To complete the middle-aged and middle-class look, I have bought a multi-coloured button-up T-shirt (2 pounds) and had my very scruffy shoes polished.
Probably like a lot of tourists I feel uncomfortable having my shoes polished by someone in public. Last night, though, I was walking along the Galata bridge when a shoeshine man walked past me with his box full of brushes and polish. One of the brushes fell off his box when he was just a few paces in front of me. I picked it up and called out to him. He bowed, immediately thanked me in English and the next thing I knew he was sitting down at the side of the pavement polishing my shoes.
Oddly, the same thing happened this morning. I was walking near the Topkapi Palace when a shoeshine man overtook me and was only a few paces in front when a brush fell off his box. I was about to pick it up for him, and was bent halfway down when I smiled and decided to leave it.
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