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

Funny but not funny how things kick off on a Friday afternoon, but the IT Team were very helpful so all was OK - someone asked me to access the database for an urgent task, and I discovered it wasn't working, even though I had tested it on Wednesday I discovered some pieces of software that I had watched the IT technician install on Wednesday weren't installed after all Luckily reinstalling them fixed the problem, so I could do the task and log off on time

You made a good point about the wheelchair probably getting worse (once one piece of plastic breaks off, more is likely to follow) so I made plans this afternoon - I discovered that there is a company near me that sells this type of wheelchair these days, so hopefully they can help me - if possible, will be much better than paying the $$ callout fee for the other guy who is based miles away, as the transport costs will be so much less...

It's a good job I hadn't set my mind on doing the round-the-Island Randonnee this year, as that is this weekend. Hopefully I'll get my bike back this week - I hope so, not heard one way or the other though.

Glad your upgrade all worked out in time in the end and you were able to complete the urgent task.

Good luck with the tide timings. This weekend we're likely to take my son to the cinema and we have some puppetry at a nearby village fayre to do on Monday - though I'm more doing the sound that puppeteering, I'll sneak a bit in. It'll be outdoors (though possibly in a marquee) so we'll have to see how that goes, and how noisy the fayre is overall. They'll have a main arena so we'll have various activities including, apparently, duck herding to contend with.

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I was successful with the tide timings, but it wasn't how I imagined it - the website I was looking at talked about all the birds we could see on two islands at high tide, but the tide wasn't high enough to create islands. Still pleasant, anyway as the weather was bright but not hot.

It was funny getting there - I looked on the map and decided I had to turn left after the roundabout and then follow Station Road all the way down to the coast car park. When I was driving, I turned left and wasn't on Station Road. I drove through a picturesque village, but then thought I had better turn round at the next side street - lo and behold it was Station Road! The return journey was much easier - I saw where the road had split after I turned left on the way there, and I had taken the right hand fork by mistake.

I hope you had a good day today All the best with the puppeteering tomorrow - I hope the outdoor/marquee venue is OK for sound indeed I hope you get to look around some of the fayre as well - duck herding sounds unusual!

Glad you had a pleasant day, despite the lack of islands, and weren't too hot. And you enjoyed an unexpected scenic route.

Unfortunately the weather has resulted in my grandad being back in hospital through being dehydrated - he isn't able to drink unassisted, and his home carers tend to see him at about 9pm and then not again until 11am, which in this weather is a long time to be left unassisted.

Thanks - yes, the puppeteering is on Bank Holiday Monday, so I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

And just over a week to go before I head to the continent to my friend's wedding, which is exciting.

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The puppeteering looked good from the photos I saw on I hope all went as well as hoped, and you got some time to see the ducks, etc

Sorry your grandad is struggling again because of the warm weather leading to more dehydration All the best

My sister visited to do some jobs for our mum that I can't do, eg fixing the bird feeding station. We went to a funny cafe for lunch - at the front it was a burger bar, and at the back it was a tearoom. An unusual juxtaposition of styles, but the tearoom food was very good.

I plan to go out this evening to a talk about the Eden Project - should be interesting, as I went there with my family not long after it had opened, so the plants were relatively small

The talk was brilliant in more ways than one The last time I went to that particular Village Hall, it was the first Saturday in July 2019. Apart from a couple of hand sanitiser dispensers and a Covid health and safety notice on the wall, the Hall was exactly as I remembered it I met the President of the village gardening club, and he remembered me and the beautiful Freddie Mercury Rose that I had brought with me the last time I was there. The talk was all about the beginnings of the Eden Project, and the speaker was excellent - no notes, no slides, just bringing the scene to life with words

Monday was an interesting day - the field we were in is quite large, and most of the stalls and the main arena were on the far side, while we were at the opposite end next to the pavilion, with a big empty gap in between. So that was a bit odd. We were by the yellow and blue 3s - but there wasn't a red 2 or 14, so where we were we could see the backs of the stalls arranged around the arena: http://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/page.php?PgID=873085&ClubID=651

We had three 15-minute performances inside a blue marquee, and the first one it was drizzling, but we still attracted about 30 people we're told (I couldn't see, you see) and that worked quite well. I did a bit of puppeting but mainly looked after the sound. The second and third performances, though, the weather had changed to sunny but very, very windy. So windy that the marquee kept trying to take off and the stage was all-but blown down, so we were trying to perform while holding onto the tent and stage with any spare hands. So that made it quite a challenge.

I didn't see any ducks there at all. There were ferrets, but the ferret races clashed with when we were performing.

Glad that you had a good weekend and enjoyed some good food, and indeed an enjoyable talk on the Eden Project. I've never been there, but would like to. It has apparently got a particularly iconic parkrun, and was of course where they filmed 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.

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Well done to all for putting on the shows in tricky conditions - not easy anyway, but extra challenge to batten down the hatches in the wind at the same time!

That was a shame that 2 and 14 weren't there so you were rather isolated on that side of the field, but glad you got some audience

Wow, the Eden Project parkrun is a very scenic route, but it is expensive to get into the site to run the parkrun - more to see than when I was there in the early 2000s, though, so not surprising that the price has gone up

The funny thing about the Eden Project is that it is the only parkrun in the country to known to have ever had large numbers of 'parkrun spectators'. Runners doing the parkrun get in to the Eden Project free, and there used to be the case where they also allowed in people accompanying the runners, so word got out that if you wanted to get into the Eden Project for free, all you had to do was claim to be a 'parkrun spectator' and you'd get free entry (!) Not any more, which is fair enough. And still a nice perk if you are running. And the Eden Project is in the top five most iconic parkruns in the UK, along with Bushy Park (where it started, and I've done), Fountain Abbey, Somerdale Pavilion and Severn Bridge. (That's not an official list, just the ones that seem to get mentioned the most).

Talking of parkrun, as long as I wake up and leave the house by 6:30am tomorrow, I hope to do my 75th course and 450th parkrun next to Heathrow airport at Northala Fields. And I'll be back in that vicinity again this week as I'm off to Germany on Tuesday, back Sunday (well, effectively Monday) for my friend's wedding, to Zweibrucken in southwest Germany. Flying via Luxembourg. So that's exciting.

Do you have weekend plans? If I get back in time from parkrun there's a little VE Day celebration in the town centre I'll have a look at.

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Hope your weekend is going well!
I managed to do the parkrun (which was my 76th course, I'd obviously lost track of one somewhere) along with the running club. And when there I met up with my friend Roasted Amoeba and his son. He lives in London, and was my housemates along with Peregrin, so we've known each other since 1998. I thought to myself that as London is where he lives, and the parkrun is in London, there's no harm in mentioning that I was heading that way and if we had a chance to meet up it would be fantastic, and if not at least he knew I was thinking of him, so positives either way. And it worked out, so we had a chat and run. We were told there was a tradition of finishing the run and then running up a nearby hill to get a perfect spiral on Strava, which I intended to do. Unfortunately afterwards there was a weird degree of faffing and we had to have our photo taken with either random running clubs, but never quite worked out why, before I was able to ascend the hill. Only my Strava mucked up and it doesn't look like a perfect spiral at all - others in my group had it look perfect though...

And I made it back for the VE Day celebration, which I thought was disappointing as it was just the Saturday market but on the recreation ground rather than their usual spot, plus a bouncy castle. Plus a couple of jeeps. Not even British Second World War vehicles like a Bedford. Oh well, at least I've Tankfest to look forward to next month.

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Congratulations on your 450th parkrun and on adding another new course to your list - that was excellent that you got to meet up with Roasted Amoeba as well

A shame about Strava messing up the spiral for you - I can't see the spiral on Strava, but I see it on the parkrun page

I didn't have any plans for the weekend, but found random things to do and they turned out well. Supermarket shopping was super quick for some reason, so mum and I went for a walk to Betty's Bench A88015854 The journey to the supermarket was funny - the last time I went to that particular one was when I saw the 3 yellow Nissans and this time I saw 4 yellow Vauxhalls Two were Corsas and two were Adams. I saw another yellow Corsa twice today as there was a traffic jam, so it went past us in one direction, then did a u-turn and went past us in the other direction!

Today we went to the beach and did a quite nice 1 mile run that Strava recorded cleanly. For many years we have noticed there are two disabled parking spaces in the middle of nowhere in particular and today they were the only available spaces as the beach was very busy. We discovered that another reason the spaces weren't used is because there isn't a dropped kerb to get on to the promenade from there. Luckily we found a lowish kerb that mum was able to help me with, so were able to do the walk that was otherwise accessible I heard some Skylarks, but will have to see later if I managed to actually photograph them

Sorry the VE celebration was a bit of a damp squib, after you made a special effort to get there. There was a classic car show here, and that was unexpectedly popular - over 400 classic cars turned up, plus so many visitors they blocked up a whole roundabout and part of the motorway! Luckily we were going in the opposite direction to get to the beach, so we weren't caught up in it, but we weren't surprised that the yellow car turned round.

Ah yes, at present the spiral is on the 'only I can see' because of the privacy settings where the start and finish of any activity I do is hidden. It'll show when I put the screenshot on , which won't be before next Tuesday. That's because as the monitors in the office are bigger, I get a bigger screenshot if I take it there rather than here at home.

400 classic cars sound like quite a celebration! I wonder whether an Enfield 8000 was among them?

That sounds like very poorly designed parking spaces and a complete lack of joined-up thinking, but good to hear that you made it regardless.

In other news, for the last couple of years, on the first Saturday in December my sister and I have gone to see the Mediaeval Baebes, but tragically they're not coming this year So we were disappointed by that, until yesterday when my sister phoned me at 11pm to say that Steeleye Span are going to be on the Island on the first Saturday in December - proper Maddy Prior Steeleye Span. So we're going to see them, which means that the Baebes' absence is all working out after all.

That'll be all for now. I'm leaving home at 1am in order to get to Luxembourg for 10am tomorrow morning, so travelling overnight.

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Ah, yes that will be interesting to see your GPS when you can take a screenshot - on Strava it is just a green blob, whereas on the parkrun page I can see the path up the hill

Yes, I found some photos showing a good variety of cars at the show http://www.facebook.com/groups/5588274811205738/?multi_permalinks=24001498209456785&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&__cft__[0]=AZVFmgt_9X7oZvZ4ZYFAa5ZuWlOETQAc_gjHENP7bJdM555JieJa1-njjG1_W7ZOd77KgcbuWwfxPl1VsCDf6iryLSvayEFd12sTeC5EaZx-AOM0svFUgkUfIPkMGkdZLWSpors37abP3vfKqjVbjJmeNNuz9u0gplj1oYBoHJix2A&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R I saw mention that there was also an accident on the motorway on Sunday, so no wonder the traffic was bad... Plenty of people managed to get there, though, and look to have had a good time as the weather was pleasant

That is a shame the Mediaeval Baebes aren't doing their usual December date, but that is great that Steeleye Span will be there instead Sounds like that will be an excellent show

Wow, that is a bit of an epic journey for you to get to the wedding - I hope all the transport goes smoothly and you manage to catch up on sleep I'm sure everyone will have a good time!

Hello - I'm back! Did you miss me?
It was a wonderful week away, if unnecessarily dramatic with the missing suitcase issue (but at least I can look back at that and laugh now). I'll be trickling photos onto this week, but I'll start with my first impressions. Zweibrucken is a lovely large town, very picturesque with its Rose Garden and horse stables in the heart of the town. It is funny as all along Chris has been saying her town is quite small - but it turns out to have a population of 35,000. My home town, Sandown, has a population of 10,000, and that's among the larger towns on the Island. So to me, Zweibrucken is quite massive, even if no Chicago or even Southampton.

In the shops, they all have people behind the counters, supermarkets do not have self-service checkouts at all (except at fast food restaurants), whereas there are cigarette vending machines absolutely everywhere! So it felt as if we'd gone back in time to the early 90s in some ways. Another thing I noticed is that there were virtually no cyclists in Zweibrucken, so that was a complete change from being in the Netherlands - but there were a reasonable number in Speyer, which I visited on Friday (not got to that part yet). Zweibrucken is fairly hilly, and the few cyclists I did see were all on a cyclepath following Zweibrucken's river, which is a flat route. I think there were more cyclists for enjoyment rather than commuting.

So, tell me all about what you've been up to - and I'm afraid I'll probably go on about my time away for the next couple of days at least...
Thanks for the car pictures - I saw some classic cars this week too!

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Hello! I did miss you here, but was glad to see your check-ins on Strava etc. That was scary about your suitcase going on a different journey to you, but glad you were reunited quite quickly.

That is a good question about the sizes of towns - my nearest town has population 15,000, but eg the town of Birkenhead on the Wirral has population 110,000, so 35,000 is middling in that sense, but it is all relative indeed.

Good to see some of your photos - a picturesque town indeed I look forward to seeing more photos as you go through the days of your trip and I look forward to hearing about the different excursions

My week was quite quiet (more waiting for other people) but I did get the foot health check that was recommended at the talk for people with CP that I went to the other week. As promised, the podiatrist had no problem accommodating my disability, and the health check was good (making sure the various pulse points in my feet were all OK, and providing helpful footcare tips for skin and nails)

On Sunday I went on a Spoonbill hunt at Burton Mere and was successful thanks to someone who spotted the Spoonbill just before I was about to leave I also added Mediterranean Gull to my year list, so it was a pleasing trip.

I can imagine you've been tired today after getting back home late last night - I hope you feel more refreshed tomorrow, and don't have too much trouble with jet lag

Ah yes – thanks to the joys of Strava you could see where I was and what I was doing at all times. Ooh, now that I've put it like that, that sounds scary. The biggest annoyance with my suitcase going missing is that I unexpectedly had to spend €80 on clothes and toiletries which I hadn't budgeted for – BA didn't give me so much as a toothbrush - so that meant that for the rest of the holiday I had to be very careful what I spent and so couldn't relax when, say, buying meals. Annoyingly when I tried to make a claim, BA's website say unless luggage is lost, refunds are up to travel insurance and my travel insurance only covers complete loss of luggage, not when it is delayed.
Funnily enough, one of the shops I purchased clothes in was C&A, so that was a blast from the past. Another was called KiK, while the supermarket we went to most was Edeka. C&A was located next to the fountain in the pedestrianised square.

My definition of a small town (excluding Newtown, which was destroyed by the French in 1377 but still has a town hall and no people) is probably Yarmouth, which has a population of 900, and so is much smaller than the neighbouring village of Freshwater, whose population is about 5,500. Brading also has a population of 1,000. Funnily enough, the City of London's population is only 8,000, making Zweibrucken 4 times the size of the city of London by population (but dwarfed by the number of people who actually work in the city).

Very important to look after your feet indeed . Sadly my friend's father was unable to be at the wedding in the end as he has had to have his big toes amputated as part of circulation issues, with potential more surgery in the near future if his maggot treatment fails. So I'm glad to hear that you've had a good health check that was very accommodating.

Excellent news about the spoonbill spotting and putting a gull on the bill too.
And as there was only an hour's difference, there wasn't too much jet leg. Not on the way back, though I was tired on the way out as I left home at 1am and didn't really sleep that night until 9pm the following evening.

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Yes, it was interesting seeing your electronic trace while you were out and about - I see you had a good parkrun, too

That is annoying about the paradox of BA not compensating you unless the luggage is lost because travel insurance will compensate you, but travel insurance won't compensate you unless the luggage is lost... If your flight were delayed they would give you something, but if your luggage is delayed, I can't understand why they think it's OK to leave you with nothing... Aha - I think I found it http://www.britishairways.com/content/information/baggage-essentials/lost-and-damaged-baggage/making-baggage-claims - right at the bottom it says "Essential items such as toiletries and basics when a bag is delayed, up to a reasonable value (please keep hold of your receipts as we'll need these to assess your claim)" - when you click the claim link, there is an option "
Baggage and checked items > Claiming for lost, delayed or damaged baggage or checked item" - I hope that's it Tricky balancing the budget while you were out there, but hopefully you can get at least something back

Wow, C&A is a blast from the past - I used to love that shop, and got all my favourite clothes from there

Wow, that was sad that your friend's father wasn't able to be there because of foot problems - makes me all the more glad I booked my foot check last week and I send best wishes that his maggot treatment is successful

I had a good evening at the horticultural society - a talk about a secret garden. I have been past it several times, as it is near A87833875 but never knew it was there. I look forward to looking for it next time

Glad you were OK on the return journey without jet lag, but that was a long day for you on the way out... The only time I've ever stayed up pretty much all night was after a University conference in Canada - weirdly the jet lag on the way there was bad, so I had to go to sleep soon after I arrived, even though it wasn't that late in UK time, but on the way back the night was only 2 hours long because of time changes and it didn't bother me that much...

Good to see your photos of Day 2 Lovely variety of scenery, and a lovely paddling pool that you found