The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Bob mentioned this book to me a long time ago. And I decided that I simply must read it. Anything that was called 'The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul' would definitely be eminently readable, especially if written by Douglas Adams. So one day, prowling around the old second-hand bookshop on Church Street which is chock-full of absolute treasures, I found an old battered copy of the book and after paying the ridiculously small amount that they charge for your treasure (especially if it is in the form of a tattered paperback), I proudly walked out and crashed at Matteo's and settled down with a ridiculously expensive coffee and proceeded to lose myself in Mr.Adams's world.

And I must say, lost I was indeed. Kate Schechter and Dirk Gently and the poor immortal abandoned forgotten Norse Gods and the advertising agent and the lawyer and the nurse and the evil eagle and that which emerges from the Refrigerator, all weave an entirely unbelievable and completely plausible tale, which when told with Adams' classic wit and quirkiness, leaves you absolutely delighted. Thank you, Bob, thought I, you are IT, you, Bob, are the Man, my Guide on the Path of Infinite Wisdom!

So I kept thinking, and reading. 

Up until the end that is. The denouement somehow seems contrived and hasty - it definitely leaves you a little angry (like what you felt when Firefly was cancelled - you simply want more!) and a little disappointed (shouldn't it all come to some grande finale?). After finishing my book and draining the last dregs of my exorbitant coffee, I went straight back to Bob and yelled at him. He simply smiled in a superior way of course, as though he read something between the lines of The Long Dark Tea-Time that was apparently lost on my poorer intellect. Nonsense, said I, Adams just got a little bored at the end and put a full-stop when he felt that he couldn't be bothered anymore! You sir, have caused the wastage of an entire day of my life, I told Bob emphatically and stomped out. Have I, asked he.


Well, I hate admitting it, but Bob as always is right. He hadn't. The book is of course worth reading - if nothing, to just revel in the Adams-ness of it all or to have a laugh at Humans, the Gods and Everything. 


:)



I will never admit this to Bob, of course, and since the man is completely technically handicapped (what a weirdo!), he never will read this either.  So Hail Bob and may he never know how awesome we think he is.