(published previously on PurePiscator)
Chris:
First, let's get one thing straight - this is NOT a eulogy for a floppy hat - after 2 decades of waxing, my Green Wide-Rimmed Waxed Hat (hereinto referred to as GWWRH) is stiffer than Ron Jeremy * on the first day of rehearsals.
This piece of headgear has served me heroically over the last 20 years - it has everything a fisherman needs; a wide rim for shade on a summer's day, this same rim 'gutters' away the rain from your neck in wet weather - mine is even slightly quilted for winter warmth. This is a hat that sticks two fingers up to any weather. It even has a lanyard - should a heavy gust of wind try to remove it from your head (Its predecessor was lost on the famous Upper Benyons stretch of the Kennet - fishing a gale in the late 80s, it was blown clean off my bonce and landed mid-stream). For the style conscious, there's even a jaunty leather band around the head piece. The GWWRH has even been know to double up as a cushion - acting as a barrier between my derrière and wet grass. My GWWRH set me back some 20guineas - the best 20gs I ever spent on an item of clothing. Today, however, one may need to spend twice as much to get one like it. A worthwhile investment for an item of clothing that I wouldn't be without on the river bank, I heartily recommend it to the Pantheon.
Picture shows the GWWRH earning its corn during a wet and sleety November's day on the Kennet back in 2004 - the perch weighed 3lb 3oz.
* Warning - if you've never heard of Ron don't Google him from the office PC - results are likely to be NSFW.
