29/12/2008

Frame 3. It's Raining Hats & Dogs....

Two observations today:

1. Hats. Funny things. Practical of course - keep your head warm. But there is another side to hats. They are a fashion item of course, or an advertising vehicle and sometimes a safety device, but have you ever stopped to wonder at the power of the "official" hat. That which confers status and authority. From Traffic Wardens to Policeman to Lollipop ladies and maybe even McDonalds fast food technicians, they all tell you that this person has a purpose, a role and the authority to carry out that role......perhaps the McDonald example is stretching that a bit - but you get the idea. But why o why in the tortured evolution of mankind and the more tortuous evolution of fashion was the head and hence the hat seen as the way forward? Why emphasise the head? Why not make gloves the great signifier? Or Shoes? I would like to see positions of authority denoted by resplendent and appropriate footwear. The next time you see a hat - think> What is is saying to me.

2. Dogs. Funny things too. Living as I do in the UK, I am only too aware of the great British publics affection with animals. If the news broadcast a story about a murder, there is a subdued whimper. If they broadcast a story about mistreated donkeys, they is a public outrage. Effigies are burnt and questions asked in parliament. Such is life. Today I saw a dog being walked - a common enough site. Common enough to ignore. Why do we go to the trouble of domesticating an animal that we then have to exercise? There is no other animal that we treat the same. I do not see domesticated sheep being walked down my high street. Nor is there the occasional duck, sniffing at some lamppost. It's a strange affair to say the least. Next time you see a dog being walked - think on.

So that's it for today. Hats and Dogs off my chest.....

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