Years ago, when I was in Kenya, I was pretty much a walking advertisement for Tilley Endurables clothing.
I wrote in my diary, on safari, " a Tilley hat will, in fact, stay on your head, standing up in an open Safari truck, at 40 kph, through Amboseli Park."
My Tilley hat did not, unlike its most famous compatriot, get eaten by an elephant, but it did endure a heck of a lot of abuse on my travels. It was well and truly broken in by the time I got what is one of my favourite photos, of a young cheetah, we had the chance to watch hunting. I just like the sense of space and heat in the picture, not to mention the cheetah itself...
But that was then... and this is now. So it was a bit of shock, and a lot of a delight, in Huntsville on Tuesday, to meet Mr. Alex Tilley in The Framing Place. (For someone with no wall space left at all, I spend an inordinate amount of time in the Framing Place... Orla, Matt and the crew have produced some fabulous results framing old archival documents and photographs dating back into the 1880's for me!)
Naturally, I did not have my Tilley hat on hand for the occasion -- Alex assures me he would have been happy to autograph it. That's fine -- I was equally delighted to make his acquaintance and have the chance to say Thanks for making such great stuff...
and maybe we can lure him onto a small safari of his own, out here to Bondi Village Resort...
After all, just like on the streets of Huntsville, you never know just who you'll meet!
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