There’s a basketball court in the middle of the housing estate where my office is, and as usual when I left work tonight a group of children were playing there. As I passed them on the way to my cab, their cheerful chattering stopped and they started mimicking the noise I was making. Shouts of, “A, A, A,” echoed across the estate.

Children playing there have mimicked me before and I’ve always challenged them but this time I didn’t. I glanced back and saw that they’d run over to the fence and were shouting at me. I hesitated, thought of going back, but I chose not to. I got into the cab and left.

I’m not upset about them mimicking me, but I do regret not going back to challenge them. I did what they expected by walking past and I missed the opportunity to go and speak to them. Staying silent and taking no notice does nothing to change behaviour like this or to make things better for me or anybody else.