Showing up the parents
But for one generation I could have entered this in last weeks QOTW...
So my parents were in the forces and living in Germany at the time. I was getting piano lessons from a lovely woman who's husband was a Major in the army when we were facing being posted back to the UK (I think I was about 7 at this point in time). The options we were faced with were 1) London and 2) Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides - two places further removed in the UK you couldn't imagine (maybe).

This caused much consternation, my parents were concerned with possibly having to move to London and see their child grow-up int the big, bad city where, in the schools, my father casually assured me I'd be playing 'spot the whitey' (he was a lance-corporal at this point in time for reference).

Cut to my last ever lesson where, it had been decided, we were going to move to the arse-end of nowhere - much to my childish dismay. My mum came to pick me up and as we stood there saying our goodbyes my lovely teacher wished us the best of luck in Scotland's Western Isles. Being only an innocent child I piped-up at this point to say 'Yeah, if we'd went to London my dad says I'd have been playing spot the whitey!'.

All conversation grinds to a halt and my piano teacher, and Major's wife, and my mother slowly become silent and inanimate. Gradually I see my mother turn to look at the picture on the wall of a well decorated Major and husband of aforementioned teacher on the wall. Who happens to be black. My mum later said she wished the ground would've swallowed her up but she could have avoided it by not condoning casual racism in the first place so ner!
(rubberducky, Fri 4 Nov 2011, 22:47, Reply)