Why is 42 the meaning of life?

By publishing this I do realise that I may upset the MICE (Most Intellegent Creatures Evolved) - yes the ones who run Google - glad you were paying attention at the back. However it is such a major event in the short life of BeamMeUpNowPlease that I thought it was worth putting down the tools and telling you all - the answer to "what is the meaning of life".

Now just before I get to that bit (stop reading the end of the page!) I should explain how I arrived at this point. This is partly because it kind of explains how I arrived at this point and partly because nothing big was ever announced in a simple way.

OK the story behind it...

I have a very good friend in Canada who has been through quite a bit in her life, a lot of which she doesn't seem to have deserved, but a while back she told me - "I don't care anymore what life throws at me. The worst thing that could ever happen to me has happened so it can't get any worse".

I won't for privacies sake explain what she was talking about, but this got me thinking, then I realised she was near 42. Having talked to a few more people around that age it suddenly hit me - 42, where have I heard that one before? Douglas Adams & Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!

This took a little more processing and then I realised the answer to why 42 was supposed to be the meaning of life, the universe and everything was staring us all in the face....Douglas had provided it right there, on the front of the book...

So what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything?

"DON'T PANIC"

Yep, thats it. Well, they always say the simplest ideas are the best and you can't get much simpler than that. I realised when you hit 42, that was the time when you're likely to realise that life isn't worth stressing about and the old idea that "Life begins at 40" starts to kick in.

The observent amongst you will have noticed I said this friend was nearby 42 (ie: the was 41) which means she found it before 42? Actually no - I can't go into the reasons behind this, but she did finally find it at 42 although she was getting pretty close by 41.

I would love to tell you who she is and a few people reading this might be able to guess, but even she doesn't know she inspired the answer above. My job now is to make sure she has a happy rest of her life and has a friend to stand by her when things go a little capput. Therefore her name will for the moment remain anon.

Back to mad theories....