My word, Miss Perkins 
Jenny Diski
Just after the beginning of the first Gulf War I arrived at Toronto airport to take part in a literary festival. Along with a couple of dozen others (mostly dark-skinned or from Islamic countries) I was sent to wait in a queue for special questioning when I presented my passport. After about an hour I was taken to a cubicle by a short but perfectly square woman in uniform who lolled behind a desk and looked at me long and mean. I had been on a seven-hour flight and no one had mentioned before I got to Heathrow that Air Canada was all non-smoking. I was not cheerful.
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Jenny Diski’s new novel, Apology for the Woman Writing, will be published in November. She is currently bobbing about on the South Atlantic.
Other articles by this contributor:
Did Jesus walk on water because he couldn’t swim? · Jewish Seafarers
Giving Hysteria a Bad Name · At home with the Mellys
Who wears hats now? · Jenny Diski walks back to the future
Diary · Jenny Diski is dragged to the shoe shop
Seriously Uncool · Susan Sontag
Hang on to the doily · Catherine M.
Tremble for Tomorrow · In the Vilna Ghetto
The Housekeeper of a World-Shattering Theory · Mrs Freud
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