NotACat
Active Member
I think that a sentence quoted on Slide 2 (The Guide on Magrathea) might have been overlooked in last night's discussion: the last sentence of the first paragraph. This, coupled with the use of the word "imagine" in the previous sentence, to my mind strongly suggests that the Narrator considers these men to be ridiculously picky and spoiled.
None of them was entirely satisfactory: either the climate wasn't quite right in the later part of the afternoon, or the day was half an hour too long, or the sea was exactly the wrong shade of pink.
Maybe it's because I'm hearing that with my British inner ear, but the sarcasm is simply dripping from every syllable and I am convinced that we are not supposed to be sympathetic to these niggles: even the use of that word is suggestive.