It's been a long time since I spent any time in Elephant and Castle, a largely migrant area in south-east London, but I have rented a small desk space in an office in a cobbled street full of photographers and artists, and am now back there more often. M. also lives near there, and to celebrate being back in that area we met one evening and went the the Afghan restaurant around the corner for dinner.

M. knows everyone, because she is the kind of person who talks to people and isn't afraid of sticking out. She has been out of England a long time, which might explain it, and I like to think that I feel an affinity with her because of this. At the curry shop, all the men working there greeted her warmly as we both ordered spicy lamb curry, paratha bread and cauliflower and peas. I enjoyed eating with my hands, and helping myself to water from a jug kept in the drinks fridge. The toilet out the back was disgusting, but added to the sense that I was in a foreign land.

Perhaps I will feel more at home -or away from home- when I am living back in that area and am once more a minority.