Hippos in Red

Somedays Mr Down in the Dip goes off to work in a suit. Today he chose his own tie. He has had this one a long time and I really don't know what possessed him to chose it over the more tasteful and sombre ties in his collection. For years one of our daughters used to plead with him to wear it (her favorite animals are hippos) and he never did, but she wasn't even up when he left this morning.
He is home now and tells me that at the meeting nobody discussed the tie, everybody must have been far too polite.