Today I would like to record a previously unrecorded phenomenon: middle aged women and teenage boys are, through some combination of nature and social construct, drawn to the same hairstyles.
The reason I have yet to determine. It could be economic (eg- middle aged women are often mothers and therefore have a predilection for less costly mens barber shops), genetic (the effects of a gene that comes to fruition earlier in males), or social (these two demographics are the most efficient and therefore can't be bothered by cumbersome hair) .
I venture by no means to criticize. When I am a middle aged woman with sons, I will certainly opt for saving a few precious shillings at the family haircuttery over lounging in long-haired luxury at the salon. In fact, I make this same choice every time I get my hair cut, only thus far I have managed to escape Pro-Cuts with my dignity semi intact.
This similarity between the male 12-16's and the female 40-50's was first observed in the place where, I am rapidly discovering, all observations are made. Yes, that is right; I gathered my data on the train. There was a woman sitting across from me and underneath a bowl cut. Her bowl cut was made all the more alarming by the fact that her bangs were parted down the center, each respective half swept towards the two sides of her head. Perhaps, she rode her bicycle to the train station in the wind? I, surreptitiously natürlich, regarded and then promptly forgot the event until two hours later when I was standing in front of 7th grade English class discussing New York City. My course of thought was thrown completely off track mid-Macy's Day Parade when I had the shock of encountering the bowl cut again. Not able to believe that two such hairstyles could exist in this world, I asked myself what on earth my train friend could possibly be doing in the 7th grade. But was it truly her? A closer peer revealed that it truly was not. This hair belonged to a pupil whom happenstance had lead to the same unfortunate barber shop.
However, one datum does not a theory make. Further evidence was collected through my surveillance of a mother waiting in the school yard. Her choice de friseur was the infamous "European Neck Fluff". This not-style occurs when instead of small tufts of hair on the front of the head (bangs) one strains against fashion and grows small tufts out the back of the head and onto the neck (neck fluff). This neck befluffed mother stood until the bell rang and a swarm of youths burst out of the building in glorious freedom and out onto the street. And of the swarm, several members sported neck fluff.
Theory substantiated.

I may have earlier reported on the distressing Mainzer trend of small dogs in strollers. Did I? I can't recall. Regardless, today I have only to add to the topic that the category of canine should be extended to include rodents. I am a recent witness of the fact that hamsters do indeed make travel companions. To what caliber of companionship they provide, I cannot speak. I only saw them waiting at the bus stop in a cage held by a young woman who then mounted a bus which I was very glad to not be riding.

Two of the streets in my neighborhood commemorate the heroes of the German automotive industry. They are the Gottlieb Daimler Strasse and the Carl Benz Strasse. I have a friend on the Gottlieb Daimler. She is the mother-in-law of a teacher at my school and today she gave me a bicycle and a handful of raspberries from her garden. It was friendship at first fruit and she had a very lovely haircut.