Beige

A few days ago I was in London and I had cause to run along the South Bank. The reasons why aren't important: suffice it to say I was looking for someone who'd walked on ahead, and as I couldn't spot them in the crowd, I thought I'd better move up a gear. Now, I'm sure I don't need to point out that I didn't energetically burst into a majestic sprint of Olympian velocity, but I was fast enough to make the people in front of me move out of the way. And as I was dashing forth, I had an utterly depressing thought.

Here I was: male; possibly Asian-looking, possibly Mediterranean-looking, certainly foreign-looking; wearing dark glasses; carrying a bag; running through a thick London crowd during a typically busy lunch time. And I suddenly asked myself, "Is this a good idea? Should you be running like this? Wouldn't it be safer to slow down? Do you think maybe you look too... SUSPICIOUS?" And of course what I then realised is that 'they've' won. If I can no longer jog along the Thames for a few metres without wondering if some trigger-happy member of the Met is going to decide my face looks dodgy, then they have well and truly succeeded in planting fear inside us.

Anyone fancy a race from the Eye to the Globe?

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