A little piece of advice:

“Don’t polish your shoes white and wear black trousers.”
– Random English Bureau Nurse to me, this morning.

I agree with his statement, but probably much more than he realises. White shoes and black trousers?! A big no-no in general, freshly polished or otherwise. And we’re talking geeky white running shoes, not trendy street shoes (I am still getting used to the white variety of these, and (although irrelevant) dislike the word "trendy"). We’re also talking white shoe polish, the kind that looks like you’ve drowned your footwear in Twink = Tippex = WhiteOut = correction fluid of all brands.

There was white powder all around his cuffs. The statement was also completely out of the blue. Which begs the question – does he feel compelled to tell strangers about every small embarrassment, or does he think I need fashion tips from the inadequate?!