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

It's sunny at last! Birkenstocks and floral shirt weather. (we don't 'do' shorts in Scotland, though).

Now...I used to think that women had some magical trick they performed in summer...some wonderful way they had of enhancing their appearance. It's true...dresses are more low-cut, tanned limbs are on display.

But then I remembered spinach.

Spinach?!

Yup, spinach. You know how when you eat spinach, it makes your teeth feel peculiarly chalky? I could never figure it out. No matter how much I'd brush my teeth, they'd still feel chalky. Then I discovered that the small amounts of oxcalic acid in spinach deaden the tongue's nerve endings, causing the change in sensation.

So...the change is in the observer, not the observed. Summer makes me horny!

"I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes"

Not a positive contribution, but a damn good tune anyway

How warm is the average temperature in your part of Scotland during summer, for curiousity's sake?

It doesn't get (or stay) nearly as warm here on average as it does in say, Arizona, nor as humid as in Florida or Louisiana. It's not been *too* bad as of yet, but during the dog days of summer, I am far from horny. Once it hits the mid-to high 90s, with humidity in excess of 80%, this city is filled with sweaty, angry people... being touched can be the furthest thing from a person's mind.

And yeah, a damn good tune, for sure, Jack. One of their best, IMO.

>>How warm is the average temperature in your part of Scotland during summer, for curiousity's sake?

Average, I have no idea - but anything above 21C (71F in American money) is considered 'hot'. It never gets as hot as darn sarf...but it can push 30C. We have two seasons: 'dreich' and 'midges'.

I quite like steamy climates, if handled properly. Sure, you don't want to have to move around to much, but the thought of languid, stick sex is quite erotic.

Tomorrow we're planning to make the best of the sunsine by going to see some puffins. This place has a serious infestation:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/scot/dundee02/isle-may.html

>>stick sex

Sex with an anorexic model? I meant stickY

What about sex with anorexic puffins?

I've never seen a puffin in real life - anorexic or no. I thought I saw them when I visited Co. Clare recently, but they turned out to be Manx Shearwaters. Bummer. I can wish.

Sounds like a Chicago summer is similar to a Toronto one, PC. August is always horrid there - you shower and then walk outside and it feels like a very heavy hot wet blanket has landed on your shoulders. Ick.

Edward, when I lived in Bristol I remember the 'natives' walking around in t-shirts and shorts in June and I still need my cardy.


az

I was talking to someone who was in South Africa at the start of May. When she arrived, after a long flight, the first thing her kids did was to rip their clothes off and jump into the pool. All the locals thought they were mad...swimming on such a chilly autumn day...26C.

Seabirds:
Q. What's the difference between a cormorant and a shag?
A. You can get a cormorant in Wales.

Az, that sounds about right! Since Toronto and Chicago aren't that great a distance apart, the climate can't be all that different. I think the winters there are a bit more extreme, though, aren't they? I've never been to Toronto- I've only been as far as Windsor, and that was during the summer.

I've been to some pretty warm places (although I've usually been during winter), and they're nice enough to visit... sweaty, sticky sex is of course fun, but it's the last thing you want after a stifling commute home. Or am I just overly cranky?


I've never seen a live puffin in the wild, but they have a bunch of them at the Lincoln Park zoo, and when we're there, I love to watch them swim.

When I visited England over Christmastime a few years back, I thought it was hilarious that the person I was visiting would head out in anorak, hat, scarf, and gloves (it was about 4 degrees Celcius), and I was sweating in a cardigan over a t-shirt.

<> (PC)

I think it's because both cities are on the shores the Great Lakes that accounts for the humidity thang. I also reckon the winters are similar - doesn't really get terribly *cold* in TO, maybe -10ºC at worst, but sometimes lots of snow. Compared to Winnipeg which is often -30Cº for several months during the winter.


az

<> (PC)

That is a weird thing - speaking about me. All winter here I tend to wear my winter coat open, no gloves, no boots (while other people are freezing) but it has to be at least 25ºC before I can go out without my cardy. Though I'll have been wearing sandals for at least a month before that.

az

Yeah, I'm sure it's the Great Lakes that are responsible for the humidity. It's . Of course, Toronto and Chicago also share that wonderful wintertime phenomenon- Lake Effect Snow! You've just gotta love getting three feet of snow in an hour and a half.

I've never been to Winnipeg. But -30Cº is pretty damn cold. Back in the winter of '93, we had a week of -40Fº temperatures. Getting to work wasn't fun. I wound up with a frostbitten toe that week... the stupid thing still gets numb when my feet get cold.

I tend to be a little on the warmish side in general, so I usually go around unzipped and all that, too. My quirk is that no matter how hot out it is during summer, after dark I need a serape, poncho, cardigan or something. Once the sun sets, my brain tells me I'm chilly, even if I'm not.

I was just in town. Boobies everywhere. Little boobies all snug in t-shirts...big boobies hanging out of dresses...boobies, boobies, boobies!

http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20fly/booby/booby.htm

Oh dear... any ornithological psychologists in the house?

Yes! Them's the fellas!



(ignore me. It was the spinach talking.)

You should see what *I'm* wearing today.

Maybe this is the reason I've been having problems typing lately... I can't even *see* the keyboard at my work desk.

Oh - sorry. Single smiley posting.