things to come

[Tarrel]

I have a customer in Slough that I visit a few times a year. Living in the South you kind of get used to the rapidly changing ethnic mix but, having moved to Scotland, going back is really like visiting a foreign country. It's not just the ethnic mix either, it's the whole attitude, frenetic pace, everything. I was brought up in SW London, and it's like your home, your roots, no longer exist.

Incidentally, the graph in the article misses one big point in my opinion. It concentrates on those groups classed as "non-white", but the groups that seem to me to be making their presence felt ever more strongly are the south-east Europeans (e.g. from Romania, Albania, etc.) They're the ones on the street corners selling The Big Issue or sitting with a paper cup in their laps.

I've never thought of myself as xenophobic, and I try very hard not to be (in fact my Dad originally came from Eastern Europe), but it's the sheer scale and pace that can't help but have a psychological effect.