“Look”, said Ford, “it’s a dangerous universe. There’s all sorts of people and things trying to rip you off or do you in. If you’re going to survive out there, you’ve really got to know where your towel is.”
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I’ll raise a jynnan tonnyx tonight.
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Proud towel day participant here in Canada. Susie Dent’s word of the day makes reference to this most important of days.
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And let’s not forget 25th May also marks the Glorious Revolution of the People’s Republic of Treacle Mine Road.
Truth, Justice, Freedom, Reasonably-Priced Love and a Hard-Boiled Egg!
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Towel Day? I’ve never heard of such a thing, am I missing something.
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Douglas Adams…?
Yes, a couple of weeks after Douglas Adams died (on the 11th May) the 25th May was declared towel day, and fans of his work celebrate his life. The relevant quotation is (amongst others):
“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.“
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My second reference, to the “Glorious Revolution”, is to Terry Pratchett. In his Night Watch novel there is a people’s uprising remembered each year by the survivors wearing a sprig of lilac in the anniversary, 25th May. When his Alzheimers was announced fans started wearing lilac in 25th May in his memory and as a “F*ck Alzheimers” message often mirrored with a donation to the relevant charity.
Yesterday in my walk I carried a facecloth in my day bag (it’s too small for a full towel) and had a sprig of lilac from the garden in a glass on the table.
RIP Douglas and Terry (I met Pratchett at a con before he became a superstar, he was good to chat to).
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