The Doctor had been going door to door. It wasn't uncommon for someone to mistake him for a Jehovah's Witness or a salesperson but all The Doctor wanted was to survey the Cityborn and those brought in to discover if The City in fact needed a Doctor.
He'd discovered some interesting things, particularly when it came to the apparent malfunction of the sun, but there was still more to work out. Sometimes when his mind worked at furious speeds he tended to miss the interesting things right in front of him. So at first walking past a bipedal amphibian humanoid barely registered to The Doctor.
Once the stranger spoke, however, something clicked.
"Excuse me," he started, flashing a smile. "Can you repeat that? Starting with the soggy bread, if you don't mind. Lovely color, by the way..."
The Doctor himself was capable of regenerating into something similar to Abe. He thought to himself it was almost a shame he hadn't. Maybe in orange, which would solve two desires with one regeneration.