Here's more:
When Arthur is at the fancy dress party near the beginning of the film, he's reading a copy of the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
When Arthur first goes over to talk to Trillian Zaphod calls Ford "Ix" and then quickly corrects himself. Ix is, of course, the nickname that Ford's school friends gave him. It roughly translates to "Boy who is not able satisfactorily to explain what a Hrung is, nor why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven."
The bowl of petunias: The petunias are the latest incarnation of a being that has been killed by Arthur Dent, or while Arthur Dent was around by accident, hunting, squashing, etc., and been reincarnated over and over and over in different forms. He apparently sees Arthur through the window of the Heart of Gold as he's falling. He thinks Dent has a personal vendetta against him and becomes obsessed with killing him back to end the whole thing.
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