‘You’re the first sensible person I’ve seen all day! Wearing a hat!’
‘Yes, well, I’m a sensible person I suppose.’ Small pause while I look at gorgeous, beautifully-made dress which I can’t afford. ‘And I like wearing hats.’
‘Oh, yes, so do I. I like a hat. Isn’t it a pity they never make a comeback? Hats!’
adelaide from adelaide 
Was the dress on t’other person? Or in a shop window?
On a coat hanger. Next to another gorgeous dress on another coat hanger. Also on the other person – actually, she was wearing a pair of those new generation shorts which looked fabulous.
3C, because you say so, hats are back. Up in these subtropical climes there is a return to the parasol, which is just so wonderful. You can protect your skin and be a *lady*.
Parasols? Do you mean your actual white lacey parasol or umbrellas put up on sunny days (which I also like to do)?
Does this mean I can break out the Indonesian oiled-paper bronze-and-gold parasol with dragons on it that I bought for my mother about 30 years ago and use it?
You know, 3C, you do have an uncannily unerring ear for casual knifepoint bitchery. ‘Pity they never made a comeback’ is right up there with the pre-emptive ‘Just because people’s kids are friends it doesn’t mean they have to like each other.’
FWIW I own five, count ’em, five summer hats: two thick, well-shaped cotton ones, two straws, and a magnificent sort of canavassay calicoey arrangement that a friend bought me in Vietnam (I think) and that doubles as a large and highly effective fan. I wear them all (not together) — years of seeing my redheaded mother stagger out of the dermatologist’s surgery once every three months, her face and hands covered in dry-ice burns and occasionally stitches, has done its work.
Does this mean I can break out the Indonesian oiled-paper bronze-and-gold parasol with dragons on it that I bought for my mother about 30 years ago and use it?
You know, 3C, you do have an uncannily unerring ear for casual knifepoint bitchery. ‘Pity they never made a comeback’ is right up there with the pre-emptive ‘Just because people’s kids are friends it doesn’t mean they have to like each other.’
FWIW I own five, count ’em, five summer hats: two thick, well-shaped cotton ones, two straws, and a magnificent sort of canavassay calicoey arrangement that a friend bought me in Vietnam (I think) and that doubles as a large and highly effective fan. I wear them all (not together) — years of seeing my redheaded mother stagger out of the dermatologist’s surgery once every three months, her face and hands covered in dry-ice burns and occasionally stitches, has done its work.
Well there is the odd rain umbrella as well as some obviously dual purpose ones, but I have also spotted the Japanese paper and wood variety and yes some of the lacey white/pink kind. PC, you would be at the height of fashion with your Indonesian parasol.
yes, i think life it too short not to break out with the Indonesian parasol (surely a safer bet than acquiring another cat).
I’m in the tropics.
I use a very fetching bamboo and canvas parosol.
I’m also one of the only people who wears a hat up here.
PC, yes, I have been wondering about this. It could be – and this has been put to me more than once by more than one person – that I am overly sensitive and read too much into things.
I think I will look for a parasol.
I found a lovely parasol at a yard sale a few years ago. It’s relatively new, from SEAsia, and is square and lace-covered. I love it for days when it’s so hotyou don’t wanttowear a hat, andithasbeen a useful period prop for a couple of commemorative occasions (upcoming: singing Land of Hope and Glory at church bicentenary celebrations).
That person wandering around with a dog in the background? Probably me.
.. I would have been wearing a really ludicrous hat.
Were you the one dropped the chocolate wrapper?
There is no ludicrous hat. Except those weird visor things. It wasn’t one of those, was it?