I had a brief but very pleasant conversation this morning with Fred Belinsky, owner of the Village Hat Shop.

One of Mr Belinsky's 'blog entries had been about common-sense responsiveness to customers, and I felt that if I spoke to him about a sort of hat that I'd like to buy from him, then my request would be weighed into the decisions about what their in-house manufacturer, Jaxon Hats, would make.

Mr Belinksy was perfectly reasonable. He suggested some items from their present wares; he respected and even sympathized with my discomfort with fur felts. (In fact, his remarks made me more inclined to think that someone might make a go of a business that made fur felts without the animals having been killed or injured to collect the fur.[1]) Further, he thanked me for expressing my desires, and asserted that, indeed, such requests were factored into the decisions as to what to make. When he learned that I had quite liked a now officially discountinued hat, he made a check in the back room to see if he could find one for me. (Tragically, he found one in each of the other two colors, but not the grey that would go with my suits.)

Before I spoke with Mr Belinsky, I'd found a hat that I wanted to get for my mother. Mr Belinsky was kind enough to give me a Jaxon baseball cap as a lagniappe with that purchase.

And, as I was checking-out, Mr Belinsky amusèdly brought-over another customer, who had just asked for a hat of very similar description to that which I'd requested.

[1] No, I wouldn't want to call it the Shaved Beaver Felt Firm.

One thing that I regret about my Jaxon safari hat is that it's not crushable — I cannot simply stuff it into a suitcase. So I was cruising the website of the Village Hat Shop, whereupon I found crushable wool Aussie hats on sale for just $15 apiece.

At that price, I decided that I should get three — one for myself, one for the Woman of Interest, and one for my father. I would also have got one for my mother, except that I don't know the size of her head.

So I stopped at the local store yester-day morning. Unfortunately, they had none in the appropriate size in-stock, but they took my name and number, and said that they would call if they some were found in the warehouse or at one of the other stores.

In the event, they called that after-noon to report that they now had three at the local store, being held in my name for a few days. I stopped again this morning, when they opened, and bought the hats.

Anyway, I thought that they gave very good service on some very inexpensive hats.

• the $38 cotton canvas Indiana Jones® hat: from the Village Hat Shop, from Hats in the Belfry
• the $39.99 wool felt Indiana Jones® hat: from the Village Hat Shop, from Hats in the Belfry
• the crushable wool felt Indiana Jones® hat: $39.99 from Hats in the Belfry, $45* from the Village Hat Shop, extra-extra-large and extra-extra-extra-large $50 from the Village Hat Shop, child-sized $45 from the Village Hat Shop
• the $40 bao Outback Indiana Jones® hat: from the Village Hat Shop
• the $40 whip band, straw Outback Indiana Jones® hat: from the VIllage Hat Shop
• the $40 cotton twill safari Indiana Jones® fedora: from the Village Hat Shop
• the wool Outback Indiana Jones® hat: $45 from the Village Hat Shop, extra-extra-large and extra-extra-extra-large $52 from the Village Hat Shop
• the fur felt Indiana Jones® hat: $99.99 from Hats in the Belfry, $99.99 from the Village Hat Shop, extra-extra-large $110 from the Village Hat Shop
• the $160 Original fur felt Indiana Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $160 snap brim, fur felt Indiana Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $160 Black Raider fur felt Indiana Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $170 chin cord, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $170 leather band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $170 Explorer leather band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $170 leather buckle band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $175 leather buckle band, chin cord, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $175 feather band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $190 leather buckle band, stampede chin cord, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $190 imitation crocodile band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $200 diamond-back rattle-snake band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $210 diamond-back rattle-snake-with-g_dd_mn'd-head band, fur felt Indian Jones® hat: from Miller Hats
• the $495 100% beaver fur felt Indiana Jones® hat: from the Village Hat Shop, from Hats in the Belfry

*The Village Hat Shop has a price-match policy.

For many years now, I have had a Peterman duster (in the original canvas color, which I'm happy to see has again become available), but really no hat to go with it. I've been known to wear a baseball-style cap (with a graphic for the now-defunct UCSD HP-PAL) with it, but the result was questionable.

While I was out to-day, I was seized by the urge to get a hat. So I stopped at the Village Hat Shop. There I found and purchased a chestnut-colored Jaxon Nubuck Safari.

(As I was completing purchase, the salesgirl said that /ˈkiən/ was a fine Irish name. I didn't tell her that my middle name is in fact pronounced /ˈkʌɪən/ and that, though there are Irishmen named Kian, in my case my name was just an invention based on my father's notions of euphany, and his disregard for how a name pronounced /ˈkʌɪən/ ought best to be spelled.)

The hat unfortunately isn't packable/crushable, but should develop some character with time.