Advent Thought 6 and Number 42

It is some years now since the late, great Douglas Adams forced the number 42 into our collective imaginations. If you managed to avoid the fact that the computer Deep Thought was a key player in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, well done. Your culture avoidance is impressive. How are the rest of the Amish?

But, asked to give the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything, the computer came up with 42 and then had to be reprogrammed to come up with the question as well because nobody was smart enough to know what they had asked. I hope plot-spoiling thirty-seven year old novels isn't a bit off.

In our Christmas letter of 1997 I described myself, on reaching that eponymous age, as being at sixes and sevens. Possibly my favourite maths joke sneaked into the family news.

Here's the thought. There may not be an answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything but what, for you, is the question?

Let your thoughts meander like a restless wind.