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Friday 15th July 2005

Friday 15th July 2005

In my road someone has put someone elseÂ’s (I presume) baseball cap into a tree. By which I mean they havenÂ’t just chucked the hat up there and got it flukily caught up in the branches , theyÂ’ve actually gone to quite some trouble to climb the tree (I guess with a ladder as the tree has quite a tall trunk with no branches low down and would take some expert rope-climbing skills to ascend otherwise) and then rather neatly undone the head-size adjustment strap and then refastened it so the hat is secured around a branch. The hat sits up there and is a marvel to all who see it. Not only is it amusing to see a hat outside of its natural habitat of the head, but instead secure in a tree, but you have to admire whoever put it there for the feat. ItÂ’s as impressive and mysterious as the genesis of the pyramids. How did they get it up there? And more importantly why?
One has to assume it was a jape of some manner. ItÂ’s much more impressive and intelligent than the foolish behaviour of throwing keys on top of a bus shelter. They most probably stole the favourite hat of a friend (or enemy), which would have been amusing in itself, but they decided that this was not enough. They were going to put themselves to more trouble, but also rub the loss of headgear into the hatless face of the capÂ’s owner. I hope that the person whose cap it was has to pass that tree every day and see his prized possession up there, a-taunting him. But try as he might he is not clever enough to get up the tree like his friend (or enemy, or possibly the perpetrator was just a cheeky monkey of some kind) and can only stare with wonder and anger at the cap that once graced his pate, wishing it was back where it belonged. But even if it was your hat youÂ’d have to laugh at the surreal sight of a hat in a tree. A hat! In a tree! I ask you!
Unless it wasn’t a joke and the hat was merely dropped in the street and then the person who found it has done rather an extreme version of the “putting the lost item on a wall” in the hope it will be discovered by the owner. Perhaps they thought that by putting the hat on a wall there was always a danger it would be blown away by the wind or stolen by a youth. So by securing it up on high they have ensured that the hat will be very visible (though maybe not to someone looking for it admittedly) and safe from the elements (apart from rain and lightning) and thieves (apart from thieves with ladders or Inspector Gadget style arms).
Whatever the truth it is a delight to see a hat in a tree. A hat. In a tree! I ask you.

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