...admittedly there is no way to be subtle when wearing a hot pink coat...

Hah! So very, very true!

Definitely an odd one you ran into on that train ride. Almost like he was trying to antagonize you into saying something snide so he could then start complaining about how you were persecuting him by insisting on knitting even though he was on the train. He'd benefit significantly from the soothing and self-affirming qualities of knitting, I think.