Monday, June 13, 2005

I want a purple hat too...

People tend to gripe about tourists when living in tourist-attracting cities. I think each city has their own special breed - ours tend to wear lots of patriotic t-shirts and fanny packs - but they all have them. I try not to be annoyed by them, even though they do sort of annoying things (like stand on the left side of the escalators where people walk or block entrances to wherever I'm going) because if nothing else, I myself have been a tourist and have certainly done annoying things in other cities. Not to mention the fact that the tourists make for excellent people watching. For instance:

On Sunday when I was coming home from my museum jaunt, I saw eight or so ladies waiting at the L'Enfant Plaza station, and man, they were DECKED OUT. They were wearing outfits of red and royal purple, in various combinations of tops and pants, but all of them loud. But the best parts were the hats, which were gi-normous and covered in things like feathers and sequins and big fake flowers, also in the theme of purple and red. One woman, the tamest of the bunch, had a purple visor with a big red rose hot-glued the top. I stared openly, there was no point in pretending I wasn't. I did at least shut my mouth so as not to be caught gaping.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen ladies like this at the mall before. Here's some info on why they dress like that: http://www.redhatsociety.com/. It sounds like fun to me! -Paige

Ebony said...

Hey, careful there. I happen to be a big fan of the red hat ladies and hope to someday be one. If I joined now I would get to wear a pink hat, because they save the ultra cool hats for the ladies over fifty.

Yup, I'm a freak...but you love me.

Anonymous said...

Me too, me too! My goal in life is to be a member of the Red Hat Society!

Anonymous said...

If you're interested in expanding your blog to include photos, this weekend I received a letter from my grandmother which included a picture of her in her Red Hat Society hat! I hope I'm that sassy when I'm 83!
C