If you can't fight, wear a daft hat...

..as my Dad used to say. Thinking about it, I'm not sure exactly what that is supposed to mean. Will a potential assailant be scared off by the ludicrousness of your headgear? Or will the bravado you are displaying by wearing a stupid hat mark you out as someone to be reckoned with? Perhaps my Dad knows.

Either way I've got a fairly daft cowboy hat and I'm very fond of it. Apart from making me look daft and I think that's an admirable job in itself, it has immense practical value. It has kept the sun from my eyes whilst riding a moped, the sun off my neck whilst lounging on the beach, the rain off my head whilst cycling in the mountains, kept my head warm in Xi'an and pulled over the eyes has allowed me to get some sleep on endless bus and train journeys. It also double as a handy fan and a convenient receptacle for the contents of your pockets before putting them through the airport x-ray machine. I've even stuck my wallet under there whilst having to wade back from an island in Thailand after the tide came in.

The best use of the cowboy hat however is to make people smile. Smiles lead to conversations and that, in my book beats all the other uses hand down.

Hats off to the hat, a much underrated object I think.