“If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest — in all its ardour and paradoxes — than our travels.”
The Art of Travel. Alain de Botton. NY: Pantheon Books, 2002.
The “hat of power” is just a standard issue 5X Beaver, made by the Peter Brothers, in Ft. Worth. That’s Ft. Worth, Texas – Peter Brothers, downtown since – oops – no net access here, I’ll have to wing it. I think they’ve been there for over a hundred years, which, in Texas, is a long time for a business. Maybe not like Tower of London – old, but respectable old enough for my Texas tastes.
The hat of power did me grand service in keeping my pate warm, and the hat shielded, except for once, from the typical questions I get when traveling aboard, especially in England, “Hey do you know where (famous landmark) is?”
Which really isn’t so odd, I mean, I do know where a couple of the best places are. I can navigate London without a map. Or, at least, I can get around pretty well.
I was anticipating a couple of responses, and I was a little fearful of anti-American backlash, but I never ran into that sentiment. Might’ve been my long locks. Might’ve been a number of influences, but I wasn’t really there long enough to figure it out. I wouldn’t plan on going to England – or any place in Northern Europe – in the winter time. Too damn cold, hat or not, so I figured this was my one chance to get pictures with me and a hat, and like I suspected, it turned into a hat of power. Crowds parted. Folks stepped up and out of the way.
