Thursday March 5^th 2009. Launch -42 days. 2 days to golf match with NASA.

The launch countdown has reached a very significant day. Anyone who is about my age will know that The Answer – The Answer, to the Great Question… of Life, the Universe and Everything – is “42”. If you are the one remaining member of the human race who has no idea what I am talking about, I can only recommend to you Douglas Adams’ classic work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which started as a cult BBC radio series and became a series of books, a TV series and a film. The significance of “42” was not lost on people today.

Today there was a relaxed and distended atmosphere. Having things going well does help a lot. Among other things, some of the finest minds in European space research were involved in the problem of how to add a skiing penguin to my graphic of manning levels for the simulations next week (See Tuesday’s entry). In the end this problem was resolved and the result placed on the noticeboard, although one or two people noticed that the penguin is in danger of crashing. I am not sure why this issue of adding the penguin was so important!

The other thing that caused ribald laughter today was the t-shirt question. It seems that on high we have been remembered and that some goodie-bags are being prepared for us with Herschel souvenirs. Everyone has to declare their t-shirt size. Intelligence says that the shirts are on the small side so we have been recommended to go for one size larger than normal. This has led to some unusual situations and a lot of debate. I decided to go for an XL, on the grounds that even if it fits like a tent, it is better to have one that is too big rather than too small. Someone else on the team who used to an (almost) Olympic-standard swimmer, but is now big enough to frighten even Big Arnie Schwarzenegger should they meet in a dark alley, has also gone for an XL. Now one of us has got their request terribly wrong somewhere. We did notice though that almost all of the Herschel men are claiming to be “XL”: not sure if there is a subliminal macho message there somewhere.

After last night’s debacle trying to practice for Saturday’s golf match, it is evident that we did the right thing. There was heavy snow around the golf course last night and this morning, after a rather wild night, the hills around us were white with snow, something that rarely happens. This morning was not as tough as last night (which got scary at times) but, riding home this evening, my clothing was smattered with hail. Having worked out that my speedometer/kilometre counter will only work if it is mounted the right way around on the wheel (duhhhh!) I now know that my route to work and back is 8.30km each way and that I am cruising typically at 25-30km/h on the flat… about what a rider in the Tour de France averages on the toughest mountain stages.

We have decided that we will make a last attempt to practice tomorrow night… if not, we are going to get seriously humiliated by NASA: in fact, even practicing we are going to get humiliated by NASA.

Tonight, as I have been writing this Blog, I have been watching one of my favourite films – Men in Black. Wonderful. Before watching the film for the first time I never suspected that Sylvester Stallone, Newt Gingrich, Dennis Rodman and Michael Jackson are all aliens. Mind you, it makes sense! The second washing machine has ended and has been hung out to dry. The kitchen is now clear. Time to send this and off to bed with Harry Harrison and the Stainless Steel Rat!