at the grave

Before I'll tell you about the final and most important chapter of my journey, I'd like to say some other things.

First: the Photos are up. you can see them here. They are more or less chronological. feel free to comment.

Second: Mosher: Definitely right, to ask for 30£ for petrol from an hitchhiker is a moraly gray area, even if you end up taking only 20£. But I think he knew that. I suspect it, to be one of his reasons for declining a photo. But in the end i think, "hey, that's the universe for you, not everybody can be a frood"
Plus: I could have just as well said "no", but after waiting for four hours next to the express street I was really glad, that somebody hat stoped at all. So in the end, I think we both got, more or less, what we wanted.

Third: I'v been featured on two sites
here and here. Please pay special attention, to the post tags in the second link.
If you know of any other occasions, let me know. It's good for my ego



But now to the culmination of my journey: My time at the grave of Douglas Adams.

I arrived at the gates of Highate Cementery east exactly at 4:56pm on Sunnday the 10th of May 2009.
After a short comedic intermission by the guard, who showed me, how the angel next to Douglas's grave would look like, by imitating it. I dutiful missed the grave, went back, and followed his instructions a second time. This time i was succesful. None of my blog readers would show up, which is of couse my fault, since i had you guys only two hours to react. I'm sorry for that, and intend to blame it entirely on the non existence of any kind of internet cafe, in Dover.
However I wasn't the only person visiting the grave of our beloved prohpet. First i met Mark Grant, he lives in Canada now but has his roots in the UK. He was kind enough to take a picture of me at the grave, and send me copy. As you can see, I had to protect my head with my towel, to avoid reaching any further similarities with bacon.

After Mark had left i sat for a while in the shadows opposit his grave and thought about "how this was the end of my journey, the fullfillment of my wish to hitchhike to his grave".
When suddenly a girl came down the path from the entrance and sat down at Douglas's grave. Unfortunately i dont have any pictures of her face. Because, when she came down the path, she was just a (albeit a rather beautiful) girl, and i've seen those before. But once she was at his grave, I was able to witness a moment so breathtakingly perfect, that i knew, that this was the ultimate ending of my quest. The care she expressed for Douglas and his work by her simple gestures was amazing. I won't bother to even start to describe what exactly she did, because I know, that i dondt possess the power to do justice to the outright perfectness of the moment.
I barely managed to take these pictures before she was gone.
So if by a chance of fate you are, or know this girl, please be (or make her) aware of the deep gratitude I feel, for beeing allowed to witness this moment. I truly feel, as if this was why I left home in the first place. My very own 42.


Some words at the end.
I set out to hitchike to the grave of on of the great philosophers of the 20th century. I dressed in a morning coat in the hope, that people would recognize me, for what i was. A reference to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and would give me a lift, because of that.
But in fact, most of the people who took me with them had never heard of The Guide, so in that sense, my quest wasn't as succesfull, as i would have liked it, to be

This means, however, that the people, who gave me a lift, did so, despite the fact, that i wore a morningcoat and PJs. And that there are people out their, who are willing to do that, is very encouraging for me, and makes me be a little less afraid of the future.

So thank you all. You, who red this blog. You, who commented and encouraged me, both here and on flickr. You, who gave me shelter. And of cause most of all, You, who gave me a lift. Thank you very very much.