Little Old Lady

Walking back from Tesco, Danish Pastry in bag, I came across the old lady that lives in my block of flats, trying to get up the stairs with a trolley that was at least the size of her. This is no exaggeration. It wasn't a massive trolley, it was just that she was tiny. I think in her prime she probably played a Jawa in Star Wars.

I did the polite thing and offered to carry her trolley and she was genuinely thankful. I like it when people react by showing mass happiness or relief, rather than them just expecting you to stab them. Bloody Daily Mail.

It was all going perfectly, I was being polite, she ecstatic with not having to kill herself carrying this monstrosity (her world scale) up the stairs. It was just like an episode of Poldark. Yes I am Ross Poldark.

Suddenly the old bugger had to go and ruin it didn't she.

I am half way up the stairs when I hear the sentence "you lot get a load of stick, but I think you aren't all bad" pass her lips. I was at first not quite sure how to take it. You lot? I let the remark go and presumed she meant us, the youth. But then she carried on.

"They run you lot down don't they. I don't think you are that bad though, not as bad as our young generation. You lot are much more polite." It suddenly dawns on me that she believes I am a good ol' foreigner. I didn't really know what to say. Should I say "Sorry, I am in fact one of those pesky English kids". In the end I left it and now the woman thinks there is "one of them" in her block of flats.

I wondered later about what nationality she thinks I am. I have a fairly English accent so she must have gone for looks. That just leaves all the countries where they have dark hair. That narrows it down then. I like to think Spanish. Although my gut says otherwise.

It is such a shame the older generation use terms such as "them" or "you lot". I am fortunate to work in an extremely multi-national environment, and I am so much better for it. People my age still think like this old lady, hopefully in time it will become something of the past and, in the future, grouped with witch burnings in the Lunacy-o-meter.

Thinking about what she is saying comes over as nasty but she is genuinely trying to be nice. She is defending migrants, but just in a very racist way. At least the older generation have an excuse. A lot of people in the past were brought up with never meeting people with different nationalities to their own until recently. My generation don't have this excuse. Complete stupidity is theirs.