Friday 19 June 2015

Racism - alive and well

A gorgeous evening with friends in Pomos was completely ruined by the attitude of their other guest, who just happened to be the lifelong friend of our host. Sitting and relaxing after dinner, this "lady" (obviously educated and successful, so no excuse there) announced that the flat above hers in the UK had been sold recently to a black man. She was concerned in case he played his bongo drums all night and would have loud music playing, and wild parties as "these people like to do".

At first I thought it was a wind-up, and that it was the beginning of some awful joke. But no ... and she then waxed lyrical about her dislike of black people in general, that there were far too many of them in the UK, and on and on. Taking the reasonable view and suggesting that she was a racist did not stop her. Yes ... she was a racist and did not want these people living anywhere near her.

Apart from the fact that the apartment she lived in was probably worth a small fortune, she was prepared to move out if his noise disturbed her. The argument that white, black, yellow and goodness knows what other colour of people might be noisy, have wild parties and play the bongo drums did not move her one jot.

Our host's husband told her that her views were racist and still that had no effect on her. The good news is that she only comes to visit once a year and returns to her white compound next Thursday. The bad news is that our host has her birthday on Saturday and we have accepted an invitation to join them for a meal in Polis. Jockeying for seats will be an art form.

We shall go and be excellent guests and will not do or say anything to rock the boat, as the priority on Saturday will be to ensure that our friend has a birthday to remember for all the right reasons. We have been asked not to let the words "Title Deeds" pass our lips as another couple of guests have had and are still having horrific problems with the Land Registry. My only hope is that England beat New Zealand on Saturday so that John and I can have something to chat about. Ann, whose love of cricket is well-known, may well wish to join this meaningful conversation. Happy Days.

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