Well, what else do we have to go on but our personal lives; and our own individual pasts?

Certainly, but it's all a matter who says what to whom, and for how long, IMO.

For example, I enjoy an occasional chat my my neighbours when I walk my dogs, but the fact that I'm nice and polite doesn't mean that I enjoy the constant re-telling of some of those neighbours' life stories, or in the case of that man, his past girl friends.

I have a problem with people who only function on "monologue" mode, I avoid them if I can. Other people just try to wrestle an opportunity to talk, but with the constant monologuers in my opinion it's no use: they just stop talking for a few minutes, and just wait for an opportunity to go back to where your interruption stopped them.

Also, as the monologuers encounter a lot of people who, like me, try to run away from their boring monologues, they have developed very good techniques to make sure you stay there and listen, and a very good sense of who will be a nice victim-listener (naturally, they themselves run away from other monologuers, as they don't want to listen.)

A typical case was a colleague of mine many years ago (otherwise a good soul) who had told her stories so many times that she had resorted to actually grabbing your arm in the teacher's room to prevent you from leaving!

I sometimes wonder if I am a magnet for such people, and I certainly have had opportunity to study them and.. could write a small book about them!

Heh! Heh!

I have a thing with people who ask questions, and as you're trying to form an answer, they're asking more questions - ha ha!

I don't think it is very encouraging to race relations encountering all of these 'covered up' ladies

"Race relations"?

"Muslim" is not a race. And even then, "Burqa-clad muslim" is not a religion. It is a culture. I've visited some of the more modern Arab cities and saw little difference in the women there and in Canada.

Hello, I'm new here and was just browsing through some titles that caught my eye. I have yet to read this book but would love to start reading it.

I don't know how it is in the West but maybe through Western eyes wearing a Burka or Jilbab or Tudung (that's what it's called in my country) is seen as weird and ridiculous.
I do think that it's mainly because of the difference in our cultures.
In my country, a woman wearing a burkha or the like is considered good/modest and there are plenty of girls who wear the 'tudung' here in Malaysia. However, girls wearing tight clothing or bikini are considered shameless. Basically the difference in our cultures make us view things differently.

Maybe to the eyes of Westerners, the Asian culture can be a bit weird and sometimes barbaric but you need to understand that we hold our culture very strongly and it isn't something that can change in a matter of days.

Just my opinion. Forgive me if I said something careless since I'm still new here.

Don't you think it is rather dangerous not to allow people to wear just what they choose?

I wanted to get some opinion on this. Since people should be free to wear what they choose, how if they choose to wear just an underwear? OR nothing at all?

Just wanted to hear some opinions.

p.s I think it's also dangerous to have too MUCH freedom. Imagine if someone CHOSE to walk around in just a towel?

Too much individual freedom can result in a pretty chaotic environment.