It was a bit of a slow start today. My wife, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; was out early in the morning, to meet her relatives, staying at her parents’ for the weekend. They arrived down from Penang (Penang is a state up north west of Peninsula Malaysia) for a couple of days.

Jeannie took her relatives and her mother out for breakfast. I, on the other hand, got out of bed about an hour later, got some paperwork done and had a quick brekkie. Jeannie got back a short while after that.

We made our way to Amcorp Shopping Mall, parked in the basement car park, noted for its maze of dividing walls.

The Batik Influencer was on the go immediately.

The Hatted Writer then realised that he was missing a prominent piece of attire – his (my) hat. I reminded myself before leaving the house to get a hat off the hat stand. Yet I forgot.

This warranted a visit to Mahmud, the hat seller. 

And the finalists are:

This black, white and grey flat cap is for serious and out & about occasion wear. Light in weight, very comfortable.

Whichever angle I turn my head, the flat cap looks good. I believe it has a lot to do with the model wearing it.🤠

This Gatsby / newsboy cap is versatile to wear. American style, Japanese style, British style, shade can be at the side which depicts an ultra “hang-loose” person, at the back is when you want to do light to semi-serious work. It all depends on the mood of the wearer.

It is heavier than the flat cap. It looks a lot like a locomotive train engineer’s cap.  The old American tv shows about trains and the likes, have the steam and diesel locomotive train drivers and engineer guys, wearing something like this cap.

Mahmud had piles of hats and caps to choose from, including those on the multiple, directional stem hat stands that were clamped to the sides of the table. He has a hat for every occasion, for every one. I spent some time asking him lots (“multiple” for some) of questions about these two caps and others, as well.

Now, the deciding factor. Which cap – the flat cap or the Gatsby cap?

Which one do you like? Which do you think I should get?

Drum roll…drrrroooll….

The winner…

The flat cap. It is unanimous! The Batik Influencer and our daughter, Laura (I sent her pictures of me with both the flat cap and the Gatsby cap); both voted the flat cap, too.

I was more inclined to go with the flat cap all along. Super happy with it. Light and ultra-comfortable. You will see me with it more often in the future.

Now for some afternoon curry puffs sold be a lady manning a food stall booth on the Ground floor. Delicious!