Just a Thought

Twenty years ago, a period of time which makes me wince, I went to university. In my first term, my Mum bought me a coat, a turquoise duffel with black toggles.This being Cardiff I didn’t need it very often, since all-in-one waterproofs were more use as protection from the persistent rain. When I did finally wear it no one really noticed, although its distinctiveness meant that my friends made a point of telling me who else was wearing the same one.

A year later I went to study abroad in Strasbourg, France. Unlike South Wales, Alsace has a continental, cold climate and the coat was put to immediate use as soon as classes began. Whereas in Cardiff no passerby would even look at me, I noticed that in Strasbourg I was frequently the object of critical glances. At first I thought they were appraising but then, having experienced several, I realised that there was nothing but bemusement and judgement on the faces of onlookers. I asked French friends, some of whom it has to be said had made comments, why my coat was such an object of interest. The response was often the same: because it was a ‘fantaisie’, a bit of fun, not a classic. It stood out because it was so far removed from the camel/navy blue straight-cut overcoats worn with Burberry scarves sported by every right-thinking young female student. It wasn’t normal or, rather, it wasn’t French.

Most people who have travelled on the Paris Metro will have experienced the same treatment, a rapid glance up and down with no attempt to disguise the resultant sneer. It’s just a way of life, a habit. Whereas in London on the Tube, a group of Portuguese-speaking transvestites can sit side-by-side with a few Hassidic Jews, a black Muslim reading the Koran and a bunch of middle-class white women returning from Oxford Street (I kid you not) without anyone even acknowledging anyone else, in France the merest hint of difference, of ‘fantaisie’, will make you stand out. What hope for racial tolerance then if the band of acceptance, on such a simple, unimportant level, is so narrow?