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

On Monday, Amy announced that she had quite a bit of stuff to do, so Carol and I were left to our own devices much of the time. I called my friend Andy, who had agreed to meet us that day, to sort out the details. This was more complicated than it sounds because we also had to sort out when Carol and I would be catching our respective trains, which meant finding out what time another Canadian friend could meet her in London. Phew.

Anyway, after another nice breakfast of fruit, porridge (I stuck my fruit in my porridge, Carol copied me), bagels and tea, the two of us caught the bus over to Roundhay Park. We wandered around the big lake for an hour and a half and I demonstrated my ineptitude with a camera. Much of the park was undergoing some sort of work, so orange netting abounded and the mansion was surrounded by one of those temporary wall things they use.

In my eagerness to be a good tour guide I may have been explaining things that didn't need explaining, indeed Amy had laughed at me the previous day for assuming Carol wouldn't understand the expression "ten a penny". However, I hadn't realised that a coot would be new to Carol. I lived in Canada for two years without seeing one, so perhaps I should have realised, but then they have a tendency to run away when anyone looks at them. The ones in Roundhay were less timid than most - perhaps they realised that there was nowhere within several miles that they could expect any solitude.

We returned to the Ant's Nest (I pointed out a Bagpuss in a shop window to Carol - our h2g2 nicknames had been mentioned), whence all three of us caught the bus into town. We said our goodbyes to Amy and went to Whitelocks to meet Andy and his lass for a sandwich and a pint (Andy had referred to this arangement as "predictable" on the phone - I happen to like Whitelocks okay? ). We had a wide-ranging conversation covering how the government tempts teachers in from abroad (Carol and Amy had talked about this before as well), Doctor Who and real ale amongst other things.

Then Carol and I said ta-ta and headed for the railway station. I went to find out what time the trains back to Middlesbrough were and it turned out one left in about five minutes, so I had to abandon Carol on her platform and run over the footbridge. Phew, a tiring long weekend. Fortunately I had a late start on Tuesday, as I was volunteering in the woods before starting full time work on Wednesday.