No patting. The robes do not permit patting. It's not suitable for a Time Lord to be patted.

The whole Year messed with his head. The Master dying was just the tip of the ice berg. He probably spent quite a while hiding from people and fixing his TARDIS, who was probably glad to have him back, and appalled at how much he got himself messed up while she wasn't around. >_> There was probably some mutual fixing going on there.