I woke up fairly early and spent some time with Lisa before breakfast and getting ready to go into London. Lisa and her son Liam were going into London for the anti-cuts demonstration, whereas Ian was staying at home and taking their daughter to her dance lesson.
So Liam and I walked along to Honor Oak Park station and Lisa (who went back to collect song sheets) joined me on the platform, and we travelled into London Bridge together, and were joined by more flag-bearing protesters, and some of Lisa's choir too, the Strawberry Thieves. I said goodbye to Lisa at London Bridge and got the Jubilee Line to Westminster, so I could go to West Kensington. As I was waiting on the platform for the Westbound District Line train, there was an announcement that the station was now closed, so please leave the station. The train drew into the platform, and I thought, great, leave the station.... but then the train sped up again and didn't stop. So, went up to the surface where protesters were already gathering, and apparently this was why the station was closed, as the authorities didn't want crowds of people coming up out of the station into even larger crowds next to Parliament. I asked a policeman about getting to Kensington, he suggested walking to St James's Park and continuing Westwards from there. I enjoyed this walk as there was no motor traffic, just people milling around and getting ready for the march.
So, walked from West Kensington up to Olympia, got a £1.20 pastie for lunch as the food at the UK Aware was so expensive. I made contact with Philippa to let her know I was here on the day I was supposed to be talking, and went to have a wander around. I decided to spend my very limited amount of money on two things... a packet of two USB rechargeable batteries for Gill's portable clock radio and a small salt crystal deodorant which will replace my pitrok when that wears out or is dropped and shatters; the crystal I bought is entirely natural and is from the Sahara. Both these reduce waste. The rechargeable batteries don't need a special charger, they plug into the USB port of any computer and take a tiny amount of electric current to charge up, and can then replace ordinary batteries. They'll recharge 500 times.
I had my lunch and chatted to people, then went to see Brigit Strawbridge's talk on bees.
tbc
So Liam and I walked along to Honor Oak Park station and Lisa (who went back to collect song sheets) joined me on the platform, and we travelled into London Bridge together, and were joined by more flag-bearing protesters, and some of Lisa's choir too, the Strawberry Thieves. I said goodbye to Lisa at London Bridge and got the Jubilee Line to Westminster, so I could go to West Kensington. As I was waiting on the platform for the Westbound District Line train, there was an announcement that the station was now closed, so please leave the station. The train drew into the platform, and I thought, great, leave the station.... but then the train sped up again and didn't stop. So, went up to the surface where protesters were already gathering, and apparently this was why the station was closed, as the authorities didn't want crowds of people coming up out of the station into even larger crowds next to Parliament. I asked a policeman about getting to Kensington, he suggested walking to St James's Park and continuing Westwards from there. I enjoyed this walk as there was no motor traffic, just people milling around and getting ready for the march.
So, walked from West Kensington up to Olympia, got a £1.20 pastie for lunch as the food at the UK Aware was so expensive. I made contact with Philippa to let her know I was here on the day I was supposed to be talking, and went to have a wander around. I decided to spend my very limited amount of money on two things... a packet of two USB rechargeable batteries for Gill's portable clock radio and a small salt crystal deodorant which will replace my pitrok when that wears out or is dropped and shatters; the crystal I bought is entirely natural and is from the Sahara. Both these reduce waste. The rechargeable batteries don't need a special charger, they plug into the USB port of any computer and take a tiny amount of electric current to charge up, and can then replace ordinary batteries. They'll recharge 500 times.
I had my lunch and chatted to people, then went to see Brigit Strawbridge's talk on bees.
tbc
