A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Hat – The Sequel
Hats off to all those who took part in this weeks a word a week challenge – hat. Awesome response so far – 3 days to go before I dip into the dictionary again for those of you who would still like to take part.
Here is my sequel to ‘An Audrey Hepburn Moment’ which started it all off.
101 things to do with a hat
Because my hat had been snaffled by some sweet old thing I had to think about replacing it, not because I want to make some kind of fashion statement, but because it was so hot in Vietnam I didn’t want to suffer from sun stroke. I’d had the misfortune to suffer from this in Denver, America many years ago and it was a horrendous experience. At the time the girls in my dorm were not concerned because they thought I was drunk. I was, at various stages through the evening crawling around the floor, rambling incoherently and vomiting – all normal stuff for a bout of excessive alcohol so I do understand why it took a little while for them to twig that something was wrong. But my bright red face, high temperature, me muttering ‘hot, hot, hot’ and collapsing under a cold shower (fully clothed) finally spurred them into action.
With the last heat stroke experience still a clear in my memory, I started hunting the markets of the Mekong to find head protection. What I discovered there was that Vietnamese women generally either wear conical straw hats or bright, floppy hats in primary/dayglo colours, often decorated with fake flowers, rhinestone and lace. Don’t you just want to go out and buy one now? Women here also wear clothes that are reminiscent of the pajamas I wore as a child and if I am going to be honest, still do on a cold night. Not sexy or alluring I admit but then I have no intention of trying to be when it’s less than minus 1 degree and I have no central heating. As for the women of Vietnam, I’m sure the air circulation factor far outweighs the need to be fashionable.
I was tempted by the conical hat with its dual purpose role of keeping sun and rain at bay. Two for the price of one – I liked that and maybe it could be put to other uses – same idea as the book “101 things to do with a cat” – a bowl, water/food carrier, a bailing out implement for boats, a baby rocker!!!? I kid you not. Attach a couple of long ropes to the hat, hang it from a meat hook and tuck in the baby – serious inventors would marvel that the upgraded version I saw in Indonesia which had a motor bike spring added for that extra bounce. Unfortunately, being European, this hat would look like tourist gimmick on me and advertise the fact that I was one for all the scammers out there (not that the blonde hair and white skin wouldn’t).
So I decided to go dayglo and became the proud owner of a wide-brimmed neon pink cloth hat with a swirly flower trimmed in black ribbon stuck (yes glued) on the side. All for the princely sum of ”two dollar”. What I love about this hat is that anywhere else in the world I would look ridiculous and you would not be able to lose me in a crowd. There, in my bright pink neon hat, I blended in.
Nice story. You’ll never go unnoticed whilst wearing a bright pink hat.
I still want to do a hat post. Maybe I’ll find time this evening. 
Hi, thanks for the challenge. Looks fun! I posted this week and here’s the link: http://anygivensundry.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/snowben-the-most-patient-dog-in-the-world-as-a-snowman/
A love story … about a hat – love it. I did mine to my beloved watch. Beautiful story .. of friendship and partnership.
I wish you a great weekend.
Good story. Do you still have that hat and more to the point, do you ever wear it???
You know I lost it somewhere in Thailand
What a shame it would look great in the grungy areas of Melbourne brighten up the alleyways