Until I moved to New York, the warming weather meant it would soon be time for one of my favorite things: washing the car. It’s not that I liked the work, so much, but it was always enjoyable to hang out with a couple of friends, shoot the breeze, and try to keep our losing investments in decent shape. Of course, now my car is mostly just a $300-a-month ticket magnet, but that (along with over 45 different varieties of public urination) is part of the charm of the city.
In the latest update of Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools there is a positive write-up of The Absorber, a synthetic PVA open-cell chamois marketed primarily for drying off cars (although it could easily be used for boats, pets, or anything else). I’ve used an Absorber for the last couple of years (the same one, that I just keep washing out) and can totally get behind it, as well. Unlike leather chamois, when it seems it should be full of water it always seems to be able to suck up a little more. There’s not a lot to it, really; it’s a extremely well-made piece of future fabric that does its job better than everything it is designed to replace. Why, I bet it would even soak up bum leavings. Maybe I’ll have something to do this spring after all.
