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

Yes, this is indeed a case of

Sorry to hear that another colleague has passed away. Today we received Maxy's cremated remains returned, complete with a certificate of authenticity.
Also funnily enough I have to go back to the bike shop as I realised on my way home that they had put a different bottle cage on, that isn't my bottle cage. Mine was a colourful metal one, while it has been replaced by a flimsy plastic one.

Had you heard that though four Goodish episodes were recorded, only three will be broadcast?

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Sad but comforting that Maxy is back home

That is disappointing about your bottle cage - I can't imagine how that would have happened... I hope you get your metal one back without any trouble

I hadn't heard about the 'Curse of the Egg Wall' but I found the e-mail from Dave Gorman's mailing list and read about it this evening. That is disappointing for DG, but hopefully interesting that they will put snippets of unseen footage on U. Sadly I haven't thought of that presenter as a 'cult hero' since I met one of his girlfriends on a train to London some time before 2014 - she was very busy getting drunk before she got there...

I've been watching the Miraculous animated series on iPlayer this week - it was funny that the last episode crammed a lot in, as they were rushing to tie up almost all the loose ends in case another series wasn't commissioned. I literally lost the plot at one point, when they introduced characters I didn't recognise (as I missed a few episodes in previous series) and changed the rules from previous episodes so more than one Lucky Charm could be used on the same day, speeding up the battle against the villain, but it turned out to be an overall happy ending as expected

It is indeed sad an comforting that Maxy is back. His ashes came in a box tastefully decorated with a little message saying something along the lines of 'Always in our minds and much loved', something like that. Inside the box was the little wooden casket which actually contained the ashes, a bottle of clippings of his fur and ink paw prints, which was a very thoughtful touch. Plus a certificate of authenticity essentially saying, 'this really is your dead cat'. I'm not sure about that, is it just me or is it a bit tacky? And meaningless as anyone with a printer could make it, the internet's full of things being sold with fake certificates.

Anyway, I went back to the bike shop today to sort out the bottle cage, which holds my bike bottle on my bike. I had a nice, aquamarine metal one that's outlasted 3 bikes, but on the way home two days ago I noticed my bike had a flimsy plastic one. I also noticed today that a couple of other things, such as my panier rack, looked off, but couldn't for the life of me work out why a broken chain would result in these changes
So when I arrived at the shop today I asked and found out that as they were waiting for my new chainset to ship from China, they'd had a couple of sessions where they'd taught youngsters bicycle maintenance, how to take things apart and back together and, well, my bike was used for demonstration purposes. So my bottle cage was taken off and my panier rack was taken off and muddled with other bikes, so when things were put back on, I ended up with different ones. I like the idea of my bike teaching others useful skills, but I do wish they'd asked, or at least kept better track of what was actually mine. Still, I got my bike bottle cage back (and to make up for it, they let me keep the one that they accidentally gave me so I now have two, so if I ever do a long ride I can double-bottle. Although I only have one bike bottle). And I previously had the cheapest panier rack that money could buy which had also been on numerous bikes before, and was slightly bent now, but been replaced with a newer, lighter one with a spring. I'm not sure the point of the spring, but it goes 'boing!' when lifted. And I now also have a kickstand, which I didn't before. I've only ever once had a kickstand (the one held in place by a rubber band), and it had seemed a better idea in theory than in practice, when if you ever want to put your bike anywhere you pretty much have to lock it rather than leave it stood on the kickstand, but it may come in handy.

Unfortunately after double-checking I've not had any e-mails from Dave Gorman since the time I purchased the show tickets, which would explain why I didn't know the new series was on. Not even in Junk. So I've resubscribed, but would you be able to forward me the one I missed, please?

My son and I have enjoyed watching 'Miraculous' on Disney+, but I note that on iPlayer they only seem to have odd episodes across odd series, so series 5 begins with episode 5, followed by episodes 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 23-26, so no wonder you missed characters.

Hope you have a great weekend!

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I listened to the last episode of Souvenir Programme Series 9 this evening, and it was as poignant as the first three episodes, as the threads looped round... Absolute genius of John Finnemore to craft something so clever and relatable at the same time... 'Stranger on the Shore' is my dad's theme tune, and it's so true how even car sickness can become part of the family history, as well as funny traditions that spring up from random events.

The timeline was helpful to get a different sense of the threads, and the link here http://johnfinnemore.blogspot.com/2021/06/how-to-listen-to-series-9-of-john.html was also helpful, to see how each episode unfolded.

That is lovely about the box containing so many mementos I guess they thought the certificate would be helpful, but I can see what you mean about it being tacky as just a printed piece of paper, and 'certificate of authenticity' isn't the right thing to call it for those circumstances, either...

Glad your good quality bottle cage was able to be restored to its rightful position, but wow there was no way we could have imagined what happened there... That was very disappointing that they didn't think to ask you first, and they weren't more careful with your belongings... At least the lighter panier rack is a bonus

That was strange that you were somehow unsubscribed from Dave Gorman's Mailing List after going to the show, but anyway I'm glad it was straightforward for you to resubscribe, and there was just the one e-mail you missed so I forwarded that no problem

Yes, it was very strange on iPlayer that at first they only had Miraculous Series 5, and then Series 1 and 2 were gradually introduced. The first few episodes of Series 5 have now expired, but I did get to see them before they went (although I don't know why episodes 12-22 expired before episodes 5-11 ). I saw other episodes on the Pop channel when it used to be on Freeview, but didn't always see them in order depending what time of day I found them. I thought the ending might be sad because of being about love and loss, but it wasn't sad in the end because I didn't really follow what happened. Total opposite to Souvenir Programme...

The weather has turned cold today, but at least it's dry, so might be promising for birdwatching I hope you all have a good weekend, too

I didn't mention that on my way to the bike shop yesterday I saw a broken-down , which was in the process of being rescued by a breakdown lorry, which I took a couple of photos of as you never know when a photo or two of a being rescued might come in handy.

Thanks for sending the Dave Gorman e-mail, I've not read it yet but will do so.

So is Pop no longer on Freeview then? As we don't have any telly reception I must admit I've not looked.
I did see the Miraculous finale with my children but can't really remember what happened if I'm honest.

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"you never know when a photo or two of a being rescued might come in handy." -

Yeah, every time I am forced to do an update on my TV, the channels move around and some disappear - Tiny Pop went first in about 2019 (which was sad, as I used to enjoy that for Molang and other cute cartoons) and then Pop disappeared about a year later. These days I mostly watch iPlayer, but thankfully my TV still has UDave channel for Goodish

The ending of Miraculous Series 5 was that the villain was reunited with his wife, whom he had kept in suspended animation for x amount of time since she had become ill (although he pretended she had died). Then there was a flash of light - he was dead, she was alive and well, and nobody seemed to know that she had even been missing for x time...

I had a productive weekend - the birds didn't come out to play while I was ready with my camera, but I got my car cleaned up after its mudbath, so that was good

And today my copy of book 18 arrived Is that the matt cover option? A fascinating texture. Laugh out loud moments already and I've only looked at a few pages so far I do enjoy 'Perform under pressure', and I like the 'trail of instruction'

Glad to hear you had a productive weekend. For me, March is the perfect time to order Christmas CDs - there were some Christmas CDs I'd wanted in November, but they had sold out then and were silly money second-hand, whereas now there's plenty in stock.
On Saturday it was sunny, so I thought I'd try putting the washing on the line to see if it would dry. It didn't.
Then on Sunday I also tried drying the washing outside, and it didn't dry then either. But the good news is that at least over the weekend the kitchen was free from washing.
We also went to the garden centre, where my daughter took photos of flowers that she will later draw for her art school GCSE. And we also got a plant pot for the that we will use for Maxy.

Thank you for ordering 'Hiya Education' - I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far. Yes, it is a matt cover, as I thought that might work better for the blackboard effect I was hoping for.

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Aha, yes the matt cover is a good texture for the blackboard

INCHES is a neat acronym - the Joint Committee missed a trick, there Not surprising OfS didn't go for OffHed, though

Funny but not funny about loaning people money they would have got at a future point in time, because they are desperate now...

Building The printer out of puce Impressive background detail as usual - clever car brand

Sharp satire about the three Rs...

The fridge scene reminds me of the new fridge we got in an office some years ago - to keep the food at optimal temperature, if you opened the door to get some milk and shut the door, the door wouldn't open again for 60 seconds. Surprisingly difficult, causing many queues at tea-time... Not sure it was as effective as intended, as it just meant people got into the habit of leaving the door open for many minutes while the tea making was taking place.

Love the logo sneaky Hot desk Cleverly done with the feedback scene - I can hear that as I read it I like the sneaky scene where the teaspoon gets taken, too

Congratulations on the successful CD ordering - fascinating about pre-Christmas prices being so different, even for second-hand.

Yes, tricky about the weather - good to see some sun, but the air temperature is still chilly.

Glad you had a successful trip to the garden centre, too Excellent that your daughter gathered some inspiration, too

That sounds like a really bizarre fridge Potentially a good idea in theory for the home, but definitely unhelpful for the office.
I must admit I always got annoyed by our washing machine, which would stop spinning and doing the wash cycle, but not let you open the door until a minute later.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the and found much of it funny. How do you think it compares to the previous uni ones? I think it is stronger for not being dominated by the bully, although it is narratively disappointing that after the previous one ended with adamant determination not to end the strike, that is never mentioned again, but that's the way it has been. Our Union Rep became an MP and nothing's been organised since.

The printer out of puce scene - just in case you wondered, apart from 'I am out of puce' and changing the word 'mission' to 'printing', every line HAL says on that page is a line of HAL's from '2001: A Space Odyssey', whereas Chris' line about puce is from 'Santa Claus: The Movie'.
Some of the background details, such as the car company, have appeared in other drawings but not yet made it to print. I've now done 83 pages in my 100-page main story book, 46 pages of my Christmas and related odds and 9 pages of the next uni . Oh, and 20 pages of running themed doodles, with the last one done 18 months ago. What will make it to print next? I've no idea, 'cos it all depends on what ideas pop in my head to give me inspiration

I had good fun yesterday at work ordering Tankfest tickets. Last year only 3 members of staff wanted to go on the staff trip I organised, this year within 24 hours of the tickets going on sale I've 17 takers.

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Ah, yes - my washing machine is the same, seeming to stop but not yet being finished - would be helpful if it gave a fanfare or something when it was properly ready

Yes, this book does have more of a balance between funny and sharp satire, whereas the bullying scenes were sharp and recognisable, but gave the other book a different 'flavour' as a result. Impressive that you have a number of themes on the go - interesting indeed which one will make it to the print line first

I had some pancakes last night Not the best, sadly, as Mum and I used a pan called a Pancake Pan, but it was too big or something so it dried the pancakes out more than cooking them. Not bad, though - the pancakes went well with baked beans as the sauce helped to give the pancakes the right texture I didn't have any pancakes last year, so it made a change, anyway

I had a funny scribbly Strava session today - it said my run averaged 14mph, which is a bit much - the GPS went on a run without me

That's excellent about the Tankfest trip - word must have spread that it is a good day out

I missed Goodish on Monday, but watched it on catch up this evening - the crossword section was very good indeed

Diarrhoea saves the day!
Not a sentence I write often or sentiment I often express, but accurate on this occasion nevertheless. So yesterday my daughter and I were walking the cats about 4pm, I was in the garden with Milo while she was in the alley with Calico, when a jogger ran by and scared Calico, who ran right into number 84's garden. I went round behind this garden, called her names and shook treat packets and after a time knocked on 84's front door to ask if she was in their house or garden. 84 has on one side a really tall fence that Calico wouldn't be able to jump, but on the other side a short one to 86, and so she could have moved closer to our house and into our immediate neighbour's garden or under his shed.
84 are friendly neighbours who are renovating - they're the ones who have dumped the pile of masonry in the alley, there's a young couple and two kids. Mrs 84 wasn't home but Mr 84 was and he and his children (my guess would be 8 and 4? Even though that coincindetally looks like 84 too) looked in their garden and said they looked everywhere in their house, but found nothing.
The children thought it was great fun, running up and down the lane shouting, 'Cally - co' which probably would have terrified her more... But they were trying to be helpful.
So we spend a few hours going up and down the lane looking, until 7pm when it was too dark, and we saw Mr 84 again. He said he'd been keeping his front door open for us in case she was in his house, which I thought was unhelpful as she's never been out the front and would definitely be lost, where there are cars too. Whereas if she was hiding in his house, at least she would be both safe and contained
After 7pm it was too dark to stay out so we kept popping out to look and call for her, but didn't stay out. As my daughter was convinced that she'd run into number 84 and that seemed the likeliest answer, as when she's been scared before she dashes indoors.

So that was that, we kept looking until going to bed about 11pm. At 11:20pm ish we had a knock on the door. Mr 84 said that he'd just been brandishing his chainsaw in his lounge (seriously, who uses a chainsaw after 11pm? Or in their lounge? Or has a chainsaw?*) when he noticed a truly terrible smell. Calico was hiding behind his sofa and had covered both herself and their newly renovated floor in diarrhoea. So he came to our door, my wife went and got her and she really was covered, legs, tail, back, and shaking like anything. But she's home.

And Milo keeps giving her a wash, which is sweet.

Glad you enjoyed the Goodish episode - that was one of the two I saw live! And that you enjoyed pancakes nevertheless. I must admit I made some and enjoyed them with honey and lemon.

Oh, and congratulations on doing a Richard? Bannister and near enough running a 4-minute mile I've genuinely done a mile in 6 minutes back when I was thinner, fitter and younger than I am now.

I've also had a letter about cousin Charles.

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* Don't mention what a chainsaw was invented for

Wow, that was a scary episode for you all and poor - glad is now safely back home in a house without 11pm chainsaws... Strange behaviour of your neighbour, both leaving unhelpful doors open and wielding chainsaws indoors, but thankfully the diarrhoea saved the day indeed! Glad Milo is looking after her

Would the chainsawing at 11.20pm have disturbed the neighbours? It is in our block of flat's regulations that we aren't allowed to play gramophones etc after 11pm, but the walls are quite thick, so the only thing I hear from my next door neighbours is switch clicking if they use the electrical sockets on the side walls. The ceiling is less noise absorbent, so that can be a problem (eg when I didn't know my former upstairs neighbour had two children until the children started play-fighting one day and sounded like GBH ) but thankfully not too bad in general

Yes, a 4-minute mile would be impressive if it were true, but I'm certainly no Roger Bannister on wheels Will be interesting to try Strava on a nice downhill slope to see what speed I get, but I think 14mph is a bit ambitious when my average is generally less than 3mph. A 6-minute mile is impressive

I didn't know what chainsaws were invented for, but I looked it up - interesting, as one might have helped to prevent me from becoming disabled, but no matter - I don't know any different so I wouldn't be me if I wasn't a wheelchair user

I meant to say, I did recognise the lines in from '2001: A Space Odyssey' (even though I haven't seen the whole film) and I particularly enjoyed your depiction of 'Daisy, Daisy' I haven't seen any of 'Santa Claus: The Movie', so didn't know the line about puce - that's interesting to know

Interesting that you have received correspondence about Charles, as it has been a while since the commemorative event

Glad you enjoyed your pancakes For Lent I am giving up doomscrolling, as I have been doing more of that than is good for me lately - at first it seems like a good idea, to get a moment of comfort by looking at a few bird pictures on twitter, but for every one bird picture the algorithm gives me three hate-filled/skewed-statistic rants so it is more discomfort than comfort (the more comfort you scroll for, the more discomfort you get...). Going well so far - I have tidied up my e-mail inbox and enjoyed looking at RSPB newsletters, and I have been doing some spring cleaning in the house as well. My plant needs some attention after the winter, and I have a list of odd jobs to be getting on with at the weekend

I hope you all have a good weekend

Fortunately all our cats are home and so far it has been a delightfully uneventful weekend.

Our neighbour at 84 is friendly, but they do have strange ways. I think it was them that set off the unexpected firework last year, and they have essentially flytipped their rubbish in our lane behind the houses. I'm also sure that it is against the law to make loud noises after 11pm, but whether or not the neighbours can hear I'm not sure, as we have a house between us and them, and 86 don't really speak to us. We are an Edwardian terrace and the walls are reasonably thick, I can't hear my neighbours apart from when they're in their shower, where the wall between our houses in the bathrooms are the extensions.

Ah, Roger Bannister! I knew it was a Bannister, but not Minnie Bannister, of course.

For Lent I've given up chocolate, crisps, biscuits and fizzy drinks, but doomscrolling sounds like an excellent idea too to spend time more productively. Good luck with the spring cleaning.

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I hope your weekend continued to be delightfully uneventful

Food shopping went OK for me on Saturday - learning the new layouts helps to make it more efficient again I did a bit of charity shopping as well The weather yesterday was lovely so it was good at Burton Mere - not muddy for a change. Lots of birdsong, but not easy to tell where the sounds were coming from, so I may or may not have added to my list The highlight was frogs and toads exploring good sites for their spawn - I'd never seen so many out and about before

Good that your neighbours are friendly, but sad that they aren't a bit more thoughtful if it was them setting off unexpected fireworks etc... That's good that the walls are thick overall. Tricky with showers, though - does remind me that my neighbour's water meter is on the other side of the wall of my bedroom, so I do hear that fairly regularly - on Saturday morning I dreamed it was a large toy clockwork silverfish running around the house until a cat caught it and switched it off

The doomscrolling temptation was strong at the weekend, as I have been in the habit of doing a lot of that on Saturday/Sunday mornings this year, but I did some preemie comforter crocheting instead, which was much more productive indeed

A bit of drama here this morning - I have noticed over the last few weeks a number of fire engines have been using the road outside my house to get to incidents, so I listen out for the Doppler Effect as they go past. Today the fire engine didn't go past - it went to a neighbour's house instead. It didn't stay long, so it sounds like, whatever the incident was, it was concerning but fixable