h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just found the 42 game so, naturally, had to try mine. After struggling with it, then sleeping on it, the solution came very quickly the next morning: 2+2+5x9-7-0=42. Simple really. It set me thinking about Douglas Adams again.

Number 1 son recently bought me Douglas Adams' latest book "The Salmon of Doubt" which I devoured (the book, not the salmon) over a couple of days. It contains some chapters from a new Dirk Gently story and, while I was reading it, I suddenly realised that there would never be another Dirk Gently story. No more Douglas Adams, so no more Dirk Gently. It reminded me of Arthur Dent trying to come to terms with the Earth not being there any more and not quite getting it until he thought of the absense of MacDonalds. So, not just Dirk Gently. A real person has gone. We never knew each other, yet I still feel a loss.

Why Dirk Gently? I thoroughly enjoyed the HitchHiker books of course. I saw it on television first, and didn't hear the radio version until I got hold of the audio cassettes sometime later. I've got the trilogy in five parts, seen it on stage, and I've even got the Restaurant at the End of the Universe on vinyl (couldn't get part 1 unfortunately). But he did go out of his way to wind the story up, with every What, Which, Where and When version of the Earth becoming even less than harmless. I loved Dirk Gently even more. I always imagined it as a film with that guy from Moonlighting in the lead role. No, not Bruce Willis, silly; the little guy who played his boss - I can never remember his name. I think he'd have made a great Dirk Gently. Ah well.

So, with the book token I got as another birthday present, I went out and bought another Douglas Adams book: Last Chance to See (written with Mark Carwardine). And I'm glad I did. Poignant tales of endangered animals, written with Mr Adams' eye for the ridiculous. I especially liked the bit about the rhino. The people are the strangest animals though, and I suspect that's what he was trying to tell us.