I think it was Douglas Adams who first wrote about a planet that was populated solely by single unmatching socks, the others in each pair all being back on Earth. He may have written about it, or I may have heard it elsewhere, made it up myself or some such occurrence. But it seems likely to be Douglas Adams, for there is an Adamian quality to the idea. Adamian is a word that I did just make up as I wrote that last sentence, so anything is possible.

I bring up such trivia as a lead-in to further nonsense on a similar topic. For I think that the planet that stocks only single unmatching socks has quite a few of mine of a similar pedigree. This morning I put a pair (that is two, one left, one right) directly into the washing machine, only to find some short time later that there was only one in the washing basket. Of course, I went back and checked the inside of the machine, then all the washing hanging on the line. It was nowhere to be found, leaving me utterly mystified about how such a thing could happen.

Then I remembered the Adamian planet, a kind of heaven for socks, and all was made clear to me.