Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Feeling Like a Canary...

... not in a coal mine, no. On a bus actually.

Today was a rare occasion in that I decided to ride the bus, due to the heavy rain and wind we've been having here. But I figured I'd ride my bike home, as I had one at work anyway. So in addition to my basic jeans and shirt, I threw on one of my Burley cycling rain jackets, a bright yellow thing. And sitting on the bus with the rest of the commuters, I felt kind of... well, conspicuous. Everybody else here in the DC area wears muted colors in the rain... greys, tans, blacks... you get the picture. When I lived in Portland, OR, the "dress code" was more casual, and folks were more... well, outdoorsy. And there were a lot of cyclists, even on the buses, since the integration of bus and bike had occurred a number of years before. So I never really felt like I stood out when wearing my rain gear. Here though, I stand out like a sore thumb. I noticed it when I first arrived, honestly... every time I found myself standing on a subway platform on a wet or snowy day, I could scan both sides of the platform end to end and never see another soul dressed in anything like what I was wearing.

I guess you can just call me Big Bird. :-)

1 comment:

LVSunrise said...

If you're Big Bird, where's Snuffleupagus? :)

Ya know, one day, a couple of weeks ago at this point, I was on a Metro train with a man who was dressed in a bright yellow mini-skirt, top and pointy-toed flats. He was at least 6'2" if he was an inch, very short hair, with a full days growth of facial hair, and I thought to myself, "Now there is a man who knows how to stand out in a crowd". Me thinks you and your yellow rain gear might be a tad self conscious, my friend ;)