On Saturday just gone (7 March), I went down to London with my sister and her husband to go on The People’s Climate March. We also met up with my eldest nephew (their son) at Westminster University, where he is studying Graphic Design, of which we’re all very proud. He was our guide for the day, helping through the tube and streets of London… once he’d got up of course!
We all plowed into London on the tube, and finally made our way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields (only half an hour after the march started…), where we tagged onto a Greenpeace group and started the march. There was an excellent atmosphere, the sun was shining and we were all in fine voice and spirits. Our first funny moment was when we got to The Savoy hotel, where we were informed that the head of the march had arrived at Parliament, so we all sat in the road and made LOTS of noise – brilliant! As we got closer to Parliament I burst out laughing at the sight of a heavy police presence outside McDonald’s of all places! I said to my sister that they must think we’ll attack it as a symbol of capitalism! (Maybe they were waiting for Big Macs…) And as we passed Downing Street we all told David Cameron to ‘Frack Off!’ (I don’t know if he heard us though…)
We finally made it to parliament and made LOTS more noise to ‘Wake Parliament Up’ and ‘Stick it to the man’. It was wonderful being in the midst of so many folks with common causes and really felling a part of something important. Sadly, there hasn’t been lots of media coverage, but the initial estimates are of 20,000 people marching on the day!
After hearing some of the speeches at the meeting point, we were all really hungry, so we headed off to Brick Lane, on my nephew’s recommendation. Another tube journey later, we wandered down to Brick Lane, hunting for bagel shops and curry houses. I love London (I’ve been visiting since I was tiny, and my wife was born there), and it was lovely being with family in a part of London I haven’t explored yet. My sister and I fancied bagels, whilst her husband and son fancied a curry, so we spilt up to eat. One bagel shop had a MASSIVE queue, so we went next door where the queue was much smaller and the bagels were… amazing. I had salt beef with mustard and coleslaw, my sister had cheese and coleslaw AND and slab of cheesecake. We loitered outside the shop scoffing our fresh warm bagels and catching up on the day. Fab.
Grub over, we wandered down Brick Lane, revelling in the sights of fantastic clothes, lots of dogs, and wonderful food. There was a big old warehouse which had been turned into a massive food court with music and a bar. The food was incredible, I think you could get food from anywhere on the planet in there. As lovely as our bagels were, we both wished we’d come here first! My sister called her husband to tell him about the food court, but he was already there with my nephew, buying HUGE foil containers of fresh cooked Chinese food, which was delicious. Seriously, my mouth is watering as I type this! And the food was CHEAP too. My sister and I grabbed a coffee (only the second of the day), and we grabbed a table outside to eat, drink and chat. More exploring and a cold drink later, we were all shattered, and ready for home, so back on the tube to my nephew’s halls, where we had parked that morning. What a wonderful day!
The whole day was amazing, seeing my sister and husband being mum and dad, still being (slightly) shocked seeing my nephew having a beer, being with family, being in London and ‘sticking into the man!’ I finally got home around 10:00pm, for a late coffee, sandwich and cuddle from my lovely (sleepy) wife.
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