most of the rides I'd been on at Lightwater Valley have gone now).

I'll get around to sorting out those photos at some point...

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Ah, that is disappointing that nobody has attended yet - I hope things can be officially finished by Friday, but won't be surprised if not At least it is usable now, which is something.

That is interesting about the differences between Alton Towers and Legoland My comparisons were with Camelot and Gulliver's World, so Alton Towers was busier than those. When I did visit Legoland, I didn't go on the rollercoasters, so that made a difference. Good to see your photos from 2006 - reminded me that I did go on the River Rapids ride a couple of times as well as Teacups and Swan Boats Not very easy, as I had to leave my wheelchair behind, then my dad helped me walk on the rotating disc to climb into the tyre, but then I enjoyed it once I was sitting down. That in turn reminded me of the time the Swan Boats turned into river rapids - there was a thunderstorm while we were on it, so we got soaked, and the poor wheelchair got drenched on the jetty. The boats had a set pattern to follow, and sometimes it took us close to the jetty so we thought we were nearly there, and then the boat would turn and go back to the other side of the lake! Funny but not funny at the same time

We've still had no-one come by this week. When we chased we were told 'we came by yesterday and no-one was in when we knocked the door', but when we responded saying we'd been in all day and asking why they didn't ring the doorbell or try phoning either my wife or I, we didn't get a response. Sounds like the Amazon approach of 'we can't be bothered to deliver this so we'll just put a card through the door instead'.

Aha! Yes, alas Alton Towers would definitely be busier than Camelot, especially as that theme park closed due to lack of visitors. I never went there, nor Gulliver's World. I still think it is cheating for theme parks not to be constantly falling into the sea, definitely poor form.

Ah yes - the swan lake would indeed be funny in hindsight, but not funny at the time. I don't think they're there any more...? (I did a quick google search and it appears the Swan Boats were replaced by Splash Karts which have since been replaced by the Battle Galleons).

My copy of the Pandemic Paintings arrived today! So I've been enjoying looking through that. When it arrived my wife said, 'Your friend Sasha is a very good artist, I'm particularly impressed with the cover' and I told her I'd pass that on.

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That is that the workpeople played the parcel delivery trick of not ringing the doorbell and claiming nobody was in... Good luck for finishing by Friday

Yes, it was very sad about Camelot - I really enjoyed that one, as the jousting tournament was great fun, and the rides were secondary. Gulliver's World was a bit run down in my day, although it has been improved since then - it is more for younger children. The highlight was the boating lake as it was a safe place to enjoy water, and my sister and I could row ourselves around wherever we wanted without having to follow specific routes - I can't remember what other rides I went on each time I visited there, but I always went on the boating lake four times

I did hear the Swan Boats at Alton Towers had gone a few years ago, but didn't know it has been replaced by the Battle Galleons. I enjoyed looking at your photos on - lots of changes indeed since my last visit, but very pleasing to see your great photos of the River Rapids

Yay - glad arrived, and I'm honoured by your wife's feedback I'm very pleased with how the book turned out - my A88015854 friend's fellow artist friend also enjoyed it

They've been by today, so it looks like they're likely to finish by the end of the week

I've had a look and it seems that Gulliver's World is part of a chain of four theme parks - I've never been to any of them as they're not near me. A boating lake is definitely enjoyable, we went on one last year, I think, at a zoo outside Reading.

I went to the second-hand resource centre setting two days ago and purchased a copy of a 'Wizard of Oz' related film which I'd not seen before.

Also this week I purchased a copy of the record, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of 'The War of the Worlds'. About 20 years ago I inherited a copy of the record of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of 'The War of the Worlds' - but though the cover and booklet were intact, it only had the second record and sides 3 & 4. What happened to the record containing sides 1 & 2 I don't know, presumably either lost or broken. But this week I managed to find someone selling their discs-only copy which didn't have the cover nor the booklet, just both discs. It means that I now have the complete record at last - although admittedly I do now have two copies of the second record, though curiously two different pressings. I might bung some pictures on

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I hope all went well yesterday

That is interesting that Gulliver's is a chain - shows they must be doing quite well these days to open a new venue. More of a northern thing, though, indeed (and no added excitement of bits falling into the sea between visits like at Blackgang Chine). I checked the map and see the boating lake has gone, but there is still a good variety of activities - impressive that there is a climbing wall, and I see they now have teacups and a river rapids ride, too

Excellent second-hand resourcing - that is particularly impressive that you have reunited the Jeff Wayne's discs and cover Fascinating how similar and yet how different the two 3&4 discs are - thanks for putting photos on

A different struggle for me in trying to get to the superresourcecentre - more roadworks in the opposite direction to the other ones, and there were temporary traffic lights that were stuck on red Luckily we could just see past the barriers to check nobody was approaching from the other direction, so a few cars were able to sneak through and we were OK. Extra luckily, the lights had been reset by the time mum and I had finished food shopping, so there was again no problem getting home

The bathroom is officially finished, but we are getting growing damp patches, so I'm not at all happy about that. Especially as they are midway up the wall.

Sorry to hear you've still not had smooth driving to the superresourcecentre / supersetting but at least you got back without incident. Hope you're enjoying the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend. It's been very wet here but yesterday instead of running parkrun I volunteered as assistant Run Director for the first time, so had to give the official talk before the run as well as call out 3-2-1 go! as well as ensure the event ran smoothly. The only error I made was I put and told people not to take the Finish Funnel home with them, meaning finish tokens. Obviously everyone there was hanging on my every word as no-one nicked the finish funnel.

To make up for not taking her to the theme park last week we took my daughter to where she really wanted to go this week - the clothes resource centre where she purchased some new outdoor resources for her feet and other wearable resources.

I also thought I'd catalogue my record collection, and have learnt that I have 146 records. I don't know if you've heard of the website Discogs, which lists records for sale? I had a look and found out that my record worth the least is, in fact, Stars on 45, which has a minimum value of 1p, maximum £2.40.

Yes, it's been quiet, really...

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Hmm - that is mixed news. Glad the bathroom is officially finished at last, but worrying that that hasn't sorted out the damp issue... Good luck with it all

The weather has been very wet indeed these last few nights - there was a thunderstorm that caused flash flooding outside my house, but luckily it drained away quite quickly Luckily not as bad as in 2021 http://www.facebook.com/bbcmerseyside/photos/a.10151635711201237/10157662054911237/?type=3 but there were floods in that area again (where the temporary traffic lights were - I'm very glad we were able to get through OK earlier in the day). I had a good day yesterday, as I found the Spoonbills I was looking for two weeks ago and a Kestrel put on a good display My bird list is up to 90, which is not bad considering - at this time last year I had a few more than that, but that's because I had been able to visit the South Coast in August - annoying that I couldn't go in August this year because of Covid, but I hope to visit again soon

Glad parkrun was able to run even with the wet weather - well done on volunteering as Assistant Run Director, and that's good news that nobody took the Finish Funnel home with them by mistake

Glad your daughter enjoyed finding wearable resources Impressive about your record collection I think I have come across Discogs before when searching for information about Queen - interesting that it also lists records for sale. Reading your Entry about Stars on 45, I guess I can imagine why it is valued the least - too tangential for many Beatles fans and, as it did well in the charts, there must be a few copies around...

I saw in the news about a couple drowning in Merseyside, so definitely sounds very wet up there. It hasn't been anywhere near as bad here - it rained Saturday afternoon heavily but other than that the weekend was quite nice.

Yesterday we all went for a day out to Littlehampton, a seaside town in Sussex that we've not been to before. We enjoyed a ride on a miniature railway that goes between two parks, crazy golf, my son and I enjoyed a little log flume finishing the day with fish & chips.

Great news that you've found the spoonbills!

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Glad you didn't have that much rain - sad news indeed about the incident in Merseyside.

Littlehampton is a place I've vaguely heard of but not been to either - sounds good indeed with various activities and fish and chips I went to the seaside yesterday too, but the tide times were not favourable so I only saw 5 birds. Quite refreshing on the promenade, but then it started raining again so I got wet and didn't stay out long. I did see the RNLI hovercraft, though, so that was something new I saw a postbox topper celebrating the Open Golf Tournament, too

Was the hovercraft full of eels? They build those just downriver from me - literally. If you were a duck and waddled off the desk and out the back garden (dodging the s) and swam downriver from the river behind where I live you'd end up in a bigger river and then eventually in about 8 miles pass the hovercraft works. Possibly more depending on how much meandering the river does.

The big question on my mind today is whether or not our bin will be emptied. Usually they just leave it for another fortnight, but our bin is already overflowing (it is the black bin's turn).

Littlehampton is quite nice - truly terrible beach compared to my home town, but enjoyable enough to keep the family entertained for an afternoon, which as I have two teens now who don't entertain easily is saying something. I don't know if we'll return, but it was a good bank holiday out. The tide seemed to be out when we were there.

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No eels that I could see in the hovercraft - I hope showed you my photos That is interesting that the hovercraft works is near you Not too far from the hovercraft museum, either, I presume

I hope your bins were emptied as expected Annoying if they aren't, as you know I know, but extra annoying when you're desperate

Glad the entertainment in Littlehampton makes up for the poor quality of the beach. Yes, the beach I was at is also not of the best quality, although it has improved in recent years - when I was a child, we used to be able to make multicoloured sandcastles because of the various layers of pollution in there and not because of genuinely different sand colours like in your hometown

I was in the office today, and found out that they have installed one of those portaloo-like things in the new open plan hotdesking area where our hatch used to be No good to me, as there's a step to get into it, but I opened the door and a light came on inside it like a fridge so it amused me rather a lot!

I did get to see the hovercraft, thank you Yes, the hovercraft works is about halfway between where I am and the hovercraft museum. I'm afraid as the weather's terrible, and I don't want to get wet feet, I've not been out the back this morning to see if the bins have been emptied. It'd be great if they have been but I'm not holding my breath from past experience.

Sadly the beaches of Sussex are pebble rather than sand beaches, so not at all comfortable to walk on let alone try to traverse in a wheelchair (and flint edges can be sharp or in other words, bumpy, with a high risk of puncture), so we didn't really pay it any attention. Definitely not something sandcastles can be built with.

Do you have to hotdesk now if the office has gone open plan?
I don't know whether our portaloos have lights in, so you might have a more advanced model I do know that they're not soundproof and you can hear people talking loudly inside. Has your uni had work done over the summer? Our office has been closed this week in order for all the building work that needed doing to be done while the students are away.
At home hopefully we'll have our dodgy electricity sorted tomorrow too.

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Glad showed you the hovercraft It showed me the pictures of your bathroom, too. Looks great That damp patch is very suspicious, though... Good luck with it all I hope all went well with the bins in spite of expectations I hope all went well with the electrics, too

Ah, yes I haven't seen many pebble beaches, but the one or two I have encountered were for looking at rather than trying to traverse indeed...

Yes, lots of building work has been done over the summer. When I'm in on a team meeting day I still have a usual office with desk, but the long term plan is for all floors in the building to be turned into hotdesking workspaces. I couldn't test the soundproofing of the new portaloo, but it does seem rather a fundamental function, otherwise people may as well have the conversation in the open plan area...

I hope you all have a good weekend. The road to the semi-usual supermarket is open again, which is good news, and apart from that I hope to see more than 5 birds

There are two patches in the bathroom and the kitchen wall is soaked, so that's still very worrying. But at least the electrician has been and the electrics should all be sorted. . I think I told you that when the loft people came by they said that our electricity was dodgy, that the roofer guy said the electrics weren't up to modern standards, and that was something the plasterer and electrician doing the bathroom all commented on, but now hopefully no more! Just dodgy bathroom/kitchen wall damp, leaking window in the kitchen, broken shed window and lean to and out-of-alignment shed door and unwelcome creepy crawly visitors to sort out now...

The bin seems to have been half-emptied I'm not entirely sure how that happened, the last couple of bags at the bottom presumably didn't tip out. So that's annoying but better than I'd feared.

I think I'll finally be able to get Five Lulud this weekend

with the bird spotting! One two three four five, once you spotted some birds alive. Six - seven eight nine ten - you can get to the supermarket again.

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That is good news that the electrics have been sorted, after so many concerns from other workpeople Very worrying about the damp, though - I hope you can soon find a contractor with some nous, rather than one who just ignores it even though it wasn't there before the bathroom was done

Good news that the bin had been attempted to be emptied, so it hadn't been abandoned, but very strange that the whole bin wasn't tipped out... Hopefully it will be fine next time, and you will have enough room in the bin in the meantime

Well timed with - I uploaded Dmitri's book for h2g2 and ordered a proof copy, and joined it in the basket Looks like it will be interesting indeed

"One two three four five, once you spotted some birds alive. Six - seven eight nine ten - you can get to the supermarket again." - Yes indeed - no problems getting to the supermarket, and I did a bit of charity shopping, too, although didn't find anything to buy. There had been a bit of flooding in that area, so a non-charity shop further down the hill was closed, but the charity shops seemed fine.

I also got a haircut Unusually, I got a couple of hair splinters, too - disproportionately painful given their small size. The one in my eyelid took some finding but was easy to remove, and the one in my thumb, just where I push the wheelchair wheel, was easy to find but more difficult to remove as it had gone right under the skin. I tried various tools to get it, but found the right one (a fine needle) and that was a relief.

It was good bright weather yesterday (although rather hot) so I went to A87916341 for a change. The tide was in, so I saw many many more than 5 birds I had hoped to see a sea duck at high tide, but don't think I saw anything new for the list. Even so, it was great to see hundreds of curlew and redshanks, and lots of dragonflies, butterflies and grasshoppers

Yes, the damp is definitely worrying - if you put your hand against the wall it feels wet. It has been a wet summer, so hard to know whether it is internal from the pipes or coming from rain. I think it must either be a leak from plumbing, water soaking up from the ground, or water dripping down from the roof if there's a gap between the extension and original wall. When they did the bathroom floor they poured waterproof concrete stuff down in the part of the cavity wall they could reach, so it might be a case where water that used to drain down into the ground is now trapped and so making the wall wet, or maybe they didn't do a good job so the sandy cavity material is still soaking up ground moisture like a sponge?

Glad that the timing's worked out with the . It isn't one I plan to advertise as not only is it predominantly older and so the drawings aren't as good as many more recent books, but the subject matter of criticising is perhaps not best widely spread about, with a degree of discretion advised.

Sorry to hear you were splintered in an unhelpful place when at the baa baas but good to hear you were able to resolve the situation. I'm glad you had a good weekend with successful bird spotting and shopping, even if you didn't see anything new. Days when you don't make you appreciate the days when you do even more. I did a spot of second hand resource centre resourcing at nammettime today and found two Biggles books (one of which I already own, but didn't want to split it from its partner) as well as a boxed 7" single of George Harrison's 'When We Was Fab', so that's now part of my collection.

Our weekend was a bit stressful as our got herself trapped for at least 4 hours beneath the solar panels of the house two doors up, so I ended up spending lots of time up a ladder trying to get her down. The roof she was on is south facing and getting really, really hot and when she was up there as well as meowing in panic she was panting like anything � I've never seen her do that before. Fortunately it all ended well, she wriggled free of the wires and squeezed out of the gap beneath the panels as I was up there, and I managed to get her in a cat carrier and climb down the ladder with her far enough to pass her down to my wife who was halfway up the ladder, who then passed to my son on the ground, who whizzed her indoors.

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Wow, that is complex about the damp situation - good luck with it all

I saw the photos on of the pet rescue - glad all went well with the ladder chain. Not good about panicking and getting overheated, but good to see her eating once she was safely back indoors

Very warm this week so far - quite the contrast from 31 August when it was so cold it triggered my thermostat to put the heating on...

Good idea not to advertise too widely given the subject matter, but I think I will find much of it relatable...

"Days when you don't make you appreciate the days when you do even more." - yes indeed It was good to see new scenery, anyway Glad your second hand resource centre resourcing was successful

A lot of the you may well have seen years ago when it was doodled and bunged on but there are some more recent cartoons in there too. You can always tell roughly when the doodles were drawn by the logo.

Today it is our 's birthday which hopefully she'll celebrate by not getting stuck or into any mischief. I think she's 6, though we didn't get her until the following February.

My task for this week is to work out how to get some travel money. I always used to go to the bank, but the bank branch has closed now, so will have to find somewhere else.

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