Long long ago, perhaps in the early 1980s, I remember reading a collection of stories about alien landings, by British authors I think. Two stand out in my mind not because of the plot but because of particular twists of phrase. Do they ring bells for anyone else, to help me identify the collection? (I think it was a large but thin illustrated hardback, on the lines of the Doctor Who annuals but aimed at a slightly older audience.)
Story #1: Our hero is in conversation with aliens who are going through his personal possessions. One of them notes, “Your driving licence is endorsed.” He retorts, “Most people’s are.”
Story #2: Our second hero is exploring a recently landed UFO. He comes to a fork in the corridor, and must choose which way to go. The omniscient narrator notes somthing on the lines of, “It has been demonstrated that most people, given a choice of two alternatives, pick the wrong one 85% of the time. On this occasion, [our hero] was not among the lucky fifteen.”
Any help much appreciated.Probably best to post responses not here but at rasfw once my copy of this query shows up there.
Gosh, indeed, you’re quite right – how did I miss Lagan Valley there?
East Antrim is difficult to call – there are always a lot of extra votes floating round, and my feeling would be that Alliance is fairly safe – came very close to a second seat in 1998, with only only 1.4 quotas.