This makes me laugh Brigid! Ha, I'm a sandals (no socks...barefoot preferably!) bird watcher but I leave my books (they're within arms reach now) at home and don't take the binocs because I prefer to be unencumbored by "stuff" when out in the woods, and have excellent vision. I wear a quaint hat! Unashamedly. Actually, the hat is the "hard helmet on my head", there more for mental protection than function. Though for function too. Bugs...and cold. But mostly it's a mental thing. Funny, my ma always said she's "embarassed" to be seen with me for the way I dress. I have no concept for fashion. Pure function. It is pretty ridiculous, I suppose. But it doesn't bother me in the slightest. Maybe it should, but it just doesn't.