Donald where's yer towel mon?

My friend Caron has posted about how disappointed she was that the Alex Salmond and other white men launched a Yes to Independence campaign.

They also as she points out launched it on Towel Day.

Clearly they missed a trick, they needed someone like the guy on the left to really launch it in style today, instead of in some dingy cinema with a whole pile of men talking at us.

Although one phrase that I did hear on the news about the launch was that Salmond had come to a launch without any clear policy. Yes that is how the BBC reported it nationally. Of course wanting a referendum is one thing, but what you are going do once you have it is another think.

When the SNP started talking about it in the 1970s they wanted a republic, a new Scottish currency, but most of all they wanted their hands on North Sea oil which had been recently discovered. Now they seem to want to keep Elizabeth as Queen of Scots, keep the pound as it is far cheaper for them than having to set up a Scottish Central Bank. They also seem to not be too sure what they are wanting to happen to Scottish troops, or air bases, they appear to want to keep them all as they are, with one exception the nuclear base at Faslane.

The G8 of course are also meeting at the  discuss the small matter of some of the small nations that Alex Salmond talked about holding their own in this world. We know that Spain a somewhat bigger nation that Scotland more or less equivalent to the size of the whole UK, is in difficulties. But he seems to ignore the fact that Scotland's banks were themselves bailed out and will still be working to pay that back come 2014.

No doubt over the next 2 years we'll learn more about just how dependent this independence will be, but for now for Towel Day a little gratuitous chest nudity of what appears to be a white man seems to be in order, even if Alex has missed a trick for the ladies and gay Scotsmen there.

Bowling this evening: I know where my towel is #TowelDay

Tonight my team North Down are hosting Balmoral in the NIBA (Northern Ireland Bowling Association) Senior Cup. I love playing bowls as it is a sport where I can always know where my towel is.

Most of the time my towel resides in my left had (seeing as I need to bowl with my right). Occassionally if is placed on the ground when I am a back end player and have to get down to measure, you don't want grass stains on your white trousers. Sometimes I dangle it above the jack when it is hidden from view from the mat for my next team mate to see what s/he is aiming for.

However, if I am on the mat and about to deliver a bowl and my towel is not in my left hand (as pictured above) you'd better beware. This means I am not going for a nice draw or even a controlled weight. I'm going full out for a drive. My bowl will end up in the ditch, if it doesn't hit anything or anyone in the way. It is how I got the nickname Demon Drawer.

So if you know that my towel is on the ground behind me and I'm about to bowl you'd better watch your ankles, don't say you haven't been warned.

The art of the camera: do you know where your Towell is? #TowelDay

Larry Towell is a Canadian photographer, poet and oral historian. For Towel Day I'm going to show you a few of his pictures.

With all the wind we had earlier this week, this image encapsulating the wind of this group of girls holding unto their hats as there is a dust cloud swirling in the wind, shows how us humans do all we can to deal with weather. 

 A photographer is always looking for that interesting angle on a normal scene to make it just that little bit special, that little bit different. A group of people walking down a road is nothing that is iconic or unique. Until you add an element of reflection.

 Or lets take in the other way and look through a lens at something as simple as a dog, and you get one of Towell's iconic images.

Larry captured this image of the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. Even now it seems surreal that anyone would pick up a scrap of paper that had fluttered down from the falling Twin Towers to read it amongst all the horror that was going on, but Larry Captured that moment.

Of course the great publishing house of Megadodo Publications once sat on Ursa Minor Beta, that is until one of the Towers containing Galactic President Zaphod Bebblebrox was lifted and transported to Frogstar World B.

As Frogstar World B was later developed into Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, I think we should retire there and toast our absent friends,"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Musical montage for Towel Day #TowelDay

Do a search for Towel in Spotify and you get quite a surprisingly large selection. However, for Towel Day here are some hoopy bands who really know where their towel is.

First up is Elevator Suite whose debut single could well have been written with Arthur Dent in mind Man in a Towel

.

The Future Dead certainly know where their towel is, it is in the kitchen. Which does seem to be an homage to Swedish band Loosegoats Towel



Going a little instrumental, well auditory certainly here is Heyoka The Way of the Blue Towel



Finally as I'm Irish here is a Celtic tune A Towel to Dry Your Face.

Pour yourself a Pan-Galatic Gargle Blaster and enjoy my tunes for Towel Day. Share and enjoy.

Actually....

Finally, finally as Towel Day is to honour Douglas Adams, and his favourite band was Pink Floyd, who were rather remiss in never including the word towel in any of their song titles, don't really fit into this tribute...

...apart from the fact that Douglas once appeared on stage to play one of his many guitars (he had almost as many as Macs) with them. So here is that performance.

Space: Do you know where your trowel is?

Any fan of Time Team will know that a lot of actually archaeology* is down to the final trowel work. The geo-pys and all the other work is pure guess work it's not until you actually unearth something that you know what it really is, indeed on Time Team how often over the three day excavation does what is being looked at change in the eyes of the experts.

Well we now have taken archaeology to whole new heights. Infra-red images taken from space have revealed more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements. Early excavations have shown that some of these finds are precisely what the archaeologists believe them to be.

So as this is Towel Day it seems appropriate that NASA is getting archaeologists all excited about knowing where their trowel is.

* Like the famous British Telecom advert from the 80s I too got one Ology (related to this story), though I did pass rather a lot of others unlike Anthony.

Do you know where your towel is? #TowelDay

On the 11th May 10 years ago the world lost Douglas Adams.

On this day ten years ago I gathered, with my towel, with many other Hitchhiker fans, and there towels.

We sassed that hoppy Douglas Adams. There was a frood who really knew where his towel was? And here he is to explain just why that is so important.



So join me in the immortal toast.

To absent friends. So long...and thanks for all the fish.

Belated Towel Day Addition

Hey folks I only found this last night, 42 Awesome Ways to Use a Towel hopefully you all know where yours is by now after yesterday's blogposts from me and others. Now it is time to use the "most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have".

As for Caron pointing out that the times of my posts from yesterday were not what she'd call a coincidence, quite correct just highly impropable.

So follow the first link and you will just some of the ways in which to use your towel. I only wish I'd come up with it first.

Towel Day IX: Time for the Immortal Toast

Of course this the Towel Day IX, not to be confused with Ix (which means boy who cannot sufficiently explain what a Hrung is, nor why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven). Of course a boy with just that name came to Earth to expand on the entry in the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy from harmless, to something more substantial. After some research he settled on the name Ford Prefect as being inconspicuous.

But as the day draws to a close it is time for the immortal toast.

To absent friends. So long and thanks for all the fish.

But just remember to drink responsibly.

Towel Day: What We are Missing Out On

When Douglas Adams died he was working. He was writing!

Yes that does deserve an exclamation mark as any Adams fan will tell you of Douglas's oft repeated phrase:

"I love the sound of deadlines.

The sound they make as they whoosh past my head."

Yes he wasn't good at meeting deadlines, but when he wasn't restricted by them his creative juices coud flow. It seemed from this his last interview that he was sadly, prematurely cut off midflow.

Towel Day: The Origins of God

Whilst there is a lot that I love about Douglas Adams, there are a few things were we disagree. One of those if God.

I believe there is one, Douglas believed there wasn't. What I do appreciate though is that he wasnt a lazy atheist he was someone who thought about it, often and he was someone who put his thoughts into words.

Of course I would urge you like Douglas to look for yourself and don't take his or my word for it.

Towel Day: The Man Knew Where His Was

Recent TV viewers will know that the brilliant Stephen Fry went on his own Last Chance to See but of course it was his friend Douglas Adams who went first.

In fact Douglas was only meant to go and see the Aye-Aye and other celebrities were meant to do the rest. But the partnership he struck up with Mark Carwardine and the passion he garnered for the subject of wildlife meant that he ended up doing the whole lot.

Here is Douglas with towel (appropriately for today) talking about that first trip.

Towel Day: So Long and Thanks...

.... For All the Fish

Yes today as any Douglas Adams fan will tell you in towel day. Do you know where yours is?

So to celebrate here is the opening title sequence of the film that Douglas was working on when he unfortunately died of a heart attack.




There is some dispute about the worthiness of this opening to the film. But as Douglas was constantly tweaking with the concept I've also heard that it was his idea to open with a musical number. Lest we forget the so long and thanks for all the fish bit in the TV series did have a radiophonic workshop rendition of a dolphin whistling the Star Spangled Banner so if this was Douglas's vision to get the film off to a start it was his move into another genre. At least he didn't, at least not when he died, have the idea of Hitch Hiker's Guide: The Musical who knows we may well have had that by now if he was that way inclined.