Last night, after enjoying the wonderful music at the IC Choir Concert, I was feeling a little tired so decided to skip the Union and go straight home for some much needed kip. At about 10pm I got onto an eastbound District Line service, and settled down to read someone's unwanted copy of a free newspaper. Nothing unusual so far. I make the same journey every single weekday, and apart from there being more or less passengers, there is nothing noteworthy about the trip. Last night however, was sadly a lot different.

Sitting in an almost empty carriage, I amused myself with the writings in London Lite, and was unaware of people joining or leaving the train. I briefly glanced up when an old man, who looked a little tipsy, boarded and sat opposite me. Thinking that it as it was Friday night, there was nothing unusual about this scraggy man being drunk, so I carried on reading. Unfortunately, the man wasn't so keen on ignoring me. His drunken mumblings became louder and louder, and soon I became the target of a whole host of obscenities. Still attempting to ignore him, I simply tried to keep my eyes down, and observed that the few other passengers in the carriage were doing the same. Everyone's encountered someone drunk on the tube before. But I doubt many of you have experienced what I did last night. For absolutely no reason, he directed his swearing at me. I was repeatedly called the N-word, an f***ing b***h, the P-word, and the foul C-word. Attributing it to his drunken state, the fact he was old and smelled of weed, I did my best not to react, though internally I was becoming scared and angry. Then, out of nowhere, he decided to gather all his strength and saliva, and spat at me from where he was sitting. Not once, but twice. Did anybody in the tube do anything? Of course not. In tears and shaking, I hurriedly left the train at the next station, which thankfully was my stop. I cried all the way to my flat.

This is the second time in about 2 years I have experienced something like this, though the first time was on a bus and a friend did intervene. Both situations involved drunk individuals, but that doesn't justify their behaviour. I am sick and tired of proclamations of London, and even England, being such a diverse, multi-cultural and accepting place to live. I've lived in this country for all my life and have embraced the values and cultures of this land. Why should I get spat on just for being brown-skinned? I am not afraid of living in London, but I'm aware that I'll probably continue to be called names. This incidence has just made me more eager to leave England for good. I'm not sure I even want to do a PhD here any more.