I had lunch with my parents earlier. They were here for one of their usual visits, just to check on me and that I hadn’t damaged anything too badly. It was great to see them of course. At one point, however, the subject of yesterday’s blog entry cropped up. Just as Serkan had when I showed the entry to him, Mum and Dad asked why I had reacted at all – why hadn’t I just ignored the woman, if I found what she did that offensive? Well, I did: I didn’t say or do anything at the time, but just carried on drinking my coffee. It was only later that I decided to write about what had happened on my blog.

I knew full well that trying to make an issue about it in the cafe would only have caused problems; it would have been pointless, especially given that I wasn’t totally certain of the woman’s intent. On the other hand, I think it is pretty vital that I write about things like that here on my blog. Only people in situations similar to mine will experience such issues. No ‘normal’ person will be shunned like that, or know what it feels like to be sneered at like something disgusting. That’s why I think it is essential that I record things like this, because only then can I tell the wider world what life is like for me. Thus, while I could easily have ignored the whole episode and forgotten about it, I think I have a duty to tell everyone about things like this.