Just got back from a nice walk...
Wednesday, 1 April 2009 20:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apollaI went out through the City of London to observe (and strictly to observe only) the protests. Bishopsgate was cut off from Wormwood Street downwards, so I went down Old Broad Street to see how close it was possible to get to the Bank of England.
Not very. Some very pleasant police were cordoning off the area so I spoke pleasantly to one of them and then made my way east, ending up on Lombard Street. From there I ended up at the crossroads of Cornhill and Bishopsgate. The mood was definitely and distinctly different and I mistakenly ended up in a situation where there were riot police on three sides. Someone had lit something on fire and there were drums and shouting. The protesters were definitely edgier there, too and as I attempted to extricate myself from that, the riot police suddenly moved forward rather messily and my exit strategy was ruined.
I ended up cut off with some protesters between sets of riot police and then realised that they were now also cutting off Leadenhall Market. I left as quickly as I could once the riot police let us through onto Gracechurch Street because hey, this was not my protest. If there are any photographs of me there, they will not show me speaking to anyone or doing anything but standing with my hands in my pockets. So I got out of the way, because I have no desire to get into trouble for someone else's protest. My own, but not other people's.
I ended up walking up Fenchurch Street to Aldgate and there to Houndsditch and back to Liverpool Street from where I made my way home with cold hands.
I got no sense of what anyone was protesting and merely felt like it was the same crusty hippies and people who like agitating. Why did I go down there? Two reasons: One, I wanted to see for myself. Two, I'm in the process of writing a story with a revolution and needed a better understanding of how this stuff works. You can't necessarily tell on TV. Incidentally, had I left fifteen minutes later, I might have read the entry on the BBC Live Text at 1915 which mentioned a change of mood and I would not have gone quite so close to Threadneedle Street.
I observed and I went home.
Not very. Some very pleasant police were cordoning off the area so I spoke pleasantly to one of them and then made my way east, ending up on Lombard Street. From there I ended up at the crossroads of Cornhill and Bishopsgate. The mood was definitely and distinctly different and I mistakenly ended up in a situation where there were riot police on three sides. Someone had lit something on fire and there were drums and shouting. The protesters were definitely edgier there, too and as I attempted to extricate myself from that, the riot police suddenly moved forward rather messily and my exit strategy was ruined.
I ended up cut off with some protesters between sets of riot police and then realised that they were now also cutting off Leadenhall Market. I left as quickly as I could once the riot police let us through onto Gracechurch Street because hey, this was not my protest. If there are any photographs of me there, they will not show me speaking to anyone or doing anything but standing with my hands in my pockets. So I got out of the way, because I have no desire to get into trouble for someone else's protest. My own, but not other people's.
I ended up walking up Fenchurch Street to Aldgate and there to Houndsditch and back to Liverpool Street from where I made my way home with cold hands.
I got no sense of what anyone was protesting and merely felt like it was the same crusty hippies and people who like agitating. Why did I go down there? Two reasons: One, I wanted to see for myself. Two, I'm in the process of writing a story with a revolution and needed a better understanding of how this stuff works. You can't necessarily tell on TV. Incidentally, had I left fifteen minutes later, I might have read the entry on the BBC Live Text at 1915 which mentioned a change of mood and I would not have gone quite so close to Threadneedle Street.
I observed and I went home.