"Throwing In The Towel"

Alone I stay in hostels
Because they are so cheap
It's just a place to crash out
Late at night to sleep.
I don't really socialise
Sort of nod and chat
Often the room-mates are younger
So I leave it at that.
The downside is that it's always easy
To have a five-knuckle shuffle
In the darkness of the dorm
You can hear the quietest ruffle.
Other than that they suit me
Somewhere to rest my head
All I'm rally after
Is somewhere to crash with a bed.
I leave my towel on my pillow
So it marks it down as mine
As long as I've got a secure locker
Everything else is fine.
But this time I got annoyed
There was a tealeaf on the prowl
In the daytime when I was out
Some fucker nicked my towel!
I know I shouldn't have brought it
A North American ice hockey gift
Although if I'm slightly honest
I'm not sure why I'm miffed.
Because nice as it was
I'm not a Montreal Canadians fan
And I lose lots of things
Though try not to if I can.
For a little while I was gutted
Would've killed the fucker if I could
Making mountains out of a molehill
Getting more wound up than I should.
Rather than go mental
And attack the culprit with a proverbial cosh
It really wasn't the end of the world
As I could still shower and wash.
Still got more towels at home
While nicking mine was taking the piss
It's going to take a lot more to ruin my week away
Than something as minor as this.

Dulwich Poet 6th November 2017

(On my recent trip to Budapest, I stayed in a basic backpackers hostel...someone actually nicked my towel from my bed!)