I said I'd tell you about my course, didn't I? Well I won't give you the full lowdown just yet, but I'll give a bit about some things I realised while I was there.
1. Romford is, as a town, homophobic.
2. I, hypocritically, categorised people by where they come from.
First things first. One of the guys I was hanging about with for the week was extremely gay. He said he'd 'camped things up,' but I suspect he's very camp in his normal setting.
Thinking of some of the people I know, he would have lasted all of 10 minutes before having the crap beaten out of him in Romford town centre. I've seen it happen, though the guy that got his shit kicked wasn't deterred by it, and still walks proudly around. And so he should! But why should he have been beaten up? Someone I know decided he hated him once he had figured out he was gay. I don't talk to this person anymore.
The same person, however, actively encourages lesbianism. Double standards, did you say? Yeah, I know. It pisses me off. So many blokes round here salivate at the prospect of girl-on-girl, then assume that, because a guy is gay, he must want to bum you because you're male. Get over yourselves! You ain't that pretty!
Talking to the guy on the course, he seemed almost shocked that I had such narrow-minded associates. It depresses me that I know so many people like it. But there seems an odd trend to it - the nearer you get to Essex, the more tolerant people are. The nearer to East London, the more phobic it gets.
That isn't to say that gay people don't come out in Romford, I'm just more concerned for their safety than I otherwise would be.
Secondly, I've been pigeon-holing people, and in doing so, pigeon-holed myself. Because there were people from all over the country, and because girls naturally seek out differences, I found region a good way to find things to talk about to other people. This generally consisted of how different it is between their home and mine, and in some cases, it made for very amusing talk.
I was also hanging about with a girl from central Essex, so we played on our Essex reputation a lot, me probably more so as I'm also from London (I don't really know where I'm from, nowhere wants to claim Romford). I told stories of fights, pregnancies and general misdemeanours, much to the enjoyment of the people from such nice schools. Sadly, I wasn't exaggerating.
By telling these stories, I think people got a regional idea of me, in much the same way I formed a regional idea of them, though my ideas of them involved far less pregnancies. Maybe I thought I knew. I don't know now, because I'm not in direct contact all day with these people now, so I've suddenly lost my suppositions. Maybe they only lasted for the first two days anyway! I'm not sure. But I do feel bad for having done that - instantly assuming things of people because of where they come from. Bah. At least I've learnt my lesson. Who knows, maybe I'm a better person now!
