Burnt out cars, blood on the streets and rioting…Week 3

Ok, Ok it wasn’t as dramatic as all that. There was one burnt out car – but I’m still hoping for some rain to wash away the little spatters of what could be red paint, but I think is actually blood. On my way to the tube the other morning minding my own business and saw a Ford Ka sitting on the pavement. Obviously abandoned. The next day – it was nothing more than a burnt out shell. What a waste of a car? Just a steel skeleton sitting on the side of the road – unloved and unmoving. Hopefully Louis will never come to that. But it was the drops of blood around the car that were really the most unsettling. They went up the road to the traffic lights and then stopped. Perhaps it was the car’s revenge on whoever set it alight.

Of course Saturday was the most interesting – I should really have paid attention to the news more. But oh no – I watched the boat race instead. So that, due to the usual tube closures that make your weekend a scenic tour of industrial estates in  an effort to get anywhere, was the reason I ended up in picadilly wondering what was happening to the lovely buildings. The acrid smoke from burnt out rubbish lined the streets and tourists were strangely taking photos from angles. I did half expect one or two to pose beside the burning piles. Never have I seen quite so many police in riot gear either.

Unsettling indeed – so off I rushed to O’Neills in Chinatown for the match. Barely had I stepped in the door did I get stopped by the bouncer.

‘Scuse me lahve – ny ID on ya’?

31 and still I’m asked the question, smiling to myself I reached for my passport. But as I turned to face him….

‘Oh waih! Sorry lahve, you’re awright’.

Unsettling is the only word.