Tomorrow is Intergalactic Towel Day
Don’t forget your towel!
by Donnie S. (dloris87)
If you are a hoopy frood, every day you know where your towel is. If you are only occasionally hoopy, perhaps you know where your towel is one day a year – Intergalactic Towel Day- tomorrow is it, May 25th.
In that venerable tome, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the importance of a towel is espoused, “A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”
Indeed, last May 25, my towel saved my life. It was Intergalactic Towel Day 2011, I carried with me a jaunty Nightmare Before Christmas Towel; alright-I did look a bit like a demented Linus, but this was Towel Day, I was celebrating Douglas Adams even if I looked a bit off.
I took my towel to the gym with me; it helped me hide my face from the spinning instructor when I found her yelling funny. I took the towel with me to Starbuck’s – being properly caffeinated is a must even on Towel Day. I took my towel grocery shopping. There was no Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal in the produce aisle, but if there had been I was prepared.
A rainstorm of epic portions was waiting for me in the parking lot, which without a towel would have made it impossible to get to my car. I always forget to put my umbrella in my car, but my towel saved the day! I looked really cool, like I knew exactly what I was doing. That is the beauty of knowing where your towel is, even if you are not so hoopy, you appear to be.
Douglas Adams explained in a lecture where he came up with the concept of knowing where your towel is. He was on holiday. Everyday he would have to search for his towel. It was in the laundry, it was under the bed, it was in the bed, it wasn’t where he thought it should be. He would forget everyday where he had last used the elusive towel. He decided that a truly together guy would always know where his towel was.
May 25th is now upon us; again I plan on taking my towel with me. I encourage those of you froods hoopy enough, to join in. Celebrate the life and work of Douglas Adams. Encourage others to read Douglas’ work, to enjoy the word craft he performed in his trilogy in four parts (well six if you count Mostly Harmless and And Another Thing) . The towel is just the gateway to more adventures, who knows what will happen, chimpanzees may write the sequel to Hamlet.
Note from Blog Coord: We are running this a day early so everyone has time to get their towels picked out, washed, dried, fluffed and folded for tomorrow. If anyone has towel protocol questions or needs some help choosing a towel to go with a certain outfit, leave a comment here and we will be glad to help!
This post makes me oh, so very happy. 🙂
What a great post Donnie! You made me smile this morning and wonder where my towel is!
Does my towel have to be in the shape of a towel to save my day or can a towel in another life work as well? http://www.paperbackswap.com/Craft-Challenge-Dozens-Nathalie-Mornu/book/1600595081/
Ruh-roh……my towel is at the hotel and I’m not there……..
Tink! Your towel is possibly talking up a cocktail waitress and enjoying drinks with umbrellas charging all the fun to your room. It’s a little known reason why not to leave your towel unattended. Towel awareness my friend!
Great post Donnie, thanks. One of my favorite books from Douglas Adams was ‘Salmon of Doubt’.
There are just soooooo many things one can do with a towel! I was always a firm believer in towels, and loved the support I got in my belief from Hitchhiker’s Guide (which I read quite some time ago, but which I found hilariously funny!).
(A towel tidbit: I learned how to make towel animals from the PBS cruise, where each day a new towel critter would await us in our cabins — a different towel animal for each day, and for each different cabin.)