This is something I overheard in a local coffee shop recently - and I really wish I hadn't. The speaker was a shabby woman, 59. I know, because she'd been talking about her next 'big birthday bash' at some length. She had her back to me, which was probably just as well, so she couldn't see my reaction. 'There was a woman in Asda yesterday: looked like she'd just got off the boat. Great big woman, wearing all the gear - big, flowery scarf around her massive hair, full-length robes.'
Pause. Slurp.
'Mind you, she could speak English. Some of them can, can't they? I expect she was well-do-do. Perhaps her family had saved up and got her educated.'
Pause. Slurp.
'Eh, sometimes you don't recognise England any more.'
Pause. Slurp. Bite of cake. New topic, without any sense of contradiction.
'My brother's been over from Oz. He's lived there nearly ten years now and he loves it. Says he wouldn't come back here for anything.'
I despair.
Sometimes the things you hear in coffee shops will blow your socks off. Where was the lady from?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but she sounded local (and she was of course white).
DeleteOh dear - wonder how many similar remarks are made around the country.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it sad, Rosemary?
DeleteSounds like you missed the first four words – 'I'm not racist, but ...'
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Patsy.
DeleteOh, how I love your posts! I got a good laugh out of this one. People simply do not listen to the words coming out of their mouth! I would love to go around listening to random conversations and drawing a comic using their words. If only I had the time...
ReplyDeleteMy son's best friend is a religious Indian who wears a topknot. They are in 6th grade. Their teacher was talking about a place in India when he paused to ask this Indian boy about it. He replied, "I don't know. I've never been to India." The teacher was flabbergasted. Motioning with his hand around his head, the teacher said, "But you've got that, that THING on your head." OMG People are funny creatures.
Kimberly, you should definitely create an eavesdropper's comic. I'd buy it. That very sad about your son's friend. You'd think a teacher would be more enlightened.
ReplyDeleteSad that people think such things still. Two things come to mind...1) my daughter then aged 5yrs, trying to describe her new friend to me, "She is over there in a white cardigan...no, not her, the one with red shoes..." I followed her gaze and there was her friend in a white cardigan and red shoes. The friend was the only Nigerian girl in the school back then. 2. Earlier still, my eighteen month old daughter sat on my lap in the Doctor's surgery and noticed a little boy staring at her. "Mummy, that little boy keeps lookin' at me!" she piped up. The little boy's mother/grandmother smiled and said to me, "they notice young don't they?" I was not sure what she meant until she continued, "Your little girl said, that boy is different to me," I was shocked. Her little boy was mixed race. I explained what my daughter had actually said but I don't think she believed me. More worrying, she really thought an 18 month old would say such a thing.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is teach our children well and hope they spread the right message, Deborah.
DeleteSadly, I hear this kind of thing all the time. Some of the locals in my community are very racist and they don't see the irony in them going off to retire abroad. They complain about 'foreigners' simultaneously stealing their jobs and being lazy and taking benefits, it doesn't make sense. There are some open-minded people though, and I think this sort of intolerance will eventually die out.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so, Tizzy - and thanks for taking the time to comment.
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