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It should not be considered odd that Ix, er excuse me, Ford Prefect, chose to explore the planet called Dirt... Earth! Earth. Sorry.
Ever since he laid his hand on the first edition of One Thousand and One Light Years: The Complete Guide to Stories Around the Universe when he was but a small odd child, he had always wanted to visit this odd little planet.
He wanted go to a planet where people have VERY long and VERY strong yellow hair (for some odd reason no one who lived within a seven-planet radius to his home world can manage hair longer than oh... the ear, except with the help of some very expensive hair care product. See under Zaphod). Very strong and very long that enabled fully grown men to climb full-sized towers (even when there's a perfectly serviceable trap door).
He wanted to go to a planet with rideable pumpkins as well as dancing flying carpets. All done, apparently, without a hint of technology. For some technologically-backwards planet, they sure have achieved quite a lot, he thought.
Though he never quite understood why, one day, walking down New Spitalfields Market, he had trembled in fear, then promptly fainted when a lady with warty crooked nose offered him a fresh shiny red apple.