Sunday 31 January 2010

Rambling weekend: walking here and there with William Bragg

Which side are you on?
First things for first went to speakers corner hear Billy official refuse to pay his tax until RBS agree to curtail all bonuses over £25K. I do think that's the killer we are not even asking for no bonus those over 25K anyway as ever Bill was very fair even to majority of bankers. I tried to film it for you but this being free speech corner some tedious Spanish students came along and shouted very near to me. God love free speech but sometimes!
Anyway it did the trick and the press were there to interview Billy (and me!) so maybe the pressure will increase we can but hope.









In other news:


The things people say and do: out and about special.
At the Imperial War Museum yesterday (part of my walk to interesting places campaign)
Heard in the lift "I don't care what Josh did we are not going to "crimes against humanity"
"Well its hummus and carrot sticks or a muesli bar or nothing" This was next to an 88 mm German anti aircraft gun a sort of final victory for banal democracy over hideous Totalitarism.


Elsewhere:
Young woman to harassed boyfriend on Oxford Street:
"you never pay any attention to me,"
Him "oh come off it I do"
Her “like what was that last dress I tried on like then"
Him " well sort of Roman crossed with 1920's flapper"
Her "Don't get clever"
To get to the Hyde Park I walked through Mayfair, it's an odd place virtually empty at the weekend apart from stumpy walnut looking old blokes in long coats with their tall blond "daughters" clumping next to them. One of the women even gave me a laughy smile that seemed to say "yeah we know it's ridiculous but what can you do".

Along the way and up through Bond street the place was heaving with haggard looking rich people in bad fur coats. Now we know fur looks better on animals but one woman had one of those patchworky affairs that looked like someone had put an grenade into a guinea pig hutch and them stuck the remains onto a market traders puffa jacket with a dried up pritt stick . God it looked terrible but she wasn't alone there was parade of them all with their Yoko Ono safety goggles sunglasses, looking in the empty windows of closed jeweller’s shops. I tried to take a snap of them outside Bulgari to contrast their appearance against the huge picture of Juliane Moore's translucent beauty but could not get a good shot. Poor old Suzanne was being forced to look alluring covered in gaudy rubies pestering a cockatoo (she was almost pulling it off, the look that is...)

Elsewhere the world went on as usual Primark was inexplicably packed, as was Subway, an elderly black guy in huge furry hat was walking about outside Selfridges wearing a floral pattern skirt, the tourist tat shops were still displaying grim looking off white thongs with “mind the gap” on them prominently in their windows, bored looking blokes were putting those caramel nuts into little paper bags, people bump into me and didn't apologise. Later I got offered a flier for an evangelical slimming club by an insistent Spanish speaking woman this was we went past a church called the "house of Bread". It was all very odd even down to tiniest tot of a little black girl who when I picked up her glove for her insisted on calling me Mr Mr Man for the rest of the journey.
So the usual really.

5 comments:

Cocktails said...

Were you on the news then BLTP?!

BLTP said...

It was a press reporter for the "Herald" was probably just covering her bases. Was worth going along.

al_uk said...

Don't get me started on this. Last year as a public empolyee I worked hard, my department and myself all made our targets, I had a positive performance management cycle, I managed my departmental budget so that we were able to implement new courses, our results contributed to the school getting its best ever reults and match all our LEA targets...and the response what amounts effectively to a pay cut while they get millions of pounds of bonuses.....
I know I shouldn't harp on too much as I am eternally grateful that I have a job full stop but something is not right.

BLTP said...

al, well we are meeting again this weekend so we live in hope. It is deeply messed up unfortunately the govt seems so supine maybe if a big enough fuss is made we can take this first step back to equilibrium.

It's The Gardening Lady said...

Hi al_uk, just want you to know that as someone who quit classroom teaching before I really got going that I have huge admiration for anybody who can keep going through all the bureacracy etc which deadens what should be a terrific job. It really narks me that despite everything, it's still the public sector which is expected to take the hits.
Doesn't help you get your pay rise though, I'm afraid!