Blue red and grey

At the Walthamstow Wetlands:

On overtaking the couple in red and blue coats I was astonished to observe that the man was in the red coat, and the woman in the blue – with short hair!

Thanks to my Stonewall diversity training, and the Mermaids' "Recognising gender dysphoria" course I completed last year, I'm familiar with the outward signs of gender issues. Of course further investigation would be needed before a definite diagnosis could be made – who does the cooking and cleaning, who does the DIY jobs, that kind of thing – but those coats seem to me as clear a sign of dysphoria as you could wish for. They're probably an unconscious cry for help.

Too late for puberty blockers, alas. These people are middle-aged, and no doubt have become used by now to the lie that they live by. But never say never! A course of hormone replacement therapy would set them on the path to more fulfilling lives, true to their inner genders. And who knows, perhaps one day they might find themselves lying side by side in the hospital, having surgically swapped sexual organs. They'd wake up post-op, and find they could scarcely control the tears of joy as they realised that at last they could live as their real selves.

Alas, I went by and said nothing – thinking to myself how often we pass by on the other side when, like the Samaritan, we should be offering our hand in friendship.