March For The Many
Sep. 24th, 2018 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeAfter a recovery day on Saturday when Wolfie and I did precious little, Sunday saw us rise early to head over to Liverpool for the March For The Many. Another anti-Brexit march, and one in support of the People's Vote campaign, we felt this would be worth attending for a number of reasons, not least because the Labour Party shifting position on this is vital to secure a Final Say vote. While I wasn't expecting much movement from the heirarchy of the party, as has been evidenced since the march, I did feel we had to go, not least because we won't be able to attend the one outside the Tory Party Conference in Birmingham next week, nor the big People's Vote March in London next month.
Consequently, we were up at 7:30am and out of the door half an hour later as it was to take us over three hours to get to Merseyside. Considering it would take just half that time if we were driving, it was clear why so many people opt for the car over public transport. Added to this was engineering works meaning there were no direct trains from Leeds to Liverpool, meaning we had to yomp through Manchester from Piccadilly to Oxford Road to get our connecting service (this wasn't as bad as on our return journey though as the Leeds service at Piccadilly was cancelled last-minute and we opted to walk to Victoria to get the direct New Pudsey service instead). Still, on these walks we got to see a number of the bee sculptures which were littering the city, all painted differently very much like the Gromit statues in Bristol a couple of years back. This morning I realised that yesterday was the last day of this exhibition and the bees were taken away, so it was good to see them while they were there.
We arrived at 11:15am and wanted a pasty, but the pasty shop had little and thus we settled with a Marks & Spencer sandwich. We then waited for Patter, who was on a service twenty minutes later than ours, before heading over to St George's Square where the march was due to begin. As we walked, we walked past the Stop Brexit button which was outside the station representing the Best For Britain movement while, as we waited for the march to begin, we were given a corroflute placard to hold as we walked. I was also put on the spot somewhat when I was interviewed by Capital FM, which turned into three minutes of largely waffle. Still, my interviewer did tell me I had been the most coherent so far, which made me worry about the others he had spoken to. This experience did prepare me later on in the March though when the People's Vote also interviewed me, this time on TV, when I was far more eloquent about why I had turned out.
Skavi and Xolani arrived around midday with the wind picking up rather fiercely as the day progressed. This saw our corroflute sign fly off its pole, although I did manage to catch it before it clattered into our fellow marches. Still, this meant I spent much of the walk holding up the sign without the stick, to which Wolfie decided to attach a number of stickers to make a 'Sticker Stick'. He found this quite amusing really. We only really had to endure one heavy downpour throughout the march and that was before it had really begun, with us managing to find shelter inside St George's Hall. Aside from this, the weather was rather good and the walk went without a hitch, although I did feel there were a few more hostile voices from the crowds than I had been accustomed to in the past. Meanwhile, for me, it was good just to see the architecture of the city from the road, a vantage point rarely accessable, and one huge advantage of this kind of demonstrative action I have found.
The March ended about an hour and a half later at Albert Dock, where there was a small stage and screen set up. As is often the case with these things, there were a number of speakers and unsurprisingly most of these this time were trade union members or people from Liverpool Council. Consequently, I agreed with some things but disagreed with much more, which was quite different to a usual pro-EU march I have attended. David Lammy MP was as excellent as ever and Peter Reid offered a welcome perspective, but there were too many trade unionists using loaded and antiquated words like 'Comrade' for me while I knew it was time to go when someone started talking about 'American globalist imperialism'.
The plan was to meet with Procyon, a fur we had first met in Stockholm last month but who now lives in Liverpool. I dropped him a message and told him we were going to Dough Boy, a place right next to Lime Street Station. As it's where the Liverpool furmeets are held, he told me he knew it, and soon we had grabbed a nice booth by the window and were chatting. As well as the five of us on the walk plus Procyon, another fur called Tark was there. He looked familiar and it turned out he was at CeSFuR the year we were there. With a similar taste in music, it was great to catch up with him again, as we were to find later that afternoon when we went to The Swan, which can only be described as a heavy metal dive bar just off Bold Street. I loved this place, so much so that we ended up staying another hour there, largely because of the dingy ambience but also because there was a great mix of pissed people and friendly people, including a very familiar Scotsman wearing a Colombia shirt. I am not sure it was Procyon's thing, but he bared with it, while I do know he enjoyed Dough Boy. I enjoyed this place too, largely because there was a quartet of beers we had not yet tried alongside some excellent food. The nduja on my Hogfather pizza was perhaps a little too hot but the halloumi fries were gorgeous, as were the chips we bought for the table, meaning I was quite bloated by the time we had left.
Patter wanted to get his last train home while Xolani was feeling tired so headed back with Skavi. This meant it was Tark, Procyon, Wolfie and I down at The Swan, where we enjoyed a couple of drinks in the darkness. Coming back into the light of the day was a little strange, while it was a shame we didn't get the opportunity to meet the furry barman who works there, but it did cap an end to a rather wonderful day in quite a special city. The journey back to Pudsey was a nightmare, as previously described, but ultimately it was worth it.
Consequently, we were up at 7:30am and out of the door half an hour later as it was to take us over three hours to get to Merseyside. Considering it would take just half that time if we were driving, it was clear why so many people opt for the car over public transport. Added to this was engineering works meaning there were no direct trains from Leeds to Liverpool, meaning we had to yomp through Manchester from Piccadilly to Oxford Road to get our connecting service (this wasn't as bad as on our return journey though as the Leeds service at Piccadilly was cancelled last-minute and we opted to walk to Victoria to get the direct New Pudsey service instead). Still, on these walks we got to see a number of the bee sculptures which were littering the city, all painted differently very much like the Gromit statues in Bristol a couple of years back. This morning I realised that yesterday was the last day of this exhibition and the bees were taken away, so it was good to see them while they were there.
We arrived at 11:15am and wanted a pasty, but the pasty shop had little and thus we settled with a Marks & Spencer sandwich. We then waited for Patter, who was on a service twenty minutes later than ours, before heading over to St George's Square where the march was due to begin. As we walked, we walked past the Stop Brexit button which was outside the station representing the Best For Britain movement while, as we waited for the march to begin, we were given a corroflute placard to hold as we walked. I was also put on the spot somewhat when I was interviewed by Capital FM, which turned into three minutes of largely waffle. Still, my interviewer did tell me I had been the most coherent so far, which made me worry about the others he had spoken to. This experience did prepare me later on in the March though when the People's Vote also interviewed me, this time on TV, when I was far more eloquent about why I had turned out.
Skavi and Xolani arrived around midday with the wind picking up rather fiercely as the day progressed. This saw our corroflute sign fly off its pole, although I did manage to catch it before it clattered into our fellow marches. Still, this meant I spent much of the walk holding up the sign without the stick, to which Wolfie decided to attach a number of stickers to make a 'Sticker Stick'. He found this quite amusing really. We only really had to endure one heavy downpour throughout the march and that was before it had really begun, with us managing to find shelter inside St George's Hall. Aside from this, the weather was rather good and the walk went without a hitch, although I did feel there were a few more hostile voices from the crowds than I had been accustomed to in the past. Meanwhile, for me, it was good just to see the architecture of the city from the road, a vantage point rarely accessable, and one huge advantage of this kind of demonstrative action I have found.
The March ended about an hour and a half later at Albert Dock, where there was a small stage and screen set up. As is often the case with these things, there were a number of speakers and unsurprisingly most of these this time were trade union members or people from Liverpool Council. Consequently, I agreed with some things but disagreed with much more, which was quite different to a usual pro-EU march I have attended. David Lammy MP was as excellent as ever and Peter Reid offered a welcome perspective, but there were too many trade unionists using loaded and antiquated words like 'Comrade' for me while I knew it was time to go when someone started talking about 'American globalist imperialism'.
The plan was to meet with Procyon, a fur we had first met in Stockholm last month but who now lives in Liverpool. I dropped him a message and told him we were going to Dough Boy, a place right next to Lime Street Station. As it's where the Liverpool furmeets are held, he told me he knew it, and soon we had grabbed a nice booth by the window and were chatting. As well as the five of us on the walk plus Procyon, another fur called Tark was there. He looked familiar and it turned out he was at CeSFuR the year we were there. With a similar taste in music, it was great to catch up with him again, as we were to find later that afternoon when we went to The Swan, which can only be described as a heavy metal dive bar just off Bold Street. I loved this place, so much so that we ended up staying another hour there, largely because of the dingy ambience but also because there was a great mix of pissed people and friendly people, including a very familiar Scotsman wearing a Colombia shirt. I am not sure it was Procyon's thing, but he bared with it, while I do know he enjoyed Dough Boy. I enjoyed this place too, largely because there was a quartet of beers we had not yet tried alongside some excellent food. The nduja on my Hogfather pizza was perhaps a little too hot but the halloumi fries were gorgeous, as were the chips we bought for the table, meaning I was quite bloated by the time we had left.
Patter wanted to get his last train home while Xolani was feeling tired so headed back with Skavi. This meant it was Tark, Procyon, Wolfie and I down at The Swan, where we enjoyed a couple of drinks in the darkness. Coming back into the light of the day was a little strange, while it was a shame we didn't get the opportunity to meet the furry barman who works there, but it did cap an end to a rather wonderful day in quite a special city. The journey back to Pudsey was a nightmare, as previously described, but ultimately it was worth it.
