This must be Thursday.
I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
– Arthur Dent
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
~~
In tribute to the late great Douglas Adams, author of the famous Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, fans the world over today will carry a towel with them.
Why a towel?
Because it’s the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have, of course.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of towels:
… a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag [non-hitch hiker] discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have ‘lost’. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Mr. Adams, I clutch my metaphorical towel in your honor year-round. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Cheers, GolfWidow.
\m/\m/
Tags: hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy x towel day x Douglas Adams
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on Thursday, May 25th, 2006 at 12:01 am and is filed under Books, Observations.
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I’ve got my blue cotton face & hand with me today.
Long live that hoopy frood! You are missed, Douglas.
Here I thought your comment on my post about Thursdays was about you personally. Not making the Hitchhiker’s connection. Big “duh” on me.
Dave: I wanted to bring the blue towel; I was looking for that one! I guess he who rises first gets to pick first.
Kevin: Personally, I like Thursday due to its proximity to Friday.
Don’t worry about the reference, the world is coming to an end in 12 minutes anyhow.
No wonder my Thursday has sucked so spectacularly, I forgot my towel when I left the house this morning! But we always have towels with us on Friday afternoons (the little man’s swimming lesson). Seriously, though, I’ll never forget discovering those books when I was a kid. My brother and I loved them! And we managed to get a hold of the BBC teevee version too, so seeing last year’s movie at the age of 31 (even with better special effects) just couldn’t compare to watching the series with a much more impressionable/less jaded brain at the age of 10 or 11.
Hey Eve, a friend just sent me here:
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/tracks/06-05-22.shtml
And I thought of you. Enjoy!
–Sydney
I have a customized black towel with “Don’t Panic” inscribed upon it in large, friendly letters. And yes, I totally carried it on Thursday. I do practice what I preach.