There's a type of politeness which is to appear roughly as society would expect you to.
I recently made a short journey scooter with a bundle of pool noodles lashed across the handlebars of my scooter. Almost everyone who saw me stopped and stared. Some cars had trouble staying in their lanes because I occupied so much of their attention.
Years ago I did sound engineering and roadying for a show that had a large seated audience. There were a lot of changes during the night so I was frequently on the stage moving equipment, instruments and mics. My mother was amongst the audience and commented the next day that I looked like a member of the public who shouldn't have been there. I bought black work clothes before the next show and wore them thereafter. It made things easier both for me and everybody who wondered who I was.
My sister tells the story of a man who needed more exercise and tried out running. His problem was that he wore ordinary clothes. If your friends, neighbours, or the well meaning public see you running in normal clothes they think you're in a crisis, that you're late to something, or that you're running from something. The only way he could avoid having passing cars stop and offer assistance was to go out and buy running clothes.
Richard "dress for the job you've got" B
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