I texted Sami to say I hadn’t had a chance to get to The Hope before our return to Portugal and we agreed to use WhatsApp for a face-to-face at some stage. Fortunately Portugal and the United Kingdom are in the same Time Zone so on Wednesday, after a leisurely breakfast and completion of the Killer Sudoku puzzles in that day’s digital Times, I called Sami, hoping he was in the café. He answered after a few rings and before the video signal clicked in; I could tell from the background chatter he was probably ensconced at his favourite table.
After the normal pleasantries with which one often starts any conversation, I asked Sami whether he’d watched much of the Paris Olympics.
“I watched the opening ceremony and felt sorry for everyone getting wet ….”
“Reminded me of that ridiculous scene when Rishi Sunak, our last Prime Minister, announced outside No 10 he was calling a General Election. It was raining ‘cats and dogs’, no one appeared with an umbrella, and it negated the whole seriousness of what he was saying. I was ashamed that anyone let him do it.”
“Yes! I agree and it seemed as wet in Paris. I particularly loved the mechanical horse being ridden up the River Seine and thought the whole show fascinating, although I needed the explanation from the television commentator to understand what was being portrayed. For the Games themselves, watched bits of lots of events, especially when the UK had a medal hope, and think we did very well.”
“Often thanks to the funding the sports get from the National Lottery. But if that works, that’s good! I got caught up in the discussions about gender and boxing.”
“Did you understand it, Richard? Took me a while ……”
“I do now but I needed Benedicte, a paramedic friend, to explain it in words of one syllable!”
“Which was?”
“There is clearly a difference in an individual’s sexual development. (DSD) The thought is those two boxers from Algeria and Taiwan are biological males with XY chromosomes but whose bodies lack the receptor that creates external male genitalia. They are raised as females but at puberty their internal testes start producing testosterone at normal levels ……”
“Enough Richard. Think I’ve got it! Not sure that the IOC has, which has been described as institutionally sexist. But that’s a discussion for another time maybe?”
“Back here in Brighton and Hove, wasn’t it a lovely reflection on our city that over the weekend than many UK cities were experiencing riots, here we had 300,000 people celebrating ‘Pride’? Then there was a rumour a local law firm that assists asylum seekers was going to be a target, and 1000 locals turned out to protest about the protestors, of which there were five!”
“This is such a complex subject Richard and I know from my own upbringing (Note 1) it only requires a vocal minority to stir the pot, aided these days by the prolific dissemination of falsehoods claimed to be fact. However, I am not on a council housing list, continually being put down in favour of an immigrant family, so understand a section of our society is feeling aggrieved. The last government tried to ‘stop the boats’ (Note 2) and we all hope the new government will be more successful.”
“It never helps that newly arrived immigrants have always gravitated towards their own kind. For instance, in parts of north London there are concentrations of Ultra-Orthodox Jews and for some racists there’s not much difference between Lahore and Leeds! But we English did it too, when we colonised parts of the world; built our Christian churches and English estates!”
“Think the Danes have a good idea. Immigrants have to learn Danish within a set amount of time, or they cannot stay.”
“I wonder whether that would work in the UK?”
“By the way Mo wants to talk to you, so I’ll give her my mobile ……”
Mo’s face appears on my screen.
“Hi Mo! How are you? You look all summery?”
“Since you left the weather’s picked up and it’s been gorgeous. What’s new?”
“You know how I have often thought about how life can be a real roller-coaster; I have realised it can start young!”
“Go on ….”
“My second grandson, currently on holiday in France, starts at Secondary School in September and I’m reminded how often in life you ‘begin again’. After getting to the top at Primary School, he will start at the bottom again, although his elder brother will be there; not necessarily a good thing, huh? When he goes to Sixth Form College, he’ll start at the bottom again, as he will when he goes, if he goes, to university.”
“Yes, but as he develops as an adult, he’ll begin to take these changes in his stride.”
“Hope so.”
“I’m not sure if I’m spreading gossip but there’s a rumour that Josh may go back to Israel, especially if the conflict on the Lebanese border develops. He and Luke have gone to northern Norway for a week’s trekking, so I haven’t been able to get confirmation.”
“Did he ever mention that he’d had some OE, the Kiwi abbreviation for Overseas Experience? Sounds as though he’s getting thirsty for adventure, although most of us wouldn’t choose to join an army in action to gain OE!”
“Didn’t you write one of your postcards about OE, when your daughter was thinking of applying to teach in Abu Dubai …. and her husband poo poo’d the idea? And you thought your postcard would prompt more thought and discussion?”
“Yes. That was PC 155 OE from June 2019. Didn’t make any difference but fun to write! (Note 3) A neighbour has gone …(crackle crackle) …. off for the ultimate OE ….. .”
And with that the internet connection dropped out …..! Will catch up again soon.
Richard 23rd August 2024
Estoril
Note 1 Sami’s parents were Indian and English and had to leave India on the 1947 partition, a period of mass slaughter of Hindus by Muslims and of Muslims by Hindus.
Note 2 For some years now, thousands of ‘illegal immigrants’ have risked their lives in travelling across the English Channel from France in inflatable dinghies to claim asylum in the UK. ‘Stop the Boats’ has become the catch-all phrase of every political party.
Note 3 The irony is that Jade’s stepdaughter Ellie has just started a two year teaching contract in Dubai, fully supported by her father Sam.
postcards 