WHAT I SAW ON THE WAY...

At an out of town shopping centre I saw a very thin, very orange young girl pushing a stroller. She wore a pink velour tracksuit with something embroidered on the back in gold swirly letters: Queen of something, I can't remember. She had tied her hoodie in a tight knot at the front so as to expose her midriff.

Yesterday on the tube at about 11.30am I saw a young black man wearing a tuxedo and bow tie. I assumed this was some kind of work uniform until I noticed his black patent winklepickers and bright red socks, his drainpipe trousers cut just so to display them.

I stood behind an elderly lady on the escalator at Green Park who was wearing a long black high gloss PVC raincoat with leopard skin lining showing at the cuffs. Thinking about it, it must have been reversible: black on one side, leopard print on the other. She had lovely beigey, lilacy coloured hair and just tucked behind her ear wore a tiny sparkly lilac hair clip, the kind little girls wear.

An arab woman and her son were in Starbucks. The son wore cheesy western clothes and MBT trainers. The woman wore full niqab but in what looked like pale pink polyester. I watched him messily slurp down his coffee, then watched her lift her veil swiftly and turn to the wall each time she took a sip of hers.

I watched a middle aged man sitting on the train opposite me, wearing a purple T shirt and black trousers, take out a compact mirror and carefully apply bright red lipstick before arriving at London Bridge.