Sometimes London is like a living breathing organism. You can feel her feelings and sense her mood. When the sun comes out London smiles, in mid-January, London wishes it were hibernating and is pretty miserable. So when a friend who recently left London to move back to NZ, posted ‘London what are they doing to you?’ I knew what she meant, in fact I could almost hear her voice.
Tuesday morning, Londoners woke up with a feeling of apprehension – they were unsure what they were going to find outside the safe places that they had stashed themselves for the night. Many found streets that looked like a warzone. Others had no safe place left to stash themselves as it had been burnt down. They had been taken in by complete strangers to keep them safe. But the amazing thing about London is that it also awoke with a feeling of hope and determination. This truly is a city of dreams and the community were looking to take it back.
I woke feeling pretty uncomfortable. I had spent the night on a friend’s couch – that whilst comfy, is no bed. I had fallen into a light sleep to the sounds of helicopters and sirens and had awoken at the slightest noise, that on any other night I would have happily slept through. I was curious to see how my road and my area had fared. Seemingly well, although there were boarded up windows on the high street due to vandalism.
I dragged myself to work, reading the free newspaper that began to tell the stories of the horror that had unfolded the night before. More details were emerging each hour. Stories of diners at the Ledbury, who had to be locked in the wine cellar for their safety after looters broke in through the windows and robbed them of their wallets and jewellery. Photos of people jumping from burning buildings. The sadness of listening to a man whose family of furniture makers had their entire lives taken away by a fire, that the fire crews that eventually arrived to put it out, were attacked whilst doing so. The anger that after raiding my favourite costume shop in Clapham Junction for masks so that they could not be seen, the rioters had then set fire to it. The extreme irony being that this business gave away a significant chunk of its profits to the local community and groups to help young people. Craziness.
I opened my email to find messages of love from my family and friends back home. My cousin expressed surprise that I was at work. Well, my workplace survived, as did my home, and I felt a kind of defiance – I will go about my daily life despite the scumbag mongrels who thought that they could prevent me from doing otherwise. I wrote a blog and then got about my day. The chat in the office was all about the riots, but we settled down eventually.
In my last blog, I supported the use of the Army. I think that on Monday night most Londoner’s did. We were desperate to scare these little thugs into submission. We were angered when Theresa May dismissed it outright straight away. We were waiting for David Cameron to get back – surely he would see sense. Then the military spoke out. They explained that they were trained to kill. We began to waver – we don’t want them killed we just want them to stop. They explained that once the military were on the streets that we could really kiss the Olympics goodbye. Ok we understand now, but please now tell us, what are you going to do to stop this madness. The answer was that there were going to be 10,000 extra police on the streets of London. I must admit that I was a little dubious. But willing to see what would happen.
At about 2pm, we began to hear new reports of violence – a McD’s in Camberwell was on fire, a demonstration was planned in Brixton and there were warnings of further violence to come. We were sent home at about 4pm. I decided that I would safer at the pub than in my home and a few of us gathered to wait and see what would happen. Our touch game had been cancelled – and the radio was urging people to get out of Wandsworth if they could. Stores and restaurants closed early and the police were a very visible presence on the streets. I said Hi and thanked them for their hard work where I could. They have come under immense criticism from some areas this week, but to me they were doing the best that they could with a situation that no one expected to be quite so nuts.
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| Can you see the Nic look-a-like? |
There were a few stories of hope though. Hundreds turned up in Clapham Junction to help with the clean up. What must have been a very jet lagged BoJo turned up there too. Boris issued a statement stating that for the first time he was ashamed to be a Londoner. There was a sense that whilst the Dad’s were away that the naughty children were misbehaving. Random acts of kindness were going on everywhere.
But come twilight, London felt like it was on a knife edge. It was tense and poised waiting. Well that is how I felt anyway. London, it turned out only had a few skirmishes, the riots were now in other areas of England. And again there were scenes of violence and destruction. We ate a yummy dinner of pizza that C and I put together and then pretty much went to bed early (well for me anyway – just before 12). Again I feel asleep to the sound of sirens and helicopters but this time I had not seen reports of violence in London to understand what was going on. There was a feeling that there could have been a media blackout. Again it was a very light sleep, I awoke with gritty eyes, feeling like I had only just closed them.
London awoke defiant on Wednesday. It helped that there were no riots there on Tuesday night. There were stories of groups fending off would be rioters. There was YouTube footage of a lady with a walking stick who told off a group of thugs. She told a group of black men attacking a white man off for making this a race thing. It is not a race thing. In fact a lot of ethnic communities defended their area – this was pointed out strongly to BNP supporters. Sadly there was also news of deaths and injury. Three men were killed when a group of 80 of them were defending a petrol station in Birmingham. A man drove a car over the pavement at speed directly at them. The parents of the men killed are calling for an end to the violence and say that they don’t want it committed in their children’s names. The Malaysian student who was robbed by would be good Samaritans has had a fund set up for him – there is debate on how he will be best served – there is talk of flying his family out to be with him, as due to his broken jaw he is unable to speak to them.
Amazing photos began to emerge. Stories of local heroes doing brave acts. And the first prosecutions began. A teacher from Battersea, who was hardly a disaffected youth, was charged with looting. In a funny turn he covered his face with a newspaper and walked into a lamppost whilst leaving the court. A set of twins whose mother thought that they were at the gym, were charged with rioting. Their mother was appalled and stated that she had provided for them and that they had no reason to riot.
There was debate over the cause that the rioters were rioting for. So far no one can agree, but most agree that there seems to be no cause. And there are thought out reasons for this. If it was a race issue then you would see placards with slogans. The same if it was an issue about government cuts. There have been a few ironically funny interviews with people who were rioting, who just got angrier when they were questioned as to why. Apparently it is their right. But why? Still can’t tell you. The reality is that this is pure greed and vandalism. There were academics who spoke out and supported the riots – although they too are at a loss as to why there were riots in the first place.
It’s raining today in London. I feel a bit more human. I am no longer mainlining chocolate and redbull to get by. I slept very well in my own bed last night. But still listening to sirens and helicopters. The reality is that in London you will hear a siren pretty much constantly, but now they are a tad more poignant. There was a cautious feeling in London last night – I finally got to see a cousin of mine who is visiting. She had been in lockdown in Putney since arriving on Monday. The pub that we were in was very subdued and even though we had a few bottles of wine, we were home by 10, just in case. I think that the recovery has begun, but there is still a nagging feeling that things might kick off again on the weekend. I am hopeful that they won’t. We can only wait and see. And we continue to say to each other ‘Take Care, Stay Safe.’ Oh and of course London we love ya.
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