Holidays and absences [3]

Amarië wrote:I'm on important Fjordian business. Palantir silence might become necessary.

{{{i won't make a sound}}}

Not a holiday per se, but I had a great day out in The West Country (Somerset to the non Brits in the forum), visited several local cider farms/farmshops (stocking up on lots of beer and scrumpy ), did a bit of early Christmas shopping (the food side of things really), had a nice lunch and we had a leisurely drive home through some absolutely stunning scenery and views with great weather all day, not a particularly healthy (or cheap) day out considering all the booze/food I bought and the hours cooped up in a car, but a very enjoyable one nonetheless. Tend to go up there once or twice a year with my Uncle, it's always a great relaxing day out (especially as I don't do the driving ) and good to support small businesses in a different part of the country.

Hear hear Malick There's something soothing about yee old west country its like another piece of time that you can get to just by crossing a field. I always feel Ive left something behind when Ive ever left Devon or Cornwall..... ( & not just my bloody wallet ) It feels like a piece of Olde England that refuses to let go. I try to buy goods etc with local business even if its a tad dearer than say a supermarket, you gotta try to keep the little grocers going

{{{Take care in Troll country Amarie- we dont want to lose an Ambassador- its not been a good time recently for Forumshire nobs- we've lost a Queen, had Admin hand over the reigns and lost our Mayor too! I'm starting to think there is someone out to get Forumshire's hierarchy! So beautiful eleven eyes peeled lass! }}

You don't mean....... .......... a..... conspiracy.....???

Are we being nobbled off one by one ?

azriel wrote:Hear hear Malick  There's something soothing about yee old west country  its like another piece of time that you can get to just by crossing a field. I always feel Ive left something behind when Ive ever left Devon or Cornwall..... ( & not just my bloody wallet ) It feels like a piece of Olde England that refuses to let go. I try to buy goods etc with local business even if its a tad dearer than say a supermarket, you gotta try to keep the little grocers going

Yeah, I don't tend to buy much from local stores as they are normally quite expensive here on the south coast, but I make an exception for this yearly tradition, you can't get decent Scrumpy in Hampshire (at least not for a comparable price) and the people in Somerset are so friendly and enthusiastic (Weston Super-Mare is a complete and utter dump though ), such great produce and scenery, I don't drive and haven't been on a proper holiday in more than 10 years so it's always a day out I look forward to.

My excitement & joy is my annual day out at Lammas I love it !! So many people turn up dressed as Eves, faeries, Green man, Goths, Hippies, Pagans. There's Morris men, live music, beer tent, people dressed as Celts making things with raw wood or ladies dressed in medieval smocks spinning wool or making hairbands, Its a festival like Harvest Festival really & it last for the last weekend of July Everyone is accepting & friendly, the atmosphere is warm, homely & lovely There's stalls to buy your fav Tiedye t-shirt or, runes, joss sticks, clothes for all walks of life I shall take some snappies & hope the weather keeps nice

Oh that does sound lovely!

Been to a place called Eagle's nest today. Many ravens (or crows? Black with yellow beaks and redish feet, not familar with those. ) But no eagles, great or small. So no news to be found there. But we took a lot of pictures, so some might appear here when some half decent wifi is found...

Will be spending some time by a great lake next.

Look forward to that, I like looking at photo's

Well, i suppose I should tell the story of this last weekend. Here in Yankshire we have three 3-day weekends during the summer: Memorial day, Labor day, and 4th of July; though the 4th is often more than 3 days depending on when it falls. This time it fell on a Tuesday, making a 4-day weekend.

So I always go to this place in central Pennsylvania, out in the wilds with no cell phone service, where there's a scenic overlook us free flyers can launch from, and we camp where we land, by the river. Saturday was quite wet, but the other 3 nights I stayed out past 3 am around the campfires...I usually pull off one really late night but for some reason things just kept going, perhaps because of nice weather and flying.

For some reason I decided to bring along my portable palantir. Kept it in the car the first night, but after that tossed it in the tent and forgot about it. Monday night I went to bed late, and noticed a smell like something had died. But it being 3 am and all I just opened the flaps and slept through it.

The next morning as I was packing up to leave I found out some of what was going on: the rain on saturday had gathered in a puddle below my sleeping pad, where I hadn't noticed it. It seems to have turned somewhat biological but didn't quite account for the stench. On the drive home I mainly had the windows open, and finally in my small apartment I noticed most of the stench was coming from my palantir bag!

I took everything out, and found everything damp. Apparently when I left bed the lowest depression transferred from my sleeping pad to my palantir, the puddle followed; and when I'd crawl back into bed it would transfer back and I never noticed it. Worse still, as I pulled stuff out of the bag it was all wet, and I eventually discovered a slug in a shirt I used for extra padding. Over the warm days from saturday it was busy fermenting, until it finally reached the threshold of penetration on monday night.

When I fired up the palantir it coughed and spluttered, started to boot, then froze. I did a hard reboot, and that was when it croaked out something about a missing hard disk, and expired. I suppose whacking an ailing palantir with a boot may not be the recommended procedure, but there we go.

So I hauled it into the computer shop, and a few hours later they called and said the battery had corroded, they had replaced it, and everything was fine. I complained it had mentioned a hard disk, not a battery, but the physical evidence was plain. I took it back and it worked fine that night.

The next morning it was a brick. Hauled it back in to the shop, a few hours later they called to say it was working fine, no charge.

Fortunately I'm something of a cloud physicist, so it's pretty clear to me what's going on: I've got hydrophylic biological residue (slug scum) on my components. When it cools down in the morning, the relative humidity goes up, and the slug scum nucleates water droplets and my palantir's metaphorical eyes spin around in it's metaphorical head before it face-plants.

I need the damn thing cleaned. The shop wants $400. I think I know somebody who knows somebody in Chinatown who will do it for half that price.

Meanwhile the bag stunk to high heaven. The first night back I rinsed it off and it still stunk. I soaped it and rinsed it, and left it out to dry. The next morning it still stunk. I remembered hauling it off to the trash.

That evening I suddenly I realized I had my hand palantir charging cable and earbuds in a pocket in the bag! I frantically ran to the trash room, but it had been hauled out. I ran outside to be faced with 20 trash bags. I felt over each one for a bag; nothing. I opened up each one and peered inside: no bag. It may have been underneath another layer of filth, but I had reached my limit. I contemplated ordering another set of each, but wasn't ready to face it.

The next morning as I was about to take my shower I found the bag sitting there. All the excitement about the palantir made me forget I had given it a last minute reprieve when I realized I had never completely immersed it and stirred it around in water with good detergent, so had gone back, pulled it out of the trash, and scrubbed it down like a recalcitrant poodle. All the accoutrements for my hand palantir were safe in a forgotten pocket, if a bit stinky.

So if you've been wondering what happened to me over the last week, I think that about covers it.

Don't worry about getting rid of the smell Halfy. All you have to do is go to the animal rescue shelter, adopt the most needy looking dog you can find, and then blame the smell on the dog. Everybody wins!

( )

{{Holy crap Halfy! You got a weeks worth of a crabbit all at once Best way to get rid of the smell is to get sooo drunk you either cant smell it anymore/dont care anymore/or just add to it Whichever way problem solved! }}}

  thoze slugz

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{Holy crap Halfy! You got a weeks worth of a crabbit all at once Best way to get rid of the smell is to get sooo drunk you either cant smell it anymore/dont care anymore/or just add to it  Whichever way problem solved! }}}

That works too, but you'll still want the dog.

{{{ Sadly I have cats- this does not happen with cats!
ps two of your bears appear to have got loose! }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{{ ps two of your bears appear to have got loose!    }}}

I hate when that happens....

My God Halfy, you poor chap. That's one camping trip you'll remember for a long time to come Who'd a thought a nasty, slimy, gooey slug could cause so much trouble ! I hate those dang things with a passion ! Snails as well, they aint any better.



A view of a cub thru Mum bears paws

azriel wrote:

A view of a cub thru Mum bears paws  

That's such a cool picture Az!   (I don't suppose the photographer was ever heard from again though... )

Edit: I just snagged the pic. Thanks Az!!!

Dear David, you are most welcome As for the photographer I am sure he is alive & well. The shot was taken with a camera rigged up inside the tree stump So, he still has all his fingers & toes

I think our David is a Master of Bears

Does this work I wonder?

{{{ Stunning Amarie- looks like an amazing place- hard to criticize your summer read too- but I will no Forumshire novel to read!!! }}}

It'll do.

As you can see I brought a proper travel guide. I've been to the last homely embassy, travelled through narrow passes, damp tunnels and found the Eagle's nest high on a mountain.