I really ought to post
I really ought to post something about this weekend’s demonstration, except I don’t know that I can muster up the right words, so I’ll try to give a brief impression. It was wonderful. I’d been on lots of demos during the 80s, not so many recently as I don’t always feel quite so sympathetic to the causes and as I get old and cantankerous I get more and more pissed off with the kind of nutters who increasingly turn up looking for aggro, but this was something totally different - all human life was there, Guardian readers to Telegraph readers, Class War anarchists to Countryside Alliance members, Palestinian militants to Jews for Peace. It really was the whole spectrum, and it felt great.
We arrived at Waterloo at midday, Hungerford Bridge was closed so we walked to Waterloo Bridge, as we got there they closed that because the weight of people standing on it was more than it could take, so we walked to Blackfriars, crossed over and finally joined the march. Shuffle would be a more appropriate word, it was slow going. We didn’t reach Hyde Park, about two miles away, until about 5.30pm. And I was knackered, having carried Lola in my arms most of the way, but was very happy. It really made me feel like moving this thing forward as well - whereas previously my opposition to the almost inevitable war was “in my head” and to be honest I wasn’t really that bothered, now I feel incensed that the government can ignore such a huge body of people (the Sun’s comment made me furious - 1 million people may have marched, but 58 million didn’t - FFS do they really [rhetorical question] think this means that 58 million people support the war or couldn’t give a toss - some people have to work, you know, and others can’t afford time/money-wise to travel to London, Glasgow or wherever). I feel like boycotting American good because of the stupid comments emanating from that country about causing as much economic damage as possible to France and Germany. I feel like doing everything I can to get this government out of office, a government that I broadly support and think are doing a good job on most things, because they need to be shown that you don’t fuck about like this when public opinion is so overwhelmingly against you (this runs a little counter to my general misanthropic tendencies, but WTF).
The day after the demo I took Rowan and Lola to London Zoo before driving back up to Sheffield - the gits, they didn’t appreciate it, though Lola did love the Monkeys. £21 bloody quid just for me and Rowan to get in (Lola was, thankfully, free) - don’t think I shall be going there in a while, I really should have tried Whipsnade.