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

Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia – October 21, 2006

We stayed here with friends two months ago. Since then we have spent time exploring the Blue Ridge mountains, Pennslvania anthracite mines, the Finger Lakes and the Thousand Islands areas of upstate New York and watching the leaves change in Vermont and New Hampshire. We’ve been playing three or four sets of doubles tennis here every day. The leaves in Virginia have begun to turn scarlet, red, yellow and orange.

A nice thing about retirement is going to the movie matinees during the week. We saw “The Departed” today with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. It was well worth the matinee ticket price. Most of the audience were seniors who hobbled slowly out of the theatre, blocking our way.

The lake is virtually vacant during the week. It is surrounded for the most part by vacation homes that are only occupied on the weekend. The people that own these homes have assets that they park in a second home. As investments they have done well over the last three or four years. What makes this area especially attractive is very low real estate taxes and cheap hydro-electric power. I’ve always wanted waterfront property and always felt I was late to the party.

The gloom and doom sentiments causing weak demand for lake front homes has sharply dissipated in the last two months. The impact on consumer sentiment of gas prices falling from $3.12 to $1.99 has sharply boosted consumer confidence in a short period just in time for the mid-term elections.

We requested absentee ballots from Florida several times over the last two months, but they never arrived. It’s our fault for being registered as Green and Democrat. We will have to return home to vote.

The situation in Iraq is grim. A respected scientific think-tank doing a cluster sample estimates that 600,000 Iraqis have died in four years, ten times the official US estimates. I’ve only heard one possible viable option for avoiding an even bloodier civil war. Perhaps we could divide the country in a federalist scheme with great autonomy granted to Shiite, Sunni and Kurd regions and mass transplantation of non-conforming populations. One wishes that ethnic partition had occurred to the British when they dominated the region. Why does this remind me so much of the French colonialist legacy of mistakes in Indo-China?

On the bright side, Terminator 2 was shown on TV last night without commercial interruption during a rare period of insomnia. One only wishes that the US Presidency did not require the candidate to be born in the USA. I’d trust Arnold to pull us out of this ridiculous dilemma. But, let’s see if democracy really works in two weeks.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time" - Abraham Lincoln

"Yeah..well..maybe" - Formerly Phred




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On a more cheerful note, I've been forgetting to tell you that your calendars roaming days are over.

You got the calendar? Thank Allah! It was becoming a spiritual drag. I was afraid you might think I was putting you on...

Yes, it arrived I'm-not-sure-how-long-ago but I was just made aware of it recently. Thank you.

See, not everything is bad.

I was researching Bushco's ancillary war planners, Perle and Wolfowitz, as well as Bremer, and I get the impression that these 'astute professionals' missed the boat completely regarding the occupation of a conquered state. Mistakes were made from the outset, and Bushco have nobody but themselves to blame.

Unless they wanted to establish a killing field. They've succeeded in that.

We should start taking in Iraqi refugees. They've begun the exodus....

You sound sad.

Autumn leaves falling.

I hope you got my farewell message. Is it possible to say farewell to friends?

It has started getting very cold. What happened to that unfortunate young man who flew his aircraft into a builidng.? It apparently was a gust of wind. It seems odd to be able to fly between tall buildings. Dangerous I would have thought.

I have not been to a cinema for yoincks!

Regards to you two. Hope you get to vote.

CME.AR1

Hi Christiane,

You can't really say goodbye...some people fly into buildings by accident...some do it on purpose...

I have nothing to be sad about...every reason to be happy...

Thanks for the kind thoughts and good wishes...

-Phred

So glad you are not sad!

I could only look at one picture of those old gravestones that you found. the one of 1909.
Then it was impossible to click forward.

It looked like a different webcam.

CME AR1

Iraq seems to have crash-landed. Maybe it's got something to do with the up-coming elections, but the situation seems appalingly grim at the moment.

I'm reminded of the Iraqi Minister for Information "Comical Ali" during the last days of Saddam's rule telling everyone that "It's all ok, and we're defeating them in the streets as I speak". Now the shoe seems to be on the other foot.

It's a god-awful thing to say, but in the long run it may just be better to let them sort it out themselves.

Oh dear!!

I have just lost the first copy of my posting to you when I was editing it. So this time you hopefully will forgive the typing errors. Yesterday I also lost a long journal entry!!

I have been searching for the entry that you made on the hair episode. It made me realise that your dear Mrs. Phred has been through a lot and obviously you have both gained in sttength from it. thank you for sharing it with me.

Today I went to see my cardiologist in London. He had diagnosed my problem twelve years ago after I had spent ten days in a local hospital, on a heart monitor and having my blood tested every two hours. When I came out of hospital with the doctors saying that I had to have a stress test in two months time I still could not walk, or talk without losing my breath. This wonderful man saw me, ddiagnosed me, and two days later I was in a private clinic in London having a double bypass for an aneurysm in my left coronary artery!!. So for me this guy is special.

Today, after examining me, he said that the thought that the healthiest part of my body was my heart!!.

That was great news.

I do hope that your proposed visit to Mrs. Phred's friends is going to be in Spring next year. then we can meet. And you do know that you will be more thatn welcome to have accomodation with either my son or myself. We are only 35 minutes from Nodnol by train.!!!

I wish you both well. Hope to be able to read some more of your travels soon.

Kind regards

CME AR1

Colors in KS. There are no native "red" trees in our area. The only native red is sumac, Virginia Creeper vines and Poison Ivy. The rest of the foliage turns a beautiful golden color led by the cottonwoods. There are lots of Osage Orange (Hedgeapple trees) in this area due to the planting of shelter belts in the forties and fifties. They are the last trees to turn and more often than not are so late they just turn brown. The golden cottonwoods rule the color scene in rural areas here.

We have a pin oak in the back yard that turns red as well as a Bradford pear. The cypress turns a beautiful shade of rust. The river birch in the front yard turns golden. I guess what I am trying to say is that the red foliage in our area is planted and usually in yards.

Hi Christiane,

That is great news about your heart. Mrs. Phred's doctor says she will die of something someday, but not he promises it won't be breast cancer. I'm very happy for you.

We are now planning to meet old and dear friends in Rome on April 30th and travel with them for twelve days down to Sicily. After that we have other very old friends who expect us to visit them in Ankora, Turkey (I'm not sure I know how to spell that)...we only have three or four weeks so I'm not really sure how practical it would be to pop in for tea wiyj you in England...

But let me talk to Mrs. Phred...who knows?...maybe...England is a lovely place to visit in the Spring...

If/when you do vists, Phred & Mrs. Phred, you'd be assured of a welcome here...

Spring is a fine time in the 'Dale - the Early Purple Orchids* being one of the highlights - hope you make it in 2007.

Cheers ed.

* e.g. http://eclipse2006.real-science.org.uk/ has a couple of pictures of a later-blooming species at top of page...

Thanks Ed....I have another online friend, also a physicist, who lives on a sailboat on the Scottish coast...small world...I think we were there a few years ago....maybe we can make the spring trip more extended now that we have no jobs calling us back...

Depending on the date for the spring meet, (my personal vote went to Ap. 28 which is h2g2's b'day), you and Mrs. P might be able to join the gang in London for a bit of merriment.

That would be interesting...we haven't purchased our tickets yet...so it could be so...London is a great place to visit...I would definitely plan to leave flowers on Captain Bligh's grave...in honor of another great navigator and misunderstood middle manager...

The final decision about the date for the meet will be on Dec. 1 or 2nd. So, I haven't bought tickets either. Course your plans are quite a bit more complicated than mine. But it would be fun to have an American contingent present. I'm fairly substantial, but I don't even think my bulk qualifies as a contingent.

I hope to be a shadow of my former self in the near future...It's so easy to bulk up...

I see halibut, salmon and fresh veg in your future. It's certainly easier to put on than it is to take off.

Seriously, if you're going to be in the general vicinity, it would be great for you to attend the meet. Not that Rome is that close, but it's closer than Tampa. Is the 30th set in stone as a date to be in Rome?

Yes...the 30th is a firm date to meet in Rome...I see internet cafes in the near future...