
Yes, I know: I should have been paying attention to traffic as I scurried across Gervais Street during Thursday's luncheon rush. But instead, I was hauling out my camera, determined to capture a photograph of this intriguing gentleman. Was he a Texas tycoon, in town perhaps to drill for hydrogen in the Innovista?

No, it turns out that John lives here in Columbia and works a block or so away. The hat is just for fun, he says, something he usually wears on Fridays: "It's like a toy." His female co-worker had tried to persuade him not to don it with his seersucker jacket. I, for one, am glad he did not heed her advice.
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