30 Sep 2000

Dave Bird <dave@xemu.demon.co.uk>

Hiyas. The UK picket machine creaked back into action today. I was up at the ghastly hour of "07:00 GMT+1" (which means by the reality of sunrise it was actually 06:00) and looking down from the windows of the front room onto the main road there was a 30Mtrs visibility fog. Out at 08:00 for the 08:40 train, arrive at the north London terminal 10:40 and over to the other rail terminal 11:00, to meet at the cafe and catch the 11:35 train for Brighton.

We knew Steve C-T was away on a diving exhibition, but three other people vanished for work-related reasons which left us a bit short of leaflets and equipment too. Anyway we had Dave, Roland, Jens, and Richard Ford into Brighton at 12:30 plus John who had arrived on an earlier train, also Richard and Bonnie Woods who wandered away from the main demo and shadowed the clam leafleters.

           LONDON
          /
         /              Brighton is at the seaside
        / \             due south of London
       /   |
   East    AIRPORT
Grinstead  |
           |
           |
___________BRIGHTON___
::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::


            =======Rail
            ===<<====station
            |__   ______|
         Queens| |
           head| |
               | |
               | |
              /  |
             /   |
            / /| |
           / / | |
   _______/ /_/ _ \___
  ________   _ <_ ___
    |    #: | \   /       the org is 3rd floor over a shop
    |____||_|  | |        next to "Churchill Precinct" forecourt
     __________| |______
     ------------------
     ::::::::::::::::::::::
     ::::::<_" ::::::<_" ::

Brighton is a nice small seaside town directly south from London, it's free and easy place full of cool young people, also cool older people and greybeard hippies. Not everyone wanted to hear about either side, but there were a good number of people spotted us twenty feet away, smiled, and rushed over for a leaflet, saying things like "run the buggers out of town". A reporter and photographer talked to us for a while, and the photographer got various hots of us with our banner, inflatable space alien and stuff. Total demo 13:30 to 15:30 when we ran out of leaflets. John had a go on the sound system with a solid wall of slogans, Richard Ford gave 'em a sermon on the evils of cults, and LRon Hubbard had everyone falling in the aisles with his "the man on the crawsss, there was no christ."

All, in all a nice day out. 16:50 train to London, we were all dozing off on the train, and finally 21:30 back home here.

                 __
               .'  '.       "OUR GRAND DAY OUT"
              :      :
              | _  _ |     cracking clams, grommit!
           .-.|(o)(o)|.-.        _._          _._
-- -------( ( | .--. | ) )-----.',_ '.------.' _,'.-----------
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            /   '--'   \     /.'     \.'  './     '.\
            \ `"===="` /     `       : _  _ :       `
             `\      /'              |(o)(o)|
               `\  /'                |      |       http://www.
               /`-.-`\_             /        \   xemu.demon.co.uk
         _..:;\._/V\_./:;.._       /   .--.   \
       .'/;:;:;\ /^\ /:;:;:\'.     |  (    )  |
      / /;:;:;:;\| |/:;:;:;:\ \    _\  '--'  /__
_____/ /;:;:;:;:;\_/:;:;:;:;:\ \_.'  '-.__.-'   `-.__art_by_jgs.