Yellow Fluorescent Jackets

In nearly all cities, there is no symbol so universally recognized as the yellow fluorescent jacket.  From Tokyo to Venice, everywhere you go, it is a sign that immediately cries out ‘I am an important person carrying on important, if not vital urban work and if you interfear with this work you and the civic authorities will probably both come to reject it.’  No bouncer will deny access to those who wear this sign of authority; no building site will refuse admission, no worker question its presence, no driver fail to spot, and no casual citizen fail to ignore, having spotted it.  Women tend to avoid men wearing it, as the adornment of the yellow fluorescent jacket on the back of nearly any man will immediately transform this creature from a perfectly respectable member of the human race to a sexual monkey who, despite their general sensitivity and potential poetic soul, will still, once the jacket is one, feel the need to shout ‘lovely pair of tits darling!’ at any female who happens to cross their path.

Needless to say, some members of the urban magic community have come to realise the power of the yellow fluorescent jacket as a tool of magic.  It is the next best thing to an invisibility cloak, since while people will very much see anyone wearing it, they will often fail to perceive anyone wearing it, and thus it serves just as well when times are hard.  A few more cynical members of the magical community go one step further, arguing that this power has been corrupted for evil purposes, and there in fact exists a sinister society of men in yellow fluorescent jackets, who can access anywhere and see everything, to achieve an agenda unknown to those not garbed in their sacred uniform.  The ‘lovely pair of tits’ business is therefore, it is argued, not so much a manifestation of blokes being blokish, but in fact a secret code phrase used to identify members of this secret society to each other.

And let’s face it…

… there may be something to this.