The Anonymous Widower

Algeria

I had a unique insight on Algeria as a child. Next to where we lived in Cockfosters, in about the late 1950s, a family moved in next door. The father was English, but unusually for the time, his wife was a white Algerian of French extraction. I can remember her talking to my mother about life in Algiers during the Second World War and I think my mother was sympathetic to her flight in those years.

The lady had little time for the non-white Algerians and we’d probably say she was racist now, sixty years later.

It must have been about the time of the Front Algerie Francaise, who were trying to keep Algeria part of France.

You do wonder how those bad relations between the two factions in Algeria left a legacy, that we’re seeing worked out in that part of Africa today.

One thing I do remember about my neighbour, was that she wanted their son to be a Roman Catholic priest, a notion that really horrified my mother, who being of Huguenot descent, wasn’t too keen on that branch of the Christian religion. The son’s name was the same, as a well-known actor and I often wonder what he did in later life, when I see a Catholic priest.

The bonus of living next door, was that occasionally  when my mother was away, I got a delicious meal sent in from next door, that had been cooked in the French manner.

January 19, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | World | Algeria, Religion