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

I had a good weekend, thanks - though it didn't go according to plan. On Saturday morning I left home at 6am ready for the 6:15am train, only for to run out the front door. He's never done that before - and he's not allowed out the front because of all the lorries. So I had to wake my wife up to say that Maxy had dashed out, and then hurried to the station only to see the train I'd planned to be on leave. I looked at the timetable and the 6:44am train was cancelled, so I thought that I'd missed my chance to do a new parkrun - and I'd planned to catch the train with one of my coworkers and meet up with my friend who lives in London. So, having missed the train and there not being another one for an hour, I went back home to help find (who had returned home by then) and as I didn't want to carry more than I needed to, I made the decision of changing out of my running gear (including shoes) to make my bag lighter, and then got on the 7:15am train, where I planned to change at Clapham and go to Richmond - that's where the ticket I had was to, and even though I wouldn't be due in to Richmond Station until after 9am and so too late to do parkrun, I could at least meet up with my friends who were going there and clap them in as they finished their runs.
On the train I had a message from my friend who said that as it was raining, would I like a lift from Richmond Station (where I'd agreed to meet up at 8:15am) to the parkrun - I messaged back to say that would he be willing to give me a lift from Clapham Junction, where I was due to arrive at 8:20am and then spend 25 minutes waiting for the train to Richmond (which would arrive there after 9am). I reasoned that if I cut out the wait, potentially I could get from Clapham to Richmond before 9am in a car and still do the parkrun. The only issue was that my running gear (and shoes) were at home so I wouldn't be able to run. So I decided that we could walk parkrun and I had a chat and catch up with my London friend and then followed up by having a cup of tea in a cafe with my coworker, who was very kindly understanding about it all.
It was raining heavily in London at this time, and by the time I finished walking parkrun my shoes and trousers were completely drenched through, and I was over an hour late in meeting my friend who had meanwhile travelled to London from the Island. I caught the District Line to Victoria and then we walked from there to his favourite restaurant in London, but there were armed police dotted about as well as several helicopters hovering overhead, plus people with Palestinian flags. The presence of armed police does not make me feel safer - quite the contrary, in fact. And I was worried that we were inadvertently walking towards a protest or riot. And then, at Trafalgar Square, our worst fears were realised. As riot police with plastic shields congregated around the perimeter we soon discovered the nightmare that awaited us - the place was full of Morris Dancers.

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Wow, it was a weekend for mixed up plans indeed. . .

Glad came home without too much trouble, and glad the train dash worked out well so you could do parkrunwalk and meet friends and colleague Shocking indeed about the Morris Dancers

Great to see your photos on - you had a good view of the stage that aligned people with the background circles really well

Sorry you were not able to finish the weekend with a premier breakfast, but we can try again in December with a bit of luck My weekend was a washout for travel, but pleasant enough as I joined my mum and a friend for Sunday lunch (the friend,s daughter travelled to the south coast the day before me, so arrived ok).

Not having much luck with Christmas shopping for my sister - I thought of another shop to try, given that our favourite one had closed, and I discovered that that shop had not just closed, it had also been knocked down On the plus side we found out that Boots have a larger range of non-allergenic products than they used to have, so we found a few things (I,m a bit bah humbug these days, but my sister loves )

After encountering Morris Dancers we went to Primark, as by then my legs were completely soaked through as it just rained torrentially - and frustratingly I spent the weekend in wet socks and shoes.

Anyway we got to the Roundhouse at 6pm, in plenty of time for Larkin Poe's performance at 9pm so we could get to the front. Before them were the support act appearing at 8pm, a band called the Sheepdogs. If you liked the framing with the circle, hopefully you'll like how I framed a photo of the lead singer. Their guitarist was very good - but spoilt it a bit by seemingly constantly needing to remind the audience how good he was, just in case they'd forgotten, which came across as showy. They were enthusiastic, consistent, persistent, and above all loud. While they have talent, I felt they could have done with a bit more nuance and restraint at times, rather than full blast non-stop.

But Larkin Poe hit all the right notes with an incredible performance, with a strong start. You could really hear their music and their harmonies, not just noise. And they took a break in the middle for an acoustic set where they gathered around two microphones - one for their vocals and one for their instruments - and then went back to electric mid-song.

And on Sunday we went to the Science Museum in the morning, before returning home.

It was a pity we weren't able to meet up, I must admit that I am well and truly aware how poor the weather's been lately (there's been widespread flooding on the Island too). So travel with cancellations would not have been enjoyable - my train back from London and on Tuesday the train I caught were both cancelled, which at least means free travel, if delayed.

I'm glad that you managed to have an unexpected family and friend weekend in the end, so that was something even if the original plans didn't come to fruition. C'est la vie - out of our control, alas.

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Glad you were able to sort out your wet legs, but yes very difficult to dry shoes...

Interesting that the Sheepdog guitarist was so showy - reminds me of the origin of Queen where one of the bassists they auditioned was trying to outdo Freddie, which wasn't appreciated - John Deacon knew how to fit in

Queen liked it loud, too, so I wouldn't have liked to see them live - I prefer nuance, yes. Glad Larkin Poe put on a good variety of music for their performance Excellent that you could spend some time in the Science Museum too

I saw a bit of news from the Isle of Wight today - worrying about more rain being forecast on top of saturated ground Yes, when it comes to travel, we just have to accept the situation - it was bad last year travelling in a heatwave and being stuck in Bristol for 3 hours - would have been worse to get stranded somewhere in the midlands with not even a rail replacement bus for company... Sorry your train back from London was cancelled, but glad alternative arrangements were able to be made and you got a refund too.

I see plans for the new Beatles release are taking shape, ready for people's pre-Christmas purchasing

Shocking flooding from the Island, yes, though fortunately my friends and family live high up so not affecting their homes, but the Ryde tunnel is flooded (again). It was quite amusing on the news that they've said 'all the Islandline railway lines are affected' - technically correct, but there is only one line.

While Queen were loud and proud and loved a crowd, they at least had songs of different tempo to break up a performance - their songs were quite diverse in many ways and 'Who Wants To live Forever' and 'Love Of My Life' allow quieter moments for recharging. Sadly the Sheepdogs had one volume, one tempo and one style and all their songs seemed to blur into each other - perhaps they thought 'let's stick to what we do best and only do that' (it worked for Status Quo) but I know they are capable of a more restrained performance as they did a YouBend video with Larkin Poe a few weeks ago.

Yes, the Beatles song is coming out soon and surprisingly enough, it is indeed the song I thought it would be. Have I proven my claim to be a Beatles fan?

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"technically correct, but there is only one line" - that is amusing! Although not good that the line is flooded like my local line was... I hope things soon settle down

We've had fog this morning - a strange sensation to open the curtains and see blank white instead of buildings... Must be because the afternoon was quite warm and sunny but then the overnight temperature was much colder than it has been...

Ah, yes - Queen might have liked to turn the volume up to maximum, but the maximum volume for Love of My Life is different from the maximum for We Will Rock You or something like that so there is variation within the theme That is interesting that Sheepdogs put on a more restrained performance in the video but were one-dimensional live... Helped to highlight the musicality of Larkin Poe in comparison, though Your gig photography was excellent indeed - I did like the framing of the lead singer against the O

Yes, your credentials as a Beatles Fan are well and truly proven

Another 'achievement unlocked' for me today. My shower was leaking, so I thought I might have to call a plumber. I found the instructions for how to fix it, but the spanner in my wheelchair repair kit wasn't big enough. Turns out Dad's adjustable spanner was the right tool for the job, so I fixed it myself

I hope you all have a good weekend I'll see what the weather is like and hopefully do some more birdwatching, as I'm still on the hunt for fieldfares and redwings

Excellent news on fixing the leaking shower, well done!

No sign of it calming down in the immediate future, alas - the new, expensive flood defences may not have stopped water from flooding but are successfully stopping the water from draining away...

Glad you enjoyed the framing of the gig - I was pleased with that, I must admit. Though I had a lot more room to manoeuvre for The Sheepdogs and less space and was more pressed on all sides when Larkin Poe came on. (In fact, someone kept trying to push in front of me, which I wasn't impressed by as I'd been queuing for 3 hours).

Good luck with the weather - not nice here, alas...

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Ah, that is difficult that the flood defences stop water coming in from below, but thus retain water coming in from above...

On the one hand it is reassuring to me that people try to push in front of you as well, but on the other hand it is disappointing that people are selfish in not thinking that you made an effort to get that place, and if they wanted it they could have made an even bigger effort rather than trying to barge you out of the way...

I had a bit of a similar experience yesterday - I did a 'twitch' as a long-tailed duck had been blown in from North America. In the hide, two people were sitting at the accessible window, so I waited behind them and squinted over their shoulders. When one moved to a high window where there was a better view, I asked if I could sit at the accessible window. They grumbled a bit about having to move the bench out of the way, but were moving it just as someone said that there were good views of the duck from the outside platform. I was by the door, but before I could turn round, they had rushed past me and blocked the door with their telescope tripods They were persuaded to make enough room for me to squeeze in underneath their telescopes so I got a couple of photos, but it was definitely a challenge...

On the plus side, there were friendly people too. I met three other wheelchair users so we had chats as we squeezed past each other, and also a couple of helpful birders who pointed out a few things (so I know I saw a redwing, although I didn't get a photo as it just zoomed past overhead).

I was lucky with the weather - sunny and quite warm during the day, and then it rained later on when I was indoors. My wheels didn't get too dirty, even though some of the paths were underwater last week, but I did somehow manage to get some reeds, or something else long and thin, wrapped around my casters - that collected the mud nicely, without it dropping off in the house. I cleared it off this morning, and was impressed that the reeds had gathered a sized clump!

I enjoyed seeing your photos on too Always good to see 1980s computers

Talking of people pushing in, as part of the Staff Scene (I'm on the committee) Solent staff went go-karting on Saturday, and I took my son along as it is a short walk from our house.
I didn't recognise anyone else there. Annoyingly, the traffic lights had identical red and yellow lights - so when the lights changed from green both my son and I stopped as we didn't know whether it was officially slow (yellow) or stop (red). So while my lap times were quite respectable, people would overtake us when we stopped when the lights were really on slow, which we thought was unfair. So on the whole my son didn't really enjoy it - he wanted to enjoy driving around a track but there were some who took it far more competitively than we were. I was driving in a way to avoid bumping into others but sadly our consideration seemed to be in the minority.

Sorry you experienced an issue with people who were inconsiderate - often people get obsessed with their hobbies and wants and tend not to think of others, irrespective of who they are, you are or what they are doing. C'est la vie. Hope the pictures you were able to take came out well despite it all.

I also got to do a bit of doodling again - and finally not about strikes! Back to the previous interruption to the story before my interruption was interrupted. I'm considering writing about 'Now and Then' for the Guide, and possibly a Christmas song too - though there probably isn't enough time for it to make it to the front page in time for this Christmas now.

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I've started Halloween with a trip to the dentist. This wasn't too bad - they did preliminary work and I'll have to go back next month for fillings. In fact they had the radio on, and in a serendipitous moment were playing 'It's a Kind of Magic' when taking my x-ray.

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That is sad about the go-karting not being fully accessible to you Also sad that there weren't able to be setups so that people who wanted to enjoy driving round could do that while other people who wanted bumper cars could do that separately... At least you didn't have far to get home after the challenging experience...

The photography on Sunday was quite challenging, as I didn't have anything to lean on so it was an upper-body workout, but I did get a couple of recognisable photos of the long-tailed duck, yes I added one to so I'm up to 98 species seen and photographed

I found another funny with my camera the other day. I discovered Silent Mode a few weeks ago, which is handy for being less disturbing to wildlife. The other day I wanted to take a photo using the flash, but it wouldn't work. I was worried, as the flash broke on my old camera a few years ago, but luckily I thought to try turning off silent mode, and that fixed it! I'm certainly learning new features this year

Glad your doodling is going well You could give the Christmas song a go (if you felt like it ) - there's nothing scheduled in Trello for the Christmas period, so it might get through in time... I look forward to learning more about 'Now and Then' in due course, too

A few people have been out and about Trick or Treating this evening Well organised, though, as they had prearranged who they would be visiting

That's great news about the bird species list - do you think you'll be up to 100 by the end of the year? One a month average, but it is November and December so not as much variety at this time of year...

And impressive that you've learned about Silent Mode, and that obviously flashing is too noisy for silence. Perhaps 'stealth mode' would have been a more apt description? I thought that all cameras had to make a noise when taking photos to prevent upskirting...? Or does that just apply to phones? Not that my phone camera makes a particularly audible noise, but as it doesn't take particularly high quality photos either, that doesn't matter too much.

My challenge for today is to include the words 'All Saints' on any doodling I do.

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Yes, I'm hopeful of reaching 100 species by the end of the year - quite a few species spend the winter round here after migrating south from Scandinavia, so I'm still in with a chance of photographing Redwings and Fieldfares etc I'm more likely to see owls in winter, too, as dusk is earlier I'm now hoping to visit Titchfield Haven in December, which might add one or two different species to my list as well

'Stealth Mode' would be a very apt description for that camera setting indeed, given that even a flash is too noisy for it I wasn't aware of that about the mandatory noise - looks like it is just for phone cameras, as they could be used more surreptitiously than a full-bodied camera, but still something to be aware of...

I hope your doodling went well on All Saints Day For the first of the month, I petted my toy white rabbit

Ah, Titchfield Haven in December, eh? I'll keep my fingers crossed that you'll get to see all that you want to And good luck trying to spot and photograph owls and the very elusive Redwings.

I successfully did some All Saints Day themed doodling - which will eventually turn up in a . I miss the days when I could draw a couple of pages in an evening as all I was doing was head on the left talking to head on the right, and so I've pared back the backgrounds to bare basics so I can actually progress the story. Before with the strike-themed stuff I was spending so much time on windows etc that I felt I was getting bogged down and not actually doing as much as I'd like and the story wasn't being told. I'm sure in a little while I'll feel fed up that all the pages look quite plain and think, 'I can do much better than this' and start putting some details back.

The children are off today due to the storm, but my wife was not at all happy this morning, saying, 'every school in Hampshire's closed - except mine! Half the staff will be off to look after their kids, it'll be a nightmare'.

One All Saints Day tradition I quite like is that in Poland it is a day when traditionally they visit the graves of family and loved ones, laying flowers and lighting . While of course it isn't like loved ones are only remembered one day a year, it is still a time of family gathering and discussing them with others. That seems purposeful, whereas I don't really get the point of Halloween Trick or Treating.

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Yes, hopefully Titchfield Haven won't be too muddy then I see there's a Christmas Tree Festival on 2 December that looks interesting, too

Ah, that's interesting about balancing the backgrounds and action - good idea to zoom in on the talking heads again to fit more story in

It is a lovely tradition to gather and remember

That is tricky about your children's school closing but not your wife's... I hope the school day wasn't as bad as feared, and I hope the storm didn't cause you too much disruption It has certainly been dull, wet and windy here today, but not as bad as storm Babet

Although it's wet and windy, it's not particularly cold for November - I had a funny dream this morning about a bee buzzing in my ear and crawling up my arm, and I think it was really some sort of midgy fly that was buzzing in my ear There have been a few midgy flies in my house this last couple of weeks, and some tiny flies that must have hatched out of the soil in one of my houseplants.

Well, where we are the storm was a bit of a damp squib, though that didn't seem to stop people from panic-buying and clearing supermarket shelves of all essentials. Where my wife works the Head notified parents at midday, to come and collect their children. With very little notice, some did and of course parents at work didn't. The children had been kept indoors all day without the normal numbers of staff to look after them, so she was very stressed and tired. Our local parkrun is cancelled due to mud, so I'll have to see where is still open. A lot of parks are closed for firework displays as well as flooding.

So are you planning on hoping to snap redwings this weekend? I've not really got any plans. We're still having bathroom issues
Sorry to hear about your buzzing fly issue – hopefully you can get them sorted.

I'm waiting for my copies of 'Now and Then' to arrive – not the same just watching the videos online, I want my own! Annoyingly they initially only released it on cassette and vinyl, so I pre-ordered a vinyl (not here yet) and then yesterday they announced the single is also available on CD, so I've ordered a CD copy too – which is not here yet either. I just want to put my hands on it! (I should have just gone to HMV, methinks).

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Good about the squib, but not good about the panic buying... Also annoying that your wife's school couldn't do like the other schools and plan ahead... One school here was open in the morning of Storm Babet, but then closed at 11am so my colleague had to leave work to collect her child before 12noon... Stressful and tiring for your wife indeed...

Yes, certainly a lot of mud around... It has been not too bad with sunshine and showers today here. I didn't get wet from above for my afternoon run, but my wheelchair gloves were saturated by the time I finished as there were so many puddles around.

I'm not surprised you want your own copies of Now and Then - I saw it online just now and am very impressed - poignant on so many levels

Sorry about the continuing bathroom issues Good luck with that I did a clean today so hopefully have sorted out the midgy fly issue I did have a different sort of rude awakening this morning, though, as I got a phonecall half an hour before my alarm time It was a local number, but then I discovered it was a cloned number and was actually a 'Microsoft' scam call I decided to make use of the extra half hour, anyway, so got quite a bit done, including some online training with a nice 'All of the above' answer in the quiz

I've got car insurance and some other computer work to do at the weekend, but hopefully there will be some time for redwing hunting too, yes I hope you manage to find a good parkrun I expect the local pub will put on a firework display, which I will appreciate better from inside my house

Hope you had a good bird watching session! Sadly my plans for parkrun went awry as my local parkrun was cancelled, where I'd hoped to go was cancelled and my back-up ideas were cancelled too - so I ended up going to a nearby one (Whiteley) that's a bit dull but was on, and doesn't take long to get back from (I had a lift from friends). I didn't want to go far as I am in charge of the children this weekend as it is puppet weekend festival. My wife's gone, I wanted to go - but the children really didn't want to so I've had to stay home to look after them They enjoy puppetry, but the club involves too much talk of finance and not actually using the puppets.

Sorry to hear about your soggy gloves - do you have a good supply of spares? Do you have different gloves for the time of year too? While my warmest gloves I can't cycle in as they're too thick to grip properly, I very rarely cycle anywhere for over an hour in winter so that isn't too much of an issue. But I suppose that when I'm cycling, my hands are less active on average than you in your chair - but is it enough to keep your hands warm? And of course there will times when you are outside but not actively moving.

Tomorrow promises to be a chaotic day in the office, which is where I intend to be.

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Glad you managed to find one parkrun after so many were washed out... Very sad that your children don't enjoy the club any more because it isn't enough about puppets...

Some funny moments with birdwatching, but overall good as the weather turned out better than expected. Another disappointing moment when someone was standing in front of the accessible window, but looking out of the non-accessible window through a telescope - I asked if I could squeeze through to the accessible window and he said, 'No' Luckily there wasn't anything particular to see, so I went to a different vantage point instead and got better views, plus a tame pheasant came to say 'hello'

Not the best with photography - there was a needle (bar tailed godwit) in a haystack of black tailed godwits, so that was a struggle, and the most annoying is that I saw a goldcrest and it looked at me, but I was so excited my hands shook so the photo is unrecognisable Will be funny for though 'Abstract on the theme of Joy at Seeing a Goldcrest'

I do have spare gloves, yes. Luckily the wet ones dried out quickly on the radiator, so that was no problem. I do have some gloves with full fingers, as the push rims can get very cold in winter and make my hands cold even though my arms are moving. My sister also found some very warm ski mittens for me - not ideal for pushing any great distance, same as you find, but they were excellent when we went to the zoo for the evening light display last year

Car insurance went well and the fireworks were not too disturbing so that was helpful (just a couple of bangs that made me jump, but overall relatively quiet).

I hope all goes well in the office today

I'm really sorry that you've continued to experience problem people while trying to enjoy birdwatching. I really don't understand some people, I really don't. There's someone in my team who is a bit of a bully, which I find more confusing than annoying.

That's funny that the goldcrest photo didn't turn out as expected, though hopefully next time

We didn't have many fireworks, which is good - but we are on the outskirts, with fields one side and the rail depot the other.

I was in the office yesterday, which is when they decided to move the Income Team into the office too, much to the consternation of those already in the office as we wonder where the desk space is supposed to be. Fortunately being Monday it wasn't too busy (not sure how crowded it would be today and tomorrow). I did end up sat next to the boss, so couldn't really sneak onto h2g2 There was an almighty BANG! mid morning as one of the large wardrobe-sized filing cabinets fell over, but fortunately no-one was squished underneath.

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