Technolandy

Day 163 (of 2025/26) #TowelDay

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Towel Day, celebrated every May 25, the gloriously absurd tribute to Douglas Adams. People have asked about the towel on my shoulder as well as the bowtie I customized for today… 

What it is:

Towel Day was first observed in 2001, two weeks after Adams’ death, as a way for fans to honor him by carrying a towel all day. It comes from one of the most iconic passages in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where the Guide explains that a towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.

Why?

Because a towel can be used to:

• wrap yourself for warmth on the cold moons of Jaglan Beta
• lie on the beaches of Santraginus V
• sleep beneath the stars
• sail a mini raft
• use in hand-to-hand combat
• wet for fighting noxious fumes
• dry yourself off
• and, perhaps most importantly, it signals to others that you’re a person improbably prepared for anything

The deeper joke, of course, is that the towel becomes a symbol of resourcefulness, adaptability, and calm competence amid total cosmic chaos.

Which… honestly? That’s not a bad metaphor for education.

Imagine the educator as interstellar hitchhiker

Most days in schools are delightfully unpredictable – even in Provincial Online Learning Schools) But some in-person experiences: Bells ring just when deep learning sets in, plans implode because of the arrival of a bee, systems glitch because everyone is entering things into MyEducation at the same time…, learners surprise us, and somewhere in the middle of the chaos we’re expected to keep moving.

A towel, in Adams’ universe, represents readiness without rigidity.

It’s why I’ve tried to embed “Don’t Panic” as an educational philosophy for my staff and students. I have literally reminded people that no matter the rumour or story, nobody needs to actually panic until you know I am panicking (only three times that I can quickly recall – all due to unexpected passings)

They are most famous words on the Guide’s cover (and why it outsells the Encyclopedia Galactica – along with it being slightly cheaper…)

That’s basically the unofficial motto of every good school leader, teacher, student, and parent navigating learning.

It sounds wonderfully ridiculous.

It also feels unexpectedly wise.

So when times are good… when times are chaotic.. 

Don’t Panic.