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

The video was funny - seeing the GPS line sketching out over the grainy landscape Not much detail, but still interesting to see.

Yes, that would make sense to add some sort of matting to make it less cold as well as hard

" open and honest feedback" - yes indeed!

Wow, that is a surprise to be invited to a wedding at such short notice - hopefully the logistics of getting there and back are smooth

Clever Milo learning how to use the cat flap, but good that he is staying nearby now after the previous mystery expedition. Good idea to be more cautious with Calico, as she doesn't need another one of those scary expeditions, either...

It's Queen Wasp Mystery Season again - this morning I was just at my desk when I heard a loud Buzz and discovered a wasp trying to get out via the kitchen window. My mum had four queen wasps exploring her kitchen last week, too. Mystery where they appear from, but luckily relatively easy to put them outside

Good luck avoiding the queen wasps.

Fortunately the logistics of getting to the wedding are quite simple; I'll walk for about 15 minutes, as it is the opposite end of Southampton's city centre from where I work, round the corner from the ferry. The wedding itself is intended to be a small affair with the bride, groom and two witnesses ahead of a larger celebration next month, however one of the witnesses is too ill to attend so I've been asked to be emergency back-up substitute witness.

Yesterday I had the day off to go to visit my grandfather. As the weather was so positive, and they've recently put bike racks on the Red Jet to allow bicycles to cross on the passenger ferry, I decided I'd cycle to my sister's. One annoyance with Strava is that when you do an activity and then click Stop, and Resume elsewhere, instead of having a new line begin where you resume, it draws a straight line between the two. This gives the impression that you were active where you weren't.
Fortunately my granddad's lung infection seems to be on the mend, though of course he is still bed-bound and unable to lean upright to drink without assistance. And definitely much thinner than before.

Today I met up with Chris who took her dog Cosmo for his first ever parkrun - there was a different route at Itchen Valley Country Park, different to what they've done before.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

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All quiet on the wasp front today so hopefully they have decided my boiler is not the best place to nest after all

Ah - that is good that you can be a witness as you won't be too far away

Interesting indeed about Strava - I did see your route yesterday, and couldn't work out what had happened on the portion of the journey over the water - I didn't guess that was what effect stop/resume would have... A tricky thing to handle - I suspect it thinks you'd only stop/resume if you were standing in one place for a while, but drawing a line between the stop/resume dots isn't helpful. On the other hand, if you left the GPS on, it would count the ferry journey as part of your cycling, which isn't helpful, either... Fascinating...

Glad your grandad has improved somewhat

Glad you and Chris and Cosmo had a good parkrun

Shopping was a bit worrying at first - we got the last Blue Badge space in the car park, so it looked like the supermarket would be really busy. It turned out that all the lifts in the multi-storey car park were out of order, so disabled people with blue badges had to park outside the supermarket instead. Not too busy once we got inside, and I got the items on my list quite efficiently

Apart from that I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning, which is satisfying - messy moving things around, but good to tidy up and tackle the dust Still more to do, but I'm pleased with progress so far. I discovered my nana and grandad's Canterbury that now stores my music books was a bit broken (some of the slats were loose), so I've done some repairs and gluing - that was also satisfying

There are two things I find annoying about Strava, and that's the first one. Not only when I cycle on the ferry but there have been times when we've run to the station, caught a train and then run when we've got off, and again that shows as a line from start and stop. A dotted line or line of a different colour would be an improvement. Sadly some challenges are to take part in a single activity for a specific distance or time, and so the only way to accomplish that is by having a continuous activity with pauses.
The other thing that's annoying is that you have to chose between imperial or metric measurements, but you can't have both. So I work in miles but Chris, being German, uses kilometres. So when we've gone for a run and she asks me how far we've gone, I have to try and convert (guestimate) miles to kilometres in my head.

Although as Strava gets confused under trees, I can't get an honest reading anyway.

Glad that you managed to get your shopping efficiently despite the initial concerns. And it sounds like a productive spring clean complete with repairing. I did a spot of spring cleaning on Friday too and cleared out my desk cupboard so that it is much emptier and tidier now. I also moved the door so that it opens in the opposite direction, so into the room rather than into the wardrobe. (I didn't find the thing I thought was in there, though....)

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Ah, yes that is tricky that some challenges don't work well with Strava's functionality - you either end up with a route that looks strange but meets the requirements of the challenge, or a number of different routes that look as expected but don't meet the challenge... Good point about the tree confusion, too...

True about the units of measurement - Garmin is even stranger in that regard, as it sets different challenges in miles and kilometres, but only measures in one or the other depending on the settings (although it will give you a 'make your mind up' badge if you switch your settings between metric and imperial for two consecutive events )

More spring cleaning done today, and definitely a good job done as I had some help to move the furniture around to clean underneath and behind Just need to put things back where they came from, in a neat and tidy fashion Glad you had a good tidying session too - excellent moving of the door, but unfortunate that you didn't find the thing. I found a cable underneath the computer table, but I can't remember what it is for!

Today is the day of my friends' legal marriage - as her parents are in Germany but immobile, they are having the ceremony their so they can attend, but to marry legally in Germany would require them to live there for over two weeks, so they are having the legal ceremony today. So that's taking place at 2pm today, which means I can go to choir first.

Yesterday the groom and I went out for a wild time of debauchery - we both had tea and a scone in John Lewis' cafe. Well, the way that we pronounced it, I had a scone in John Lewis, whereas Mike had a scone in Joan Lewis. I hope he's recovered from getting sconed and is in a fit state to get wed!

In other news, my old team at work has imploded in that they've had two resignations on Friday, and another member of staff is still on long-term sick since I left. The first resignation came when a friendly member of staff I'm very fond of said, "I love the job, I really enjoy working with most people, but one member of staff is making this a toxic environment and I can't work with him any more, so I've found another job at Tribal". Only for on the very same day the bully, our mutual nemesis, to similarly resign. I'll be honest in that I'm quite happy that the bully is going, though not my other colleague who I think very highly of. On the other hand, I think ideally what I would like to happen is for him to apologise and have the chance to bury the hatchet before he goes, though I don't think that is realistic.

The missing thing I need to find is my UK to Europe plug adapter, which I will need to use to charge things for when I go to Germany next month for the wedding. Still haven't found it, though my wife is taking some things to the tip to be recycled today while she's off for Easter, so that should make it slightly easier to look. I will try to spring clean my wardrobe this week, which has become more of a convenient place to put anything and contains more general stuff than clothes. Especially photo albums. And an increasing number of clothes no longer fit

Good luck in discovering the purpose of the mystery cable!

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"I had a scone in John Lewis, whereas Mike had a scone in Joan Lewis." - A scone in John Lewis is a fine idea for a stag do

That was a busy afternoon for you, to go to choir and then be a witness - I trust all went well

That is a shock about the resignations in your old team... So sad how it goes, that good people leave before the bully leaves, but I hope your colleague finds the move beneficial, even though the old job was enjoyable apart from the one member of staff... Yes, sadly I don't think the bully has the insight to think of apologising for past behaviour (eg the incident when you were ill) but hopefully the working environment will heal quickly in his absence...

That is typical that you can't find the adapter when you're looking for it, whereas I found the mystery cable and also some meeting notes that will be very useful for a meeting tomorrow, and I wasn't even looking for them! Good luck with the search, and with the spring cleaning of the wardrobe I made good progress with putting things back where they came from, but in a neat and tidy manner, and I plan to do a bit more of that tomorrow

It was a very good day yesterday, I can confirm that I had plenty of time to go from choir to the wedding via the record shop, and as we arrived early we were encouraged to pop next door to the Dancing Man, a brewery held in the 13th Century Wool House, which used to be the old Maritime Museum but is now one of the closest pubs to the Isle of Wight ferry, so I've been there fairly often (usually with Daniel): http://dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/the-wool-house/
The ceremony itself was lovely, though Chris was very nervous. Fortunately it was just the four of us (bride, groom, two witnesses - oh and two registry office staff). As well as a witness I was the photographer. (Don't tell anyone but at one point I was given Mike's wedding ring to hold, so I quickly snapped a photo of it in my left hand before I passed it to Chris to put on Mike's finger - so the photo of a ring that the bride put on is in my hand

After the wedding everyone went home so that the happy couple could walk their and feed their , and we later met up for a very nice, posh meal in a restaurant in Winchester, having changed out of our wedding finery. So all in all a very good, happy day.

In other news, since yesterday I now have a much tidier, less full wardrobe and the garden is also looking managed. Still not found what I was looking for, though...

Glad that the meeting notes were useful, was the mystery cable handy too?

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Wow, that was excellent that you had time for record shop and brewery pub as well as choir and wedding Great to see the pictures of your hand, etc

Well done on doing the tidying but that is strange that your adapter hasn't turned up yet... Will be typical if you get another one, the one you already have will appear...

The mystery cable hasn't been useful yet - I had a look in a wardrobe today and found some devices, but none with that particular connection... Thinking just now, it might be the cable for a dictaphone-type thing that is in a different wardrobe - I will try to look for that tomorrow

The meeting notes were very useful, anyway - good to see how much progress has been made with various software systems since 2021

I spotted a code on the cable and searched for it on the internet. The cable was for my first digital camera - instead of taking the SD card out, you could connect the camera to the computer via USB to view the pictures

Sounds like a productive day - you've untangled the Mystery of the Curious Cable and I finally found my missing adapter under the stairs.
Now you know what it is, will it be useful? Is it a cable type that can be used for other things? Our first cameras were similarly able to be linked via a cable - I've looked it up and I think they were USB Mini B.

My news for today is that I went to the opticians to collect my new glasses . My distance glasses are good and do all I want them to, making it much easier to read and other activities I need to be able to see to do, but I'm very disappointed by the VDU glasses. I tried them and it seems that a very small spot in the middle of my vision is in focus, maybe 15-20% of what I can see, directly in front of me, but 80% of what I can see is a blur. If I look to the left or right, everything becomes a blur unless I only move my head and keep my eyes looking straight ahead. So I can't see myself using them.

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Congratulations on finding the adapter I still do have the camera, so I put the cable with it - not sure it will be of any use, but anyway it is indeed satisfying to have untangled the mystery

That is sad about your new VDU glasses - sounds like they made a mistake in not curving the glass correctly to allow clear peripheral vision... OK computer is mostly straight ahead, but eyes do move to read things on a screen, so 15-20% is not enough... Tricky - like when my optician forgot to add part of my prescription to one lens - we can say the view is not clear, but it is hard to convince them there is a problem and not just that 'you need to get used to it'... Glad your distance glasses are up to standard, anyway, as those are important for everyday.

I hope you all have a good weekend. I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow - Burton Mere is struggling as they have only got one manager at the moment instead of two (related to the wider troubles within the RSPB) so there is nobody to cover weekend opening of the reception hide

Here's something you might be interested in http://www.bhf.org.uk/WalkforHearts - you can win a medal (but not a penthouse) and it can link to Strava

I hope you are having a good weekend whatever you're getting up to.

Yesterday I went on a club run to Thoulstone parkrun in Wiltshire, which was celebrating their 9th parkrun. It meant that I've now done 75 different courses and completed my name badge challenge On my return home we went out as a family to Moors Valley Country Park, which had had a fire last week but is fully open, and we enjoyed an ice-cream and a ride on the miniature railway.

I've also finished polishing and assembling my latest , so that's awaiting the arrival of the draft, which is always exciting. And I'm still delighted with the new scanner, which is living up to expectations so far. Definitely worth it.

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I did have a good weekend, as the weather was bright and dry. Amusing at the supermarket, as we accidentally cheered a member of staff up. Like Souvenir Programme, we have a family 'dialect' so when my mum saw some Aloe Vera cream, she said, 'Allo Vera' and we laughed - the member of staff started laughing, too, and it made her day as she is used to people being more miserable when food shopping!

I also managed to get into a local art exhibition - a rather flimsy platform lift took me up into the exhibition room, so it was a bit scary, but worth it to see the variety of art, including some from local schoolchildren I particularly liked the moonlit scenes

It was quiet at Burton Mere, apart from some not-exactly-polite people who were sitting at the accessible window looking at their phones. They moved to one side slightly when I approached, but didn't let me in to sit at the window, so I just had to look over their shoulders Pleasant to get out and about, anyway, and I saw some Martins - I will look at my photos later to see if I can tell whether they are Sand Martins or House Martins.

A strange thing was that I went to get in my car, and my key beeper didn't work. Luckily the key itself worked, so I could open the door and start the car. When I was away from home the key beeper worked fine. When I got home again, the key beeper didn't work again... I discovered there is such a thing as a key jammer device, so I wonder if someone was in the area with one of those yesterday... My key seems OK today, anyway, so hopefully it will stay that way

That is shocking about all the fires Glad you all were able to visit and enjoy the railway and icecream

Congratulations on completing your Name Badge Challenge I like the shape Thoulstone made on Strava For a new parkrun, it looks to be quite busy, from the stats - good to see it being well supported

Also congratulations on finishing - glad the scanner is serving you well

Sounds like you had a good weekend, braving the terrors of flimsy lifts to enjoy and appreciate art, even if you weren't quite able to appreciate the martins as well as you should have. It does make me worry about the standards of basic, decent behaviour.

Wasn't there an advert a few years ago where someone said, 'Ello Vera' when advertising Allo Vera toilet paper? But definitely a huge positive that you spread some happiness and laughter.

Also strange behaviour with your key � does it also impact opening the boot and other doors? Hopefully it was just a one-off. Is there a reason why someone would use a key jammer?

I must confess I was very disappointed with the AI comments this time round when completing the book. They were virtually all 'A comic of a person talking to a person' nondescript descriptions. There was one 'A comic of a person dressed as a police officer' which involved a policeman and I wasn't sure why they made a point of saying he was dressed as one, but considering I've made up the police uniform and isn't the right colours or right insignia I'll take as a compliment, and the weirdest one was 'A comic of a person and a dog' when there wasn't a dog. It was set in a shop which had dog-branded toilet roll on the shelf, although that was a small background detail that I was surprised it picked up on.

Thoulstone was indeed a pleasing two-lap course around a field. Did you spot the map that I uploaded onto ? It also shows where the brand-new parkrun in Hampshire is, right under my very nose.
The week after it started it had to be cancelled as a local farmer made a dirty protest and blocked the course with a giant pile of manure, which seems rather odd behaviour.

In other news, I've been given permission to organise a work staff trip to the Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in November, to coincide with their Christmas event, so that's exciting. I hope to get that done soon so that I can ensure that places aren't sold out.

My wife and children have gone up to stay with my father-in-law for a few days - tomorrow will be 3 years since my mother-in-law passed away, so we don't want him to be left alone on the day, although Easter Saturday will also be odd as that was the day she passed away.

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Yes, it was a good weekend overall, even with weirdness. My camera was in a not-helpful mode, which partly explains why it was making photos look grey, and it also started focusing strangely in the last couple of weeks - I've changed it now and hope that fixes it The main casualty of that, though, was my photo of the Martins - between the grey tinge and focus blur, the Martins were completely invisible against the grey sky. Based on location, I can guess the ones at Burton Mere were Sand Martins, and the ones near an old school further up the Dee Estuary were House Martins, so I have added them to the 'Seen but not photographed' part of my bird list, and will try again later in the season

Yes, it was strange about the key. There was a bit of a neighbour dispute a couple of days ago, but it would be strange to deploy a key jammer as a result of that... I didn't need to try the boot or the passenger door, so I don't know if they stayed locked when I used the key in the driver's door lock, but I do have a button inside the car that activates the central locking, so that would probably have fixed it. Hopefully the problem was a one-off indeed

Tee hee - I found the advert http://archive.org/details/persilaloeveraliquigeladvert I don't remember it, but it could well be partly where my mum got it from! Yes, good that it amuses!

Today reminded me of another family funny, as the weather changed - when I was young I got car sick if I read a book or played with toys, so on long car journeys we would listen to audio books instead - one audio book was the Mr Men and Little Miss. In Little Miss Splendid, someone had been food shopping and then said to Little Miss Splendid, 'Looks like rain.' - she said, 'Looks like sausages to me.' Now when it looks like rain, we say it looks like sausages

That's good that your wife and her father will be together for the anniversary and will look after you

I don't know whether that is an 'improvement' of the AI captions or just it being basic... Funny about it spotting the dog on the toilet roll in the background, though! Interesting about 'dressed as', too, but good that it recognised 'police'.

I saw the map That is odd behaviour that someone objected so much to some people enjoying a run on a Saturday morning That was an excellent Name Badge you completed

I had a good evening at the Horticultural lecture - interesting talk about woodland plants and a good chat with various different people

At least you get to enjoy a nice, long weekend. Do you have plans? Tomorrow I'll be meeting up with friends in Pompey and my family's returning, so two things to look forward. I've also got an interview on Arwald's Day next week, so that doesn't really count as something to look forward to.

Sorry to hear you had camera issues, but hopefully it will decide to be helpful and colourful next time.

And the horticultural lecture sounds like it was really positive too - do you have accessible woodlands near you?

Though the family have been away I've not really had any time at home alone as yet. Yesterday I went for a run with my friend Mrs P, and we stopped in a pub where we met up with her brand-new husband. At the moment she quite enjoys the novelty of being called 'Mrs P', but I'm not sure how long it will last.

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Yes, will be good to have a long weekend off work. I plan to meet some Octopus for a Preemie colleagues tomorrow, as I have made quite a few comforters recently Burton Mere reception will be closed for the weekend again, I think, but it might be good to go there anyway and see if I can catch the Martins with my updated camera settings

Arwald's Day will be challenging here, too, as I have a potentially-difficult meeting booked in, but hopefully it will go better than anticipated and enable all the key decisions to be made without too much conflict All the best with your interview

In the meantime we have a few days off from all that - glad you've been keeping busy out and about and will be meeting friends as well as your family

Woodlands aren't generally the most accessible habitats for my wheelchair, but I have been to a few. I visited the Formby Red Squirrel Reserve quite a few years ago, and that was a great day out. Delamere Forest has a Segway trail, so that was a good surface to run on. One smallish one on the Wirral was more difficult terrain as the tree roots made the path too lumpy. There are some woodland areas at Burton Mere, too - the one at the entrance is good to see, and the bluebells were starting to bloom last weekend, so should be looking lovely this weekend

Hello - hope your easter weekend is going well! Did the meeting your octopus for a preemie meet-up go well? And have you photographed Martins? Do let me know!

My family's back safe and sound, though apparently my father-in-law has completely replaced almost all his furniture in the last year, so he no longer owns few things he had when my mother-in-law was alive, so my wife came back carrying 3 lamps that he was about to tip that her mother had chosen. Not sure where we'll put them. An annoying thing is that things he doesn't want he'll take straight to the tip to go to landfill, even if working perfectly. I was brought up the completely opposite way of waste not want not.

Yesterday I met up with my school friends in Portsmouth and we went to Gosport to visit a brewery's tap house called Powder Monkey (you've probably guessed my friend's main hobby by now), which is located next to the 'Explosion!' museum. Which we thought 'we're next door, I wonder how much it would cost to pop in?' only to find out that it was £36 each, which we felt was a tad overpriced to look round just a small museum, even if technically part of the Portsmouth Dockyard.

Meanwhile there's been exciting news for the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, in that they've bought the former Ashey Station building. Of course to put it in use they will need to restore the line to the old Up platform (as they use the Down platform and a shelter) and they will actually have road (well, narrow lane) access there, but still an exciting development.

HAPPY EASTER!

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