I mentioned in the last post about ‘boundary conditions’ and a quote from the ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘. Here it is. It’s in the fifth instalment, where Arthur Dent is looking for information from an old man who lives up poles (and can seemingly teleport between them). He points out he only lives up poles in Spring, Summer and Autumn, as he goes south in the winter, to his beach house. He then explains why he bought the beach house:
A beach house doesn’t even have to be on the beach, though the best ones are. We all like to congregate at boundary conditions … where land meets water, where earth meets air, where body meets mind, where space meets time, we like to be on one side and look at the other.
Man up a pole
The boundary condition part just stuck in my mind as another truism from THHGTTG – I think people are attracted to them, myself included. Most of the best places I’ve lived have been near such boundaries, and I only have to go to the beach and see how many people congregate there year round to see that maybe, just maybe, Adams – or rather the man up the pole – was on to something.
If you haven’t listened to Hitchikers’ you really need to do so – it’s a masterpiece of wit and observation.