This morn­ing I found myself at Bruegger’s, as I have nearly every Mon­day morn­ing this term. While I waited at the counter, the next guy in line stepped up, with his back to me. He was wear­ing a construction-site yel­low rain slicker, a hard hat, and an orange Type II PFD. Yes, a freakin’ life vest. Order­ing a bagel.

“Lost at sea?” I asked, for lack of any bagel-related wit.

He turned around. The PFD was sten­cilled clearly with the words “BIG DIG LIFE VEST.” I told him it was, uh, quite a life vest.

“Oh! I’m just hav­ing a lit­tle fun. I was just up at Fen­way. The media love this. I’ve already been in the Boston Globe three times, and now they want me on TV next week!”