I’ve been reading a book called 100 Days of Solitude by Daphne Kapsali. Yesterday, at the end of the chapter for Day 42 (this coincidence will not be lost on Hitchhiker’s Guide fans), I read this (emphasis mine):

I like a clandestine seat in the first class lounge and a suitcase that’s impossible to carry. I like a bit of roughness in my seas; if it’s all plain sailing, I might not even notice that I’m going anywhere.

Perhaps we’re all like that, and we need the adversity to remind us that we’re entitled to a comfortable seat and to spending 5 euro on a two minute cab ride because we just don’t want to carry that heavy suitcase anymore. And that we are, each of us, doing the best we can…

The part I bolded struck me – if all is easy and goes well, can we tell how far…