It finally happened last Tuesday at ten o'clock in the morning. It was a chilly October day and I went for a walk on my break at work and darned if I didn't have to wear my winter hat. As usual I was listening to the weekly News from Lake Wobegon podcast and as coincidence would have it, all the good folk in that fictional mid western town were getting their winter hats out too. Minnesotans are a steadfast and hearty breed and so are we here in Eastern Canada. If it's time for hats in Lake Wobegon - it's time for hats in New Brunswick. Onward toward winter...I am a late comer to wearing a winter hat – in fact I only bought my first hat about 5 years ago after a long period of careful consideration. I always hated wearing hats because they messed up my hair, but Father Time and Mother Nature in their wisdom have taken care of that problem and ultimately my concern for neat hair has now been outweighed by my concern for a warm head.
Buying a hat was not easy for me because it had to pass what I like to call the “hat test”. Julie will attest to the fact that there was indeed such a stipulation. The deal was that if I could put a hat on my head and she could look me in the eye for ten seconds without laughing – I would buy it. It took me literally until I was 54 years old to finally find a hat that could pass the test and that I could park my face under. Needless to say, I do not have what they call a "hat face"...
But there is another benefit to wearing a winter hat. And that is that I can finally shake that balding guy who keeps following me around the rest of the year. I call him Buddy. I have never had a real good look at Buddy but he appears to be slightly older than me, thinning on top and kind of puts me in mind of Prince Charles - at least from behind. I first started to notice him a few years ago whenever I was sitting in the barber's chair - the barber would hold up a mirror and there was Buddy sitting in the chair right behind me. Of course I only saw the back of his head but that ever thinning scalp was hard to miss. I have since stopped going to barber shops just to avoid him. Now he has started to follow me into banks and stores and anywhere there is an overhead security camera or mirror. Whenever I happen to glance up, there he is - standing right behind me, with that unmistakeable scalp of his shamelessly on display.
Recently I was in the local convenience store where they have an over head security monitor - I had a quick look and to my relief all I saw was what appeared to be my own hat. So it looks like I have given Buddy the slip for the time being - he seems to leave me alone during the winter months. But something tells me I'll be seeing him again when the warm weather returns. Maybe this year I'll be smart and buy a summer hat. On second thought, maybe I'll buy two - one for me and one for Buddy. That ought to get rid of him for good. Sounds like a plan.
