as any re-enactor will know, the public at large can ask some pretty stupid questions

While cooking on an open fire, I have been asked "Is that fire real?" , "Is that food real?" and "Are you going to eat that?" (this last as the food was being ladled into mess tins), but the silliest question was once, on a summer day, while fully kitted out with full pack and rifle and having just finished a route march (and while sweating profusely) an old dear asked with a erfectly straight face, "Are you hot in that?". I had to bite my tongue.

Walrus