I went along to the march on Saturday, again not because I think it
will help, but because I'd have felt bad if I hadn't.
As before, we started at Piccadilly and waited at the top of St James's
Street to enjoy the posters until we found a suitable place to join.
Then along St James's Street, Pall Mall, and Cockspur Street to
Trafalgar Square.
We went on a little way into Whitehall, but it was very crowded and
slow-moving, and we ducked out at Horse Guards Avenue rather than push
on to Parliament Square.
I don't think it was quite as busy as the one in March; for example I
never had any trouble getting a data connection on the phone, whereas
then it was completely dead from the time we joined. (On the other
hand a friend lost data completely for several hours.) When the rain
started, I think a lot of people took shelter, which gave the media a
chance to photograph relatively empty streets rather than the solid
mass of people that would have been more representative. Still, there
was talk of a million or so.
As last time, the police presence was very light; a few vans in
Trafalgar Square, and probably some more in Parliament Square, but the
few police I saw were mostly chatting with marchers. They know which
side in this debate breaks heads and sets fire to things.
Then on to a pub breakfast.
On the way home, I heard an actual Inspector
Sands announcement at
King's Cross. I thought they'd stopped using that phrase because it
was so widely known.
A new failure mode for in-train annunciators. (All of them in the
carriage were showing the same thing, but the refresh rate made even
this one difficult to photograph.)
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