Greek fisherman's cap from New York

Greek fisherman caps are surprisingly famous and I love them.

 I live in Greece, actually on the coast, near a fishing village.

Try buying a Greek fisherman’s cap in the village; it is not going to happen. They do sell some cheap tourist versions, which no Greek fisherman would be seen dead in. By the way, the Greek fisherman usually wear baseball caps with I love NY on them.

The traditional Greek fisherman’s cap is mostly seen on old retired fisherman…the hats look older than the guys wearing them.

 As a good non-fisherman, Greek American, I wanted one and looked all over here in Greece for one, no luck…non of the thick woolen caps that the old guys wear.

 By the way the old guys are about 90 to 100 years old, so I can refer to them as old guys.

Back to the caps, while in NY I went to my favorite hat store on Fifth Ave. and 30 something street, JJ hats. I buy my Borsalino hats there as well as my cloth caps when I want to do the English thing. I walked in there a couple of years ago and see the traditional Greek fisherman’s caps, thick woolen one. Inside it said made in Greece…they also had some touristy ones, white, cotton etc. nevertheless the classic one was heavy wool, embroidered visor…really great.

There is a label inside that tells me they are made, since 1885 in an ancient village outside of Athens. No mention of the village’s name. A company in San Francisco exclusively imports them, the only Greek fisherman’s cap available in the US…it seems the only country in the world you can get them in, and I gave up on getting one in Greece.

I should import them to Greece from the US, even though they originally come from and are made in Greece. I have to try to find that ancient village outside of Athens that has a Greek fisherman’s cap industry.

I now have my cap and bought some for friends here in Greece.

I will stroll by the fishing boats and see if the fishermen are attracted to my cap, might be a side business.

If you want one, you can order one on line from JJ hats, or let me know.

YIPPEE, no brain swelling

I had Gamma knife surgery in November of last year.

The Doctor mentioned that a rare side effect might be seizures.

Holy shit! I panicked… I think as a rule I am pretty cool about these things, although the word “seizures” really made me very apprehensive.

I went to NY for my three-month checkup, an MRI and then a meeting with the doctor.

I would have had the MRI in Greece and sent it to NY, a very routine follow-up, but the word “seizures” changed everything.

I went, had my MRI, the nurse was a Greek American girl…and my neurosurgeon is a Greek American as well, we are all over the place…could have stayed in Greece.

I saw the Doctor and I explained my apprehension, he was surprised as he thought it was the most remote possibility…it had to be mentioned for insurance reasons.

I am apprehensive about seizures; they are apprehensive about being sued for not giving all the risks of a procedure.

He looks at the MRI and says in a very casual way, good, no brain swelling.

He then begins to chat about his upcoming trip to Greece to take his mother to visit her village and relatives. I asked him to say again, NO BRAIN SWELLING! 

He did, I left and went and had a martini, two actually