yellow vest

I've had a number of orange and yellow vests over the years. I haven't been religious about wearing them, but one big benefit of wearing the vest is that it helps explain what I'm doing to the police, when they pull me over for ridiculous riding.

Things aren't so accommodating in Australia. I was painting a km mark in the gutter outside one of the main police complexes in Melbourne and a detective came out from the building and accused me of doing graffeti. I said no and explained I was measuring a course for the community health and benefit. My yellow vest with "AIMS" and "IAAF" logos and "Course Measurer" didn't mean anything to him. I referred him to the race organiser who was burdened with restrictions. Such a negative attitude by a policeman is, I trust, a rarity.

I always try to wear my vest that says "Official Measurer". It starts some interesting conversations, like people on the bike path asking what I'm officially measuring, and so on. One fellow didn't ask anything, he just said, "I'm so glad to know that there is such a thing as an official measurer!" Me too, I think. One thing, no matter what your vest says or doesn't say, you'll probably get asked like I do all the time whether it's ok to park in this spot or not!