As an alum of UC Berkeley, I know it goes against the foundation of my education to say this, but I HATE PROTESTS. As selfish as it may be, I like to mosey about my life as undisturbed as possible, and the protests here in London have a way of making an impact on your every day life whether you care about the cause or not.
For instance, the Tube protests of yesteryear made sure that all commuters suffered along with the Tube workers by effectively shutting down the Tube system and forcing everyone to figure out another way to get to their destination in a city where hardly anyone owns a car. Just last week, over 50,000 people gathered in central London to protest against the cuts proposed by the government, and I could hear them from my bed in my cosy little flat a mile away.
And today, everyone on Canary Wharf has been put on the alert that more anti-cut protestors will be assembling in front of the only Tube station on the Wharf to conduct a "noisy" protest as they've been instructed "to bring something loud." They're meant to gather at the station right before rush hour and plan on making my already miserable commute worse. We've been assured that they are "unlikely to be violent," but those are not sweet words of reassurance to my ears. Especially when they're followed by the warning that we may be locked in our building for our own safety.
Now I have a quandry: Should I just brave the crowd of protestors and fight my way to the Tube? Do I try to avoid the crowd by tunneling underground to the Tube via the shopping mall? Or do I stay late at the office until the protestors go away?
An easier question to answer: Could Canary Wharf get any worse? No, probably not. Sigh.
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