Greetings from Yorkshire

[RenewableCandy]

I think I joined this forum ages ago but never actually posted anything, mainly through thinking everyone else here likely knows a lot more than me

But perhaps 5 years of home-brewing and several years helping look after a community orchard have put some knowledge into this bonce that somebody else can use...

We also have a woodburning stove (never had to pay for any wood... Yorkshire Yorkshire Yorkshire! ) and an allotment that's been through a rough patch recently 'for health reasons' - back on track this year I hope.

Rhubarb's up!

[Green Aura]

Hi RC, welcome to Ish

Don't worry about how much/little you think you know. We're all still learning. You'll learn stuff and teach stuff, probably without realising!

[RenewableCandy]

I've just discovered the winemaking 1-2-3 thread... had no idea you could use herbal teabags!

[Odsox]

Welcome back RC, nice to see you.

[Skippy]

Greetings Renewablecandy. I've enjoyed your postings on powerswitch so can only look forward to what you post here.

[RenewableCandy]

In a separate incident, I'm presently reading The Martian (Andy Weir). Talk about Extreme Self-sufficiency...

[Green Aura]

Is it a good read? I enjoyed the film with Matt Damon.

[MKG]

Hey - another home brewer!!!!!!!! A belated welcome, RC.

[Weedo]

For me The Martian is a strange read - first up I thought it a boring litergy along the lines of Robinson Crusoe but this is the strange bit - I have now read it 3 or 4 times and it gets better each time. The film has little relationship to the book really.

[Green Aura]

I might give it a go then.

[Odsox]

The film is on TV on Saturday evening.

[RenewableCandy]

I really liked it!

At first it's odd because it lacks human relationships: it's his 'relationship' with the implacable environment that's the source of the tension (I've not read Robinson Crusoe but I guess that's much the same?). Then you get into his head and his personality - and those of his crew (from flashbacks of before he got stranded) and how he got along with them.

My one criticism might be that at no point did he experience any psychological 'wobbles'. Of course as an astronaut he'd have been picked for this but his situation is so extreme that you'd have thought he might have, for example, experienced despair, or had hallucinations, or something other than just being able to keep on keeping on.

I've not seen the film, and don't intend to. I'm sure it would ruin it for me.