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Reaction 1:
On Saturday I had to go into Maidenhead (on domestic duty). Given that parking in town is something of a nightmare at present I parked in a small out of town shopping area and then walked in. I was wearing a camouflage print kilt with hiking boots and socks, a dark brown fleece pullover top and a dark green sleeveless jacket.
As I made my way down a pedestrian walk through I heard a skateboard coming up behind me. Just before the skateboard came alongside me the lad on it (about 14 years old) jumped off and said “You may not have noticed, but you’re wearing a skirt.” I replied that I was disappointed he’d noticed, the camouflage was supposed to make it invisible
He asked why I was dressed as I was and I asked why he was wearing jeans, when he replied “Because I want to”, I just shrugged. He got the point.
He then said something about me getting looked at by more people than he would, I agreed and when he asked if I liked the attention, I replied that I didn’t really care. He grinned and said “Well I guess no one will ever mistake you for a girl”. I reckoned his combination of long hair and blue jeans made him far more likely to fall into that trap than I was. That raised another grin followed by a handshake and “My name’s Tony”. “Ian” I replied, “Good to meet you”
Another grin and a cheery “See you” and he was back on the board.
I passed him again about ten minutes later, chatting to a couple of friends. “Hi Ian” and big grins all around.
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Reaction 2:
An hour or so later I was walking back to the car through a pedestrian tunnel under the railway. There was a group of about a dozen teenagers, aged around 14 to 18, there, just hanging and chatting; the sort of group that the tabloids would refer to as “feral teenagers”. I did briefly consider taking another route but then thought what the hell and carried on. As they saw me they all went silent, I continued through, focusing on a tall Afro-Caribbean lad with the biggest afro haircut I’ve seen since the seventies (You know the sort of thing; it looked like he’d been hanging on to a Van der Graff generator for too long.) I made eye contact with him and wished them all a cheery “Evenin’ all” (very Dixon of Dick Green – aging Brits will understand). Got a mumbled “Hi” in reply but the general silence did not lift until I was 10 or 15 yards past them, when they all started talking at once. Walking through felt odd but totally non-threatening, they all just seemed too curious to say anything.
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Reaction 3:
I took the dog for a walk yesterday afternoon, my wife and son were with me and we met a friend who was also out to give his dog a run. The fields in the Thames flood plain are very soggy at present but it was reasonably warm for the time of year so back on with the camouflage kilt and hiking boots and off we went. After a couple of hours walking and a short stop in a local “dog and muddy walker friendly” pub we returned back through the small town where I live. As we walked up the hill a teenage girl of about 14 rode past on her bike with a huge grin on her face. A few minutes later she came past us again with a friend of similar age. As she rode past she shouted “Why a skirt in winter?” There was no chance to reply as they did not slow down, but when she got to the corner, about 30 yards away she stopped, looked back and called out “It’s winter, why a skirt in winter?” before riding off again.
I was struck that she seemed totally unconcerned by the sight of a guy in a skirt, apart from the fact that the weather had turned cold.
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So in one weekend I had three very different reactions from teenagers, but none of them were negative.
Have fun,
Ian.
(Penultimate paragraph edited to correct typo - Ian.)
