Ticking Boxes

I love to hate the fact that when I'm away from the UK, I'm always asked where I am from. An easy question for some with an easy straightforward answer. But for many of us and for many varying reasons, not so straightforward.

During this trip I have been asked “where are you from” many times for many reasons, a box to tick at a Canal Lock gate, a question asked at the Office de Tourisme, or curiosity from a passer by. At the moment I just answer Pays de Galles, and just hope that my accent is clear enough for the questioner to not thing I am a Gaul. “ Ah, angleterre!” they respond “NOOOOOOO!!!!!” I retort. Being in France is a bit easier to explain the matter of territory, culture language, proudness (I can go on) with Breton and Corsica being part of the French geography. However, another pet hate is when I am told what my nationality, ethnicity is. I AM Wels***alian or White European, and if there is not a box to accommodate this in a questionnaire then I tick refusal. Being told that I am White Uk by a White English Man is an insult, and those of you who have worked with me will know about the soapbox I am standing on. As part of my travels I am sorry that we have not been to Breton, but seeing a breton barge today called MorFer'ch lifted my spirits. At Lagny sur Marne we were looked after by Yannick, a Breton who was escaping the rat race and fixing his boat before he to sails away. Giorgio and I were outside his office on the lap top when we heard a choir singing “Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau ....” we both jumped up and took a few steps into his office to listen to the tunes of hiraeth, Yannick was actually listening to the Breton anthem which was based on the Welsh one. I always knew of the affinity between Wales and Brittany, common language etc but not the shared anthem. It was wonderful, this discovery led to discussion, which led to opening bottles of Cider and Champagne with knives, apparently a Breton tradition. Hopefully a tradition best left this side of Le Manche.

Well fingers crossed that we make it to Corsica on our travels, will report back on any connections to Wales another time.

Putting people into boxes doesn't work in a multi-cultural or multi-racial society. There is a need for understanding and mappingof the varying cultural and ethnic groups but the person should decide how to answer the question not the question dictate the answer. I am also looking forward to the census results to see how many Jedis there are floating around in this decade.