Like you, I usually try not to catch the eye of strangers, especially those who are panhandling, or just acting oddly, and especially when I'm alone. However, my husband often talks to the people who approach us and, since Tucson is a very small big city, recognizes a number of the homeless on sight. There's one man, or there used to be, it's been a few years since I've seen him, who had been all over the world and who spoke with us quite genially and literately on a couple of occasions. But, we both avoid the man who wears tin foil wrapped around his head.