I tried to lift spirits with Flanders and Swann's hippopotamus song

[oddmonster]

Eat, Sleep, Ride: How I Braved Bears, Badlands and Big Breakfasts in My Quest to Cycle the Tour Divide:

On closer inspection the town consisted of no more than a crossroads, the branches of which were populated by half a dozen motels, a couple of diners, a post office and two gas stations with convenience stores attached. And JR's Taxidermy

Comments

[catyah]

Just a short post for now (maybe more later when I am more awake?) to say that I'm glad to see you on LJ again, I've missed you and your posts.

Also, I am in agreement with you and Petunia in judging the hell out of this guy.

I only know one hippopotamus song ("I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"), but even I know to keep that one to myself, and even then in moderation. This author... wow.

[jelazakazone]

I know the Flanders and Swann song and it's glorious. Also, my kids love the one you know and have recently been singing it -- incessantly. I think you are brilliant to sing it only to yourself and in moderation.

*waves to oddmonster* Hi! I love your write up of this book. It's probably funnier than the book because it surely made me chuckle.

[oddmonster]

Thanks! :)

I have to say, there really is nothing like the bottles song when you're trying to get up a rilly, rilly long hill. It does make things seem a lot cheerier.

Off to look up the Flanders and Swann song...

[jelazakazone]

Oooh, if you find the song, let me know! I don't have a recording of it. We just sing it:D

[birdgirl_1107]

Petunia looks adorable when she's silently judging. I think Mr. Howard, however, might deserve a snarl or two ... what a guy.

[oddmonster]

:D She's really a lovely dog when she's not judging or biting people. Although the biting might be part of the judging.

The bit I didn't mention is how Howard was on a QUEST to Ride the Divide, and so had goals for mileage each day, and then when he joined up with the other dudes, they sat down and calculated how many more miles they needed to ride each day in order to finish their QUEST in time for one of them to get his flight home.

Understandable, yes, but also very different than being in it for the journey, imo.

[birdgirl_1107]

I had to make a userpic just to reply to this. Petunia looks like a sweetheart - judging and biting notwithstanding. How old is she? How long has she been with you? I love pet tales.

Yeah, I'm not sure about a QUEST that has a time limit. A time limit because of the evil overlord's plans for world domination, yes. A time limit because someone has to catch a plane home, not so much.

And calculating their daily mileage based on that seems kind of "okay, let's do the bare minimum to get this done" - I much prefer Homer's solo, give-'er-all-you've-got approach.

[oddmonster]

Petunia is vaguely 3, and she's been with us nearly two years now. She had a really bad experience being picked up by animal control (all their fault) but also obviously had come from a not-good place before that and so had been marked by the no-kill shelter as Unhomeable (emergency board meeting, the full nine yards). My dog-enabling friend of course emailed J and was like "I just need a place to keep her for three days until I figure something out."

And then I came home and was like, nope, mine.

She's called Petunia because to get her calm enough to where I could pet her, I sang her the Petunia song.

We still can't pick her up, she's bitten both of us and is on prozac, but now at least we can give her hugs and -- milestone -- I can put medication in her ears when she needs it. :D

It's really hard to say which one of us is more ridiculous.

And here is where I point out that despite the Git 'Er Done attitude displayed by Howard and his compatriots, Homer beat them all quite handily (huzzah!).

[little_tristan]

Ooh, I was hoping for a review of this book after the way it failed to score on GR. Dudes just don't know how to write the journey. This one doesn't even seem to know how to have it. What a shame for him.

Judgy Petunia is harsh but fair.