It still hasn’t really sunk in. Douglas Adams is dead. No matter how many times I use the words, it still doesn’t really sink in.

I can see the closing credits of the TV series, the spaceman floating in space, that dodgy tune, and it brings back memories of being young and still understanding what Douglas was saying. A TV program for ‘grown-ups’ which I understood, which reached out to me, which said, yes the world is absurd, and it doesn’t get any better, but if you laugh hard enough it doesn’t matter as much.

I’m not usually affected by ‘celebrity death’. I don’t really idolise people, or feel like I know people that I haven’t actually met. But I feel like I miss Douglas already.

I found Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency such as soul-touching book. I can’t explain why. I’m not sure I’d want to if I could. But I just felt as though it fit me like an old coat.

In an interview with Stan Nicholls, Douglas said, “A lot of comedy is surprise and defeating expectations, and you’ve first got to create a set of expectations …”

I expected him to live forever. I suppose he had the last laugh.

So, goodbye Douglas.