Guess what happened around the corner...

I went for a walk in the city center today.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and I needed to buy some lamp shades so headed to Oxford Street for a wander round the department stores.  After lunch and quite a lot of staring at ceiling lights, I decided to take a little stroll towards Trafalgar Square and Westminster as I haven't done it for a while.  Most of the roads in these areas were cordoned off- Trafalgar Square was out of bounds- with traffic diverted, although pedestrians were still allowed to walk around Trafalgar Square.  There was a heavy police presence and cars with sirens drove up and down the road between Trafalgar Square and Westminster.  I was slightly curious but not enough to ask one of the policemen: stuff happens in London all the time and it could have been anything- a public disturbance, an official visit, etc.  However, I did look it up when I got home and found one relevant reference- it might have been a controlled explosion of a suspect package.  Couldn't find any other reference to it online but might come up in the papers tomorrow.

Familiar faces

It is amazing how much detail one picks up in one's daily commute without really having to make an effort, or even noticing.  For a few weeks I have been wondering whether a lady, who I don't know personally, has left her job/lost her job as she was not seen at her normal position- hunched over her laptop at Brera (a coffee shop)- as I walk towards the tube station from the bus stop at Canary Wharf in the morning.  She's back and I was surprised to find myself glad to see her at her usual table yesterday.  I suppose one must find comfort and amusement wherever one can in an otherwise uninteresting daily activity.

Safety on two wheels

An editorial in the Guardian on how changes in public attitude to cycling could lead to added safety for more vulnerable road users.  Worth a read.

The Union strikes back?

I guess it was to be expected.  Doesn't really take a genius to figure out that the best way to make an impact is to hit when it would hurt the most, so news that the UK's biggest union, Unite, was considering strike action during the Olympics as an act of civil disobedience was not all that surprising.  The Capital will  be under enormous strain at the time of the Olympics even if everything went to plan.  Local people are expecting their lives to be disrupted by the event but are mostly looking forward to having a good time as well.  This is a good way to showcase London and, by and large, things have been going fairly smoothly.  The prospect of more chaos because of strike action would not be welcome, irrespective of the validity or otherwise of the strike.  Well, I guess we'll have to wait to find out whether this will come to pass.