Everyday Racism

[poliphilo]

The guy has come to replace the boiler. The new boiler will be 31% more efficient, he says. He arrived on time and spent the first 20 minutes telling us about his friend the boffin and how his friend the boffin once made a artificial heart valve and how his friend the boffin used to fine tune motor bikes.

I thought, I don't know why you're telling us all this but maybe it's a ploy to put us at our ease. A technique.

Then he asked us- apropos of nothing- if we'd been "invaded".

I thought Ailz fielded it adroitly. She said we got on very well with our neighbours and since they were mostly muslims we didn't got bothered by drunks wobbling up and down the street on Friday nights.

It sort of killed the conversation though.

Comments

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

I like Ailz's answer. I plan to use it myself next time the immigration issue comes up, after revising it to fit the profile of our own Hispanic "invasion", LOL! I get on very well with the neighbors, since there are no arguments with people who do not yet speak the same language. Or something like that. Actually, I find the Hispanic woman very warm and loving neighbors, and generous to a fault. We swap words -- I give them an English word, they give me a Spanish one.
Same thing with the Chinese contingent that live in my elderly building. No language in common, but genuine affection - and word-swapping.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Our neighbours are mostly from Pakistan.

It was the Pakistani chap from three doors down who put us in touch with Warmfront- the government agency that gave us the grant to have the boiler replaced.

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

I can relate -- it was the minority people, and also other whites who live below the poverty level who told me about a lot of benefits available to retirees that I had no idea about. (Sorry about the grammar). So now I share my own experiences with other new retirees who are struggling to make ends meet. It turns out that if we know where to go and if we take advantage of social programs aimed at helping elderly people, we can live quite comfortably, albeit not luxuriously.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The social progtrams are usually there- but a lot of people never find out about them.