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

Glad to see on the CB that you had a nice holiday. Never been to Malaga (or was that just where you flew into?) but would like to go one day.

Anyway must go and enjoy this lovely weather we're having.

Bye

Anna

Hiya Anna,

Thank you for your message.
Yes, Malaga was where we flew in, we were actually staying in Benalmadena. We had a self-catering appartement, it was in a lovely position and very luxurious and we enjoyed all the time we had there. Trouble was, it was too bloody hot. We felt we couldn't just lurk inside all the time, but each time we set foot outside we were complaining of the heat and just wanted to lie down.

But we had a lot of fun.

Have you travelled a lot? I haven't actually, I so like my own bed. But going to the Costa del Sol is like being in England with the heat turned on. Everybody spoke English and my friend was amazed that I wanted "Spanish" food. Didn't know what I meant. There was roast beef and yorkshire pudding, roast lamb and mint sauce and braised steak on every menu in every restaurant. I expect a lot of people like that. I didn't hear a word of Spanish until I asked a man to translate a few words for me. He was delighted, made his day.

Yes, lovely weather to-day. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hi

Welcome back to sunny England - though it sounds like that's where you went on holiday!

Don't get me started on the type of people who go on a foreign holiday just to hang out in the "English" parts! I mean, apart from the guaranteed hot weather - what's the point?!

Hi

Glad you agree with me. My friend couldn't understand why I thought it was funny, roast beef, braised steak, spotted dick, you name it.
But if you asked the people who go there all the time I suppose they would say: The weather. There they were, lying in the sun, getting red, getting brown, all day long and then, in the evenings the cheap food and drink.

My friend is a lovely, warm person, we just have different tastes, you don't really know until you share a holiday together, do you? We shared an appartement and I'm glad to say we're still friends, after all that.
Warm here too now, isn't it? I really should be gardening, but there's no shade in my garden, so I'm hoping for a dull day this week.

Bye for now

Hi

Thank goodness it's sunny today (Tuesday) for the transit of Venus across the face of the sun - first time it's happened for 122 years.

Couldn't face another wash-out like the last solar eclipse. Had my "pinhole camera" ready then, but I could only use it for about twenty minutes of sunshine. I did get to see the weird reddish-orange sunlight at the peak of the eclipse (which was only a partial eclipse in Suffolk).

Going home soon to try & work out how to operate "News Multiscreen" on Freeview, so I can see Venus on TV for the rest of the morning.

Hi

I think I'll just watch it all on the T.V.
I went to France to see the eclipse, it was very exciting. There were hundreds of coaches and we all sat on a huge hillside. It was very quiet, until the actual eclipse and then people cheered. It was very eerie, everything was grey. We had these special glasses but I didn't keep them, wish I had.

Been gardening all morning. Too hot, really.

Keep stopping for a glass of water. Then had two phone-calls and 2 visiters, so still haven't accomplished much.

I've got Freevieuw, didn't even know we had a multiscreen news thingy, must investigate.

Hi

The news multiscreen is one of the options when you press the red button on BBC News 24 (Freeview channel 40) - not very impressive as it only seems to show 2 pictures, on the top & bottom of the screen.

Have to try out my red button in a few weeks when Wimbledon starts. I think there's usually a choice of 4 or 5 matches on Freeview.

Do you remember when Freeview first came out - Sue Barker used to say "Press your Red button to view the other courts".... and several non-Freeview viewers became very annoyed because they kept pressing their own red button (the OFF switch) and guess what happened...!

Re: older vs. younger players - nowadays I prefer watching the Wimbledon seniors doubles with McEnroe, Henri Leconte and Mansour Bahrami.

Rich

P.S. My copy of "the Bees" still hasn't arrived at the library yet - I think maybe a few copies have been nicked from other libraries but the Web catalogue doesn't show it.

Morning

I'll talk to you while I have my coffee, afterwards I must get out into the garden again.
Overcast to-day, but much better weather to work in.

I used to have the "red button" when I had Sky, but I gave that up because since "the boards" I watch very little T.V. and it didn't warrant the £40 a month. I thought I would spend the money I saved on Broadband, only to be told that it isn't available where I live.

So I got Freeview, but there are several buttons which say "No service". I don't know why.
One day I'll have a word with the supplier, but there's bound to be a silly reason. Trouble with living out in the sticks.

"The bees". Our Book Group wanted another book which wasn't available and the librarian recommended "the bees" and said it was very popular with book groups. None of us had heard of it but we went along with it and the books duly arrived. 8 copies, from all over the district. So maybe that's going on in your area as well.

I'm reading The Good Wife" by Elisabeth Buchan. I'm enjoying it, it gives an insight in politician's private lives. Have you read it?

Yesterday I received a book from my cousin in Holland, my Birthday present. She never reads any fiction and this one is called "We are not alone" by Monique Moller, I think a Dutch writer. It is a spiritual book, I haven't started it yet, but there are quotes from Bhagavad Gita and Dante and Shakespeare. I notice there is a lot about death and the afterlife etc. The author says in a forword that she is only quoting other people.
Well, we'll see, but I sometimes think I've heard it all before and I still don't know what to think.

See you, Rich.

Hi

I don't usually read books about politicians - unless it's the U.S. President in a thriller or crime novel. Will look out for Elisabeth Buchan.

Just looked for Monique Muller on the web - no books on Waterstones web site and only two out of print books on Amazon. Obviously, that writer hasn't made it to the "translated into 14 languages" mainstream.

I'm currently reading "Their Wildest Dreams" by Peter Abrahams - a domestic financial thriller about a woman in Arizona who is landed with a $100,000 IRS demand because of her ex-husband's shady property deals. She goes to work in a strip club on the Mexican border, not realising that the DJ is mixed up with her daughter's boyfriend, who is 12 yrs older than the daughter...

Stephen King recommends Peter Abrahams as his favourite American suspense writer - but the thrills are a bit "gentle" so far, halfway through.

See you

Hi

"The good wife" is a novel, really, it just so happens thewife in question is married to a politician and she is doing her best to fit in and be a "good wife". But I can imagine the real world of politics is a bit similar. But then, I suppose, no different to having to live up to being the wife of the Managing Director.
I was in that position myself and I don't think I made the grade, I was just no good at buttering up people.

My husband got there without me, anyway, but at "do's" I was a bit of an outsider. It didn't help that my husband never talked about his work after he left the office. He could just shut it all off and relax and enjoy his home-life. But it also meant I never had any idea of what was going on.

For me, the main part was that my husband was happy, that was good enough for me.

The book my cousin sent me is written by a Dutch author, but I couldn't imagine it being worth translating. My cousin has a strange spiritual attitude. She doesn't believe in God but asks help from the "Universum". Not sure what it's all about. All I know is that she's a wonderful person.

Do you never come to the CB any more? Or have I just missed you?

Bye for now,

Hi FBN

Look under "Dave the Democratic Donkey says 'Hey kids...'" for my latest bothering of the coffee bar...

I meant to borrow the crime novel "The Scold's Bridle" so I could join in with this month's Radio 4 Book Club yesterday - but I forgot to take it out and read it. The Radio 4 discussion group was very careful not to mention the identity of the murderer - but they did reveal the SEX of the muderer, and also which of the six suspects WEREN'T the murderer, so...

The most interesting part of the discussion was the author Minette Walters's lavish praise of her OWN writing abilities... Perhaps she believes (as Stephen King does) that a novel is a "found object" like a fossil, and the writer's job is not to create but to REVEAL a hidden story. Therefore Minette was heaping praise upon the fossil she "dug up." Or maybe she's just a bit egotistical!

No such arrogance next month, as the R4 Book Club choice for June/July is "Mort" by the unbelievably modest Terry Pratchett.

Have a good Friday.

Hello

Are you a Terry Pratchett fan?

One of my friends has read all the Disc books and because I wanted to know what it was all about, I bought the earliest one I could find, which was "The light Fantastic", it is the second one of the disc series.
What an enormous imagination and wit that man has. My trouble was that I do most of my reading in bed, before I go to sleep and I found I had to concentrate hard to keep up.

Have you read "Mort"?

I've only read one of Minette Walters' books and I can't remember what I thought of it now. All I know is that I don't make a bee-line for her books in the library.

I wish I'd kept a list of all the books I've read and the authors and a short commentary. But one's taste changes all the time too, don't you think?

I tried to have a look at the CB just now, but I can't get in. "This page cannot be displayed " keeps coming up.

I'll give it another go.

Bye



Catharina

Hi Catharina

No, I'm not so much of a fan of Pratchett's books (though I like the bloke himself). I read his first one in the mid-1980s when I belonged to the Science Fiction Society in college - many of the SFSoc members were early Pratchett fans, but I thought his humour was a bit too unsubtle. I even saw TP at the annual college SF convention in 1987... if only I had bought all his cheap early books and got him to sign them, they'd be worth a lot nowadays. His early signed books are easy to spot because his signature has changed so much over the years.

I will be reading my late father's copy of 'Mort' - he was a big Pratchett fan, as are my 20-yr-old and 12-yr-old nephews.

Talking of 12-yr-old nephew... This morning (Saturday 12th) - he is due to appear on a certain satellite TV "Network" which shows "Cartoons" all day. He entered a competition run by the channel, which involved phoning for a membership card with a lucky number on it.
And lucky him - his number was shown on screen last Saturday morning, he phoned the TV station and found out he'd won that week's competition!

So, 2pm last Wednesday afternoon, my sister & brother-in-law were at home to greet a camera crew, a horde of American PR people from the Network, and actors dressed as Dexter & Deedee from "Dexter's Laboratory", with a big banner across the house, waiting for my nephew to come home from school at 3.30. The prize was a "truckful of toys" - actually a large box containing a bike, TV, DVD player, rucksacks, blow-up chair and various pieces of merchandise.

My sister & nephew were interviewed for local radio & newspaper, and the film should have been shown on the Cartoon Network this morning! No doubt we will see all the photos when my sister visits next.

terminal session running out, so I'll have to go...

Richard

Morning,

How exciting!
And how wonderful, all those "toys". It just shows, we should enter these competitions, we never know when it's our turn.

I suppose it'll be on the Channel I've just given up on. I thought it was too expensive, I paid £40 a month and hardly used it at all.

It's a lot cloudier here this morning and I'm hoping for a shower so that I don't have to water the garden, but I'm not holding my breath.

Lots of washing and ironing again this morning, just having a coffee to see who's about. The CB is empty!

See you soon,





Catharina

Hi

My sister had the camera ready, Saturday morning, to take a photo of her son's filmed appearance on TV... Of course, TV coverage was just 5 or 6 seconds of photos of the event, so that the other viewers wouldn't get bored & switch off before the next cartoon! Oh well, sister did take 60 photos on Wednesday afternoon, and there was local radio & newspaper coverage too.

Nephew won 41 prizes in total, including a Playstation 2, remote-control car and skateboard. The same prizes were also given to the nearest branch of the National Children's Home, so that the TV station could justify giving away so many expensive prizes, and get some good charity PR for themselves.

This morning: currently playing on the CD player in the library: 'Breakfast in Bed' by Dusty.

I've just taken back the classic 'Double Indemnity' by James M. Cain - the type of book I should've read at age 16 when I first became a Stephen King fan. It's obvious that King borrowed a lot of his writing technique from Cain. Hope I can find 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' too - the library has put up a special display of "books-of-the-films" this month.

Sunny & mild here in Suffolk, but too much daytime sport on TV, so no time for a riverside walk this afternoon. Brother-in-law has gone on holiday with his motorbike buddies to watch the Le Mans 24 hr race this weekend. I expect the trip has also been cunningly timed to include a visit to an English-style pub this evening for the match.

Hi FBN - saw you're online this Monday morning...

I was going to post on the CB that I had TWO pumpkin shoots yesterday and ONE more this morning... But those figures are probably in bad taste!

Rich

Hi

Yes, I wanted to wish Jen a happy birthday this morning .
It's very hot and close here this afternoon, so friend and I are going to settle down with a game of....cards.

Are pumpkin shoots something like "pheasant shoots"?

Have a good day.

I should be at my Book Group this p.m. but I've called it off.

See you soon,

Hi

I'd forgotten about the American "sport" of blasting pumpkins with shotguns (and also throwing over-ripe ones off tall buildings...) But my own "pumpkin shoots" are more to do with flowerpots and compost:

"Pumpkin" : (1) A large orange gourd related to the musk melon; (2) Ball thrown without spin that hits soft.

"Shoot" : (1) A stem or branch and its leaves, especially when young; (2) To score a goal or basket.

Funny - I entered "pumpkin definition" on Google, and most of the entries were for that sporting terminology.

I see you all enjoyed Clive's pool yesterday. I haven't been in a swimming pool for maybe 18 years, as the chlorine tends to make my eyes water. Didn't learn to swim until I was 16 (and then only a clumsy breaststroke) because of my lack of confidence & bodyweight in the water. I wasn't helped by my original school swimming teacher being a total screaming ******* where kids were concerned.

Read 180 pages of my first John Grisham yesterday, the latest paperback "The King of Torts."

Stupid title for a book, and the plot is similar to the movie "The Firm," but I was thrilled to find that Grisham is a superb writer. No matter how unbelievable the plot becomes, Grisham makes it all totally convincing while you're reading it.

Hi

How are the pumpkins? I think "pumpkin" is a lovely word.

Spent all day gardening, am completely exhausted now. I've hardly had any time at all to read the last week or so. Haven't seen any T.V. either apart from the footie. Did you watch this evening?

See you again soon.

Hi

My pumpkin plants are all in their own individual flower pots now - each one has three leaves with a fourth one growing out of the centre.

I've grown them quite late. The seed packet said to plant the seeds from April to mid-June... ALSO the soil must be kept at 20 to 25 degrees C. My bedroom window-sill wasn't warm enough to get the seeds growing until early June, so that's a lesson for next year's planting.

I hope, if I get actual pumpkins, they will be fully grown in time for the end of October. I usually buy a 5 lb pumpkin to add to apple pies & also make pumpkin soup.

Not so keen on football myself - this is due to ten or twelve school years of me being ridiculed by schoolmates because I was useless at playing the game & never knew all the scores of the Saturday afternoon matches. Also I have a low opinion of a certain tattooed moron from the England team. (Don't tell the rest of the CB...) Of course, if England fail to qualify in this round, there will be major damage to town centres across the country.

At the moment, I'm reading the thrillers of Harlan Coben (two of which I found in the local Oxfam shop for £1.99 each, as new).

I accidentally read the latest of Coben's "Myron Bolitar: Sports Agent" novels by mistake, so now I know all the Bolitar family secrets which have been held back from previous Myron novels.

Pretty good read. The plot of "Darkest Fear" twists every-which-way, and the author loves making fun of the worst cliches of adventure fiction. At one point in the novel, Myron says a particularly melodramatic line...and then waits to hear if there is "DUM-DUM-DUUUUMMM" music in the background!

Also, it seems the author HATES soccer!

Hope you enjoyed your birthday. Cool weather here today but still none of the much-needed rain.

Rich