All wet

By Doug Miller
Posted: January 13, 2010

News from the Columbia Association has made a bit of advice from one of my favorite books particularly relevant to my life.

Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is the funniest science fiction you’ll ever read, and the movie was comedic genius, even better than “Galaxy Quest.”

The book — or, more precisely, the fictional travel guide that gives Adams’ real book its title — advises: “Always know where your towel is.”

When I go to the Athletic Club in Harper’s Choice, I don’t have to think too hard on that, as I can just grab a towel from the shelf at the entrance to the locker room. But in all likelihood, those shelves will soon be empty.

The Columbia Association is talking again about ceasing towel service at the AC and its other health clubs. Officials say not having to buy and wash towels will save $5 million over the next 10 years.

Angry gym rats successfully fought such a proposal several years ago, but this time there’s probably no stopping it. It’s just too juicy a budget cut to let slide under current economic conditions.

I’m resigned to it, but I don’t like it. Bringing my own towel from home will mean yet more work for my long-suffering wife and laundress, and another task for my already shaky memory.

All I ask of CA is some (repeated) warning. And maybe a phasing-out period during which the staff can stash a few emergency towels behind the counter so that I don’t have to go to the office smelly and/or soaked.

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