To help me make sense of what I saw...

[Nomoresunshine]

Just drive through a quieter part of a busy town.
Approaching a set of traffic lights so was slowing down in a 40 zone. .
To my left I noticed a woman on a mobility scooter. . Bright floral skirt and dark pink handbag. Hair in a bit of an up- do style. Sunglasses on..
I had mine on too.
Prescription ones or can't see to drive.
Took a second glance as I got to the lights.
(My inner mind- on reflection- was maybe puzzled. .)
The occupier of the scooter was also spouting a full beard.
My brain went into full on confusion mode.
What would you have thought?

It was Santa. I'm not supposed to tell you this but he's out and about on covert-ops from the 1st of September every year, he can't afford to blow his cover.

It could also have been a woman wearing a fake beard.

The most likely thing would be that it was a man in a dress. Every man can put on a dress, while only few women can grow beards, and fewer still would do so.
Not sure how many women would wear a fake beard outside of larp.

Top Tip: don't come to Brixton.

Your Inner Mind will not cope.

Blanket over his lap rather than a skirt, and a pink bag of shopping?

That seems even more likely, statistically.

It was probably me.

Well, It takes bravery to go out like that, I think I'd do the British thing and pretend that I'd not noticed anything unusual.

I could give Haarnam a run for her money in the beard department.

Quite a few men who wear women's clothing in this quiet London suburb, no one's bothered.

If at all possible in situations such as this I make eye contact and smile. Partly to try to make up for all the 'what the actual fuck' looks these people must inevitably get.

Most likely: bloke in a skirt.

Possible but less likely: woman with a beard. (It happens.)

I saw someone on a mobility scooter today.
They did not have a beard but were most definitely wearing trousers. I was on the bus, no sun glasses.
I thought MN should know.
Should I have my own thread.... or do I get I spy 10 points?

Bloke in a 'skirt' or bloke in a robe/religious vestment of some sort? There are lots of different explanations but the main thing to remember is that none of them are actually any of your business.

Bloke in a 'skirt' or bloke in a robe/religious vestment of some sort?

I know of no religion whose religious vestments have bright floral patterns, so, not likely.

(That is, I am not sure what the followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster traditionally wear. They could have priests who wear floral pattern skirts. That, or the Church of the Invisible Pink Unicorn. But they're rather small)

If at all possible in situations such as this I make eye contact and smile. Partly to try to make up for all the 'what the actual fuck' looks these people must inevitably get.

Ditto.

I would have thought that it's not the right time of year to be wearing florals.

Sheltered life OP?

If she wasn't in a mobility scooter that could well have been me going for my weekly wax

Ooh pretty skirt!

Or

Must pay attention when I'm driving.

Let that be a lesson to you of what happens if you don't pluck your chin hairs

I would have done a double take too, we've obviously led sheltered lives compared to most mumsnetters

Why are people so mean? OP was clearly trying to be funny and you are all treating her like she ran the poor man/lady over. If you dont get the joke dont comment on the thread.

What joke?!

Huh? What's the joke Pickley?

I can well imagine what a funny sight that was OP!

Something similar happened to us a few years ago.
We had just pulled into a car park in a small market town when I was aware of a strikingly statuesque woman walking across.
She had a short brightly patterned skirt on, very high heels, long blonde hair and bright red lipstick.

We parked and as my husband was about to get out of the car,
the woman approached, and in a very deep masculine voice, asked him if he would like 'her' ticket as it still had over an hour to go on it.

It was such a bizarre contrast between the very feminine if over the top appearance, coupled with the deep gruff masculine voice.

To this day I don't know how my husband kept his composure!!

Why does the sex/gender of the person matter?

It was someone on a mobility scooter, wearing a dress, with a beard. Unless you are a gynaecologist about to examine them or you want to shag them, the man/woman bit is irrelevant.

I would probably be pondering now why it seems to be so important to know what is in complete strangers pants. Is this why transgender freaks so many people out? There is some human need to know whether a person has a penis or not when we are interacting with them? Why do we have to know the sex of babies, and clearly colour code them so we know what their genitals are like?

It's pretty wierd when you think about it.

If it was a joke, what was the punchline?

Were you in North London by any chance?