Barbershop

Dh got a haircut the other day. Since he has been off work and couldn't go to his usual stylist in the city, he decided to go to the barbershop in Seymour.

Remember Floyd's Barbershop on Andy Griffith? When you go to the Barber shop on the square in Seymour, it feels like you've stepped back in time about 50 years. This place is complete with a red, white and blue barber pole and your very own Floyd, Barney, Gomer and Otis! Interestingly, dh has been called "Opie" for years by his coworkers--must have something to do with the strawberry blonde hair, freckles and ageless face.

For some reason, dh felt it necessary to drag me along to the barber shop. There were 3 people inside when we arrived so "Floyd" said it wouldn't be too long. Well, as you can imagine, country people have a different perspective as to what "long" means.

The man who was getting a haircut when we arrived, we'll call him "Barney", was a hoot. He was thin and balding and I could almost picture him being allowed to carry a gun on the condition that he have 1 bullet--in his pocket! There was nothing this man didn't know or hadn't done, up to and including killing grizzly bears. He talked nonstop and I'm not kidding. It takes good 'ol Floyd about 45 minutes to do a haircut, we discovered, so we were able to hear all about Barney's escapades. He tried to convince us that you could catch pond carp, can it in jars and it "tastes just like salmon!" We said, "yum, we'll have to try that!". He said "Fish is fish". YUK! The place filled up while we were waiting and no one was as happy to see him go as I was. We practically had to shove him out the door to get him to leave.

Dh can keep up with just about anyone when it comes to talking and I have to admit I was a little surprised that he didn't get impatient with the laid back atmosphere. The truth is, we were having too much fun analyzing the characters from Mayberry and listening to the engaging conversation.

The next guy to get a haircut was a corpulent, pie-faced man, we'll call him "Otis". His clothes were dirty and ragged and he appeared as if he had just crawled out of bed (presumably, he let himself in and out of his jail cell, still a little ebrious from the night on the town). He was a sweet guy with a not-so-sweet odor. Ewwww! Floyd must have noticed it too, because Otis' haircut didn't take so long.

The next guy had a hat on that said "WWII Veteran". He had been sitting in a chair, taking part in the conversation and since he was there before us, we assumed he was next. When Floyd looked at him he said "Aw golly gee whiz, I'm just sittin' here for a bit. I don't need my hair cut today". Yep, you guessed it, Gomer!

FINALLY, it was Opie's turn. We were at the barber shop for 2 hours but I have to say, if you need to know what's going on in Mayberry, uh, I mean Seymour, just go sit a while at "Floyd's".