I'm an avid bus user, not because I love the metal boxes but that's because I still can't drive, whoops but anyway, because I don't drive, buses are my method of transport. I was away to ask whether or not you've ever been on a bus before but I'm guessing that unless you're the Christian Grey's of the world with a driver at your beck and call then you've definitely been on a least one in your lifetime. (Can you tell I've just seen Fifty Shades Darker, wow wow wee wow, that's a story for another time).
Back to the buses, people from every single walk of life use buses every single day from dawn till dusk. There's old biddies away shopping for the latest deals with their pal Ethel, there's the daily commuter and then there's the rude noisy school kids - ugh, let's just ignore them. But everyone just sits there reading their Kindles or gazing out of the windows - no one really seems happy about being there and I am one of these people, there's nothing really enjoyable about the whole thing but then I saw the Woman in the Donkey Hat who brightened up that particular journey.
I was on the bus into Aberdeen city centre scrolling through Twitter as I usually am when a woman got on, I have no idea what her name was but I wish I did, this woman didn't give two fucks and I wanted to find out what her secret was. To paint the picture for you let's start from the Bottom and make our way up - she was wearing Red Doc Martens, acid wash jeans, a bumble bee inspired knitted jumper and a Donkey hat (slightly resembled Eeyore from Winnie the Poo but more melancholy) all topped off with the biggest beaming grin I've seen in a long time.
You could hear the whispers straight away "What the hell is she wearing?" "Oh my days, she clearly didn't look in a mirror before she left!" You know, the usual judgements. Even though they were whispers, I'm pretty sure she heard every single one of them and what did she do? She carried on smiling and sat down not giving a flying wotsit! I remember sitting there in absolute awe and to think if it now she probably thought I was a right weirdo staring away but I just respected her for wearing whatever the hell she wanted! It takes real balls to do that these days because it's so easy for us to slide into the 'norm' and what's 'socially acceptable'. I have found myself looking at an outfit that I've put together and thinking Holy Crap I can't wear this - people will laugh and judge me. I don't know if it's just me who feels this way, I'm sure it's not, but it's wrong that we feel that we need to wear what other people find acceptable - we should put together an outfit and if we like it then we should rock it and not give a damn what other people think!
So here is my Ode to the Woman in the Donkey Hat, I respect you for having the balls that I don't have to wear whatever the hell you want. You looked great and your best accessory was your smile. We should all be a bit more like you.
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