katie writes stuff

Twitter was abuzz this evening with fears and rumours that the area of London I live in was about to be hit by rioters. I spent much of the evening sitting on the balcony looking out over the local police station and the main road, observing first as all the shops shut, the buses stopped running and a small huddle of policemen took post on the corner of the street outside the station, watching the news coverage on the BBC website and supping tea.

The policemen looked increasingly bored; then the buses started running again, and the numbers of cops went down until finally there was one very bored-looking chap leaning against a phonebox and reading something on his phone - probably Twitter.

Anyone who tried to cause trouble was firmly told to piss off. The closest I saw to "civil unrest" was a couple of young women sitting on the junction box outside my bedroom window, drinking. (The cops cared so little they didn't even bother to cross the road to remove their booze; I guess they figured as they weren't causing any trouble then there wasn't much point inciting anything.)

As I type, I can hear helipcopters and the occasional siren; I just nipped out to the front room again, having come in a few hours ago because it was cold and boring, to have a look out of the window, and I see nothing - a cloudy purple sky and quiet streets.

It's a bit 28 Days Later, reading about it all kicking off in other areas I know and love (including the area I just moved away from) and yet seeing relative peace and calm here.

In 2013, there is going to be a giant blue cock on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Well, I suppose Boris had to end up somewhere.

I made a thing, a demonstration against disconnection, and people came, and it was brilliant!


I get to go into work late tomorrow, so that I can observe the Parliamentary session in which the timetable for the next few weeks will be debated and announced, hoping for the love of everything that our representatives will do the sensible thing, the right thing, and not allow it to be rushed through in a matter of minutes.

Oh, yeah, also, Cory Doctorow hugged me.

Day of WIN.