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

On my way into Manhattan to meet a friend yesterday, I ran over the sharpest, most evil thing I've ever seen in the street. It was a part of a screw, about one inch long, with a nasty hook at the end. When I found it, it had gone through my tire, through the thorn-proof tube, out the other side, and into the rim tape underneath; I had to put three patches on there at the corner of Avenue C and 10th Street. Luckily for me, it was immediately obvious where the puncture was, so I didn't even have to take the wheel off the frame. The tire was ruined; one of the patches blew in the bike shop so I scraped it away and put a larger patch on in its place. If anyone ever asks me what could puncture a thorn-proof tube, I've got the screw and I'll show 'em!

hey there grown up, I hope 4 year old. I don't remember too much about listening to the h2g2 radio program but I know I did. I opened your site because of the 3 initials you posted as your moniker. I am JLC the TTP. I have not figured out how to post my moniker since I just arrived at h2g2 yesterday, but I do have a journal entry on if you care to read it. It's not much just something I had to write for EH 101 and since it contained childhood memrobelia i kept it.
I also liked the pleasant way you asked for replies in your posting. We are all reaching out to the cosmos to see if there is any intelligent life out there. Here I am.
Cute title "Nine Inch Screw.." one could think pop culture, i.e. Nine Inch Nail or go for the more adult content of a Nine Inch Screw, sounds like a woman's dream.
Commenting on your bicycle ride, you are definatly a guy, a woman would not be caught dead changing her bicycle tire in NYC on the street corner. I have lived in NYC - Manhatten - in SoHo on Jay St. right next to the World Trade Center off Houston, that's pronounced How ston. I was in SoHo just when SoHo was just SoSo, it had not reached it's artistic cult stage yet but was just beginning to blossom.
I want to get out and ride my bicycle here in a fairybook town on the Gulf Coast of AlablessedBama but I can't find my helmet. I think your survival story of patching up in the street will motivate me greatly. I am beginning to feel like a confirmed agoraphobic so thanks , I need the motivation. The streets of Fairhope, AL are very safe, I'm sure. In fact, I have declared AL the most over policed state in the Union. Even that could not stop the perhaps first rape on Fairhope Beach this past Tuesday. It also happened to be Election Day and all the local Barneys - that's a euphamism for policeman - were at the city complex watching the approximately 3500 people coming in to vote. Those with inquiring minds want to know who counts in this town. In fact they want to know just about everything. I must excuse the few mispelled words in this posting... memrobelia & euphamism, I could look them up but I'm lazy, just figure them out phonetically and accept them. I used to win spelling bees but now speak French fluently ,read and write Spanish and have studied some Japanese, Greek and Arabic so spelling is not one of my strong points anymore.
I am amused that some seem to think that NYC is the center of the universe and should become its own industrialized nation. Certainly the French think that no other place exists in the US. They are a centrist people with Paris and all. One could make excuses for them till the day is gone but for all their fake politesse (politeness) they can't excuse anyone or thing themselves.
Well I'm rattling on. Just thought you might like a reply. Enjoy that beautiful weather in NYC. Nothing like fall in NY. thanks again for the bike riding encouragement. I know now that conditions are ripe for me here and I will be riding soon.
Yours,
JLC the TTP

Hey there jlc--nice to hear from you. You're right about the tire-changing on the corner; i've never seen a woman doing it. Funny, huh, how much stuff you miss every day. Which part of Ala. are you in? My cousins used to live there, near the rocket center (Huntsville?)

If you want more crap about flat tires, check out my guide entry on it--it's on the side there under flat tire fix.

Anyway, welcome to h2g2. I'll be by to your page presently.

I guess that was a freudian slip, you Nasty one-inch screw. I won't be changing any tires, bicycle or otherwise. Men are good for some things and I figure if they can't take care of my car they don't need to be in my life. though I don't aspire to be a SAP, southern american princess, I do like to quote Ms. Blanche DuBois in a moment of crisis: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers..." (long sigh and fluttering of eyelids) That's from A Streetcar Named Desire, playwright Tenessee Williams, another great southern writer. I am presently trying to update my introduction in my personal space and have submitted it for peer review. It explains that I am located in Fairhope, AL, that's just across the bay from Mobile and I'm originally from New Orleans, LA. Great talking at you, as they say down here. Bad grammar used to really aggravate me but its like a secret code down here in Lower Alabama to let those in the know that you are someone to be known. It's really a riot how seriously people take themselves down here. I have to go over the bay now, not across, across they bay is an expression you would use if you were a nouveau riche newcomer to Fairhope. Simply not one of the elite or of the old southern aristocracy. To pinpoint where I am in AL, I'm about 3 miles from Point Clear, otherwise known to those to be known as Mullet Point. I'm going to look up C St. and 10th, on the eMap feature of my iMac. I'll check to see also if my intro has been updated. Tell me more about you and your corner of the universe.