The Benevolent Fire Alarm

Gathering before Reclaim the Night march, Trafalgar Square

By now, you can probably all write the first sentence for me. Yes, I overslept again. This time, as it was a Saturday, I didn't have any lectures to be late for, but I was supposed to be meeting my mum at Paddington station at 10:30. So for once in my life, I was gratefull that the fire alarm went off: this happened at 9.50, so considerably later than I should have got up, but still in time for me to be only 15 or 20 minutes late, and since Mum's train was 15 minutes late that wasn't too bad. My alarm was definitely on last night, and definitely off when the fire alarm woke me this morning, so I'm not sure what happened there, but taken in conjunction with evidence from Thursday when the same thing happened, it would suggest that I've moved on from setting the alarm for ten more minutes a few too many times to turning it right off and retaining no memory of the action. Something needs to be done about this. I don't think hiding the phone (which is what I've been using) is going to work- I already put it in different places each time and if I start putting it in drawers or things to really wake myself up with the effort of finding it, chances are it'll be too muffled for me to hear it and I'll just sleep straight through anyway. I could try what I did when I was doing a TEFL course for five weeks in the summer of Second year, when for the first time in my life being late would have consequences more serious than a telling off from the teacher or an annoyed look from the lecturer*: I wrote down an integration on a post-it note each evening and stuck it on the alarm clock, and I wasn't allowed to get back in bed the following morning till I'd done it. They didn't take very long to do- I purposefully chose easy ones, and nothing involving integration by parts, I think, or complicated substitutions- but having to think about the excercise woke me up enough that I wouldn't just drop off again.

Anyway, I met Mum at Paddington, and we headed off to Southwark. Mum had come to London to do some Christmas shopping with me, but she also wanted to see the slides in the Tate Modern while she was here, and go on them if there wasn't too long a wait. There was though- we got there at about 11 or 11.30 and were told we would probably get on at 1.30. Since we wanted to do a fair bit of Christmas shopping we decided not to bother. We crossed over the Milennium bridge and headed for Covent Garden. Then it started raining very heavily**, so we took shelter in a convenient archway before deciding to make a dash for the nearest bus stop and proceed by bus.

In Covent Garden, after quite a bit of searching, we eventually found the stall where Mum got her handbag several years ago (on another trip to see me and do some Christmas shopping, when I was at UCL. After long and faithfull service, it's finally given in and she wanted another. Once she had chosen, I offered to get it for her as a Christmas present (saves hours of thinking what she'd like...). She said it was too expensive for that, but we came to the slightly bizarre compromise of my paying for half as a present, and her paying for the other half. I took it away with me though and will still be able to wrap it!

We then went and had some lunch. We were looking at various places, but got tempted into a pub, in spite of the smoke, by herby pancakes with mediterranean vegetables and goats' cheese sauce. Unfortunately we didn't check whether there was a table free before ordering at the bar, and had to ask a couple if they minded us sitting in the two spare seats at their table. But after they left, another couple came and did the same to us, so I guess it all evens out.

The pancakes were really, really good.

We went to Oxford St after lunch, to go to the department stores. I got pretty hot, and my feet hurt, but Mum managed to cross a few people off her list so at least it was productive. I didn't even think about buying anything myself- my mind still hasn't really got itself round the idea that Christmas is imminent. We finished up in Marks and Spencer's, and bought a juice each to refresh ourselves.

I had to leave at 4.45 though, because I am now a Beaver photographer! Well, kind of. I'd been meaning to email the editor and ask if they needed any more people to take pictures for a while, mostly because I like taking photos and it would be nice to get them published***, but also partly because in Green Party committee meetings they keep on encouraging people to write for the Beaver because if you get three pieces published you become part of the Beaver Collective which makes decisions to do with the paper, and more Greens on that is more progressive votes, and I'm no good at writing articles but you can also get on the Collective by publishing photos. So I'd been meaning to ask if I could become one of their photographers, and then at the sit-in the editor borrowed my camera to take a picture of the policemen who had been outside the Old Theatre (no-one else had one on them), so when I emailed him those pictures plus the ones I'd taken of the sit-in myself (which he also wanted), I added that I would be interested in taking pictures for the Beaver. The editor passed that on to the appropriate person, and I got an email saying that would be great, and asking if I could go to the Reclaim the Night march to take some pictures.

The Reclaim the Night march is a march for women that takes place after dark, and the point of it is to express a desire to be able to walk the streets at night individually without fear of rape or violence, and to protest about violence against women in general. I already knew about it from some email or other, but I had been inclining on the side of not going****, because of meeting Mum and not being sure how late she wanted to stay or even if she wanted to stay the night. But when I got that request to take pictures there, I found out what Mum's plans were, and established that she didn't want to stay the night, and didn't want to be too late either (I thought this would probably be the case, but I wasn't sure). So that meant I could go.

I had to ask the Beaver photography person about what the rules for taking photos were, since I'd never taken any for anything other than personal interest before, and he told me that you don't have to ask for permission if you're taking photos of an event in a public place and you're going to use them for editorial content rather than advertising (though of course if people aren't happy about having their photo taken you shouldn't do it). But he added that in fact you get the best pictures by a combination of talking to people and just taking them, which I found to be good advice.

The LSE contingent was supposed to meet on Houghton St at 5.30, and I just made it there, but just like for the Climate Change march, there was no-one else waiting and I worried that I had got the wrong time (had it been 15.30 and I'd remembered the 5?). People did turn up though, about five or ten of them, though not the Women's Officer who was organising it as apparently she was ill and had been in bed for 30 hours (which sounds pretty bad!). So the People and Planet President was in charge instead. Apparently she didn't know much about what was happening, but this didn't seem to be a problem as she got us there fine and we joined the group in Trafalgar Square no problem.

There was a gathering of a considerable size there; not as big as for the Climate Change demo, but still pretty sizeable. There were many banners and placards, saying things like 'Women's rights are human rights' and 'Being drunk is not a crime. Rape is", as well as some nice ones done by the NUS, with "NUS women are asking for" and then a picture of a woman (there were several different ones) with a thought bubble saying "An end to violence". People were distributing sheets with the chants for the march. The sentiments were good, apart from one bit that called for a curfew for men, but I thought the chants looked a bit cumbersome to work well. Still, I thought I'd see how they went. We were in Trafalgar Square for more than half an hour- I spent the time taking many many photos, including one of a person with one of the NUS placards, which I asked if I could take. What with being new to this, I didn't think to ask for names or anything, but this person grabbed someone else nearby and told me it was the NUS Women's Officer, which was quite a stroke of luck for me, and also another person who was an LSE student, because I'd said I was taking photos for the LSE student newspaper. So I said I'd get the details after taking the photo, to cover my not having thought to do it already, and wrote it all down on the flyer about chants. Still, there was plenty of time when I wasn't taking pictures, and it was cold, but eventually we got moving.

(l-r) NUS Women's Officer, and Phd students from Warwick
(Women and gender) and LSE (Gender)

We marched up Charing Cross Road and Tottenham Court Road, before turning off near Warren St and going down Gower St to ULU. The chants actually worked out ok- they didn't attempt the trickiest one (and no-one did the bit about the curfew for men in the event!). There was also shrieking/whooping at points and some people with deafening whistles a bit too close to me. There were quite a few people watching us go past, many taking photos, The reaction was mostly positive though we did get some boos when we went past a pub. And towards the end of the march, I overheard one of the marchers chatting to one of the policemen as we walked along- she was actually explaining to him why women don't feel safe walking down the streets at night, because he apparently didn't get our point. (He was being perfectly nice about it, though).

When we went past Spearmint Rhino, the organisers got us to do the 'Sexual violence has to go' chant, so as to make it absolutely clear that we weren't protesting against the sex workers (as they called them, I'm not sure whether that's the proper term). Though I have to admit I can't quite see how the other chants could give the impression that we were... There was quite a cluster of policemen outside, plus some men in suits (at the time I assumed they were management but I suppose they could have been customers) who were smiling and seemed to be sympathetic, or at least tolerant, toward us.

University of Bath Students' Union Vice President
(Welfare and Campaigns) leads those around her in chant/ song

There was a party afterwards at ULU, but I didn't stay. I went to the Sainsbury's at the top of Tottenham Court Rd that I used to shop at all the time when I was at UCL. Inside it was all different, which was quite sad. Sadder was that Cullen's, which used to be opposite, is now a Tesco Express. Ok, Cullen's wasn't cheap, but it had some interesting stuff, and at least it wasn't Tesco's.

The march reaches the lower end of Tottenham court Rd

I got the 205 bus back from the Euston Rd. Unfortunately, though, it turned out not to go to either of the places I'm used to getting off at for Liverpool St, and it was two or three stops later before I realised we'd gone past where I should have alighted. So I got off at the next one and walked back- only I set off the wrong way and realised two seconds later that it was the wrong way, but didn't want to turn round and walk in the right direction as that would be embarrassing, so instead I turned off to the left- halls was not just back but back and left so this wasn't out of my way as such. It was a fair sized road, but not as big as the main road, and it was out of the city, so I felt a little insecure. It was quite ironic (or possibly just interesting) to be in that position right after marching against that, and it got a little more so when a man said something to me as I passed- I didn't catch all of it but it ended with 'doll', I think, and may have been 'Looking nice tonight, doll'. Then, when I turned left again to walk in the direction I should have gone in originally, down a street that was slightly quieter again, another man said 'Excuse me,' and when I turned, 'Where are you from?' I had to get him to repeat it, and he added 'Are you from Germany?'. Now admittedly, there's nothing dodgy in itself about the question 'Are you from Germany?' But I was on a not exceptionally well lit street, I wasn't wearing or doing or carrying anything that I thought could give anyone the idea that I was from Germany, and I couldn't think of a good reason why anyone would need to know whether I came from Germany. So I said something like 'No, I'm not, it's ok, thankyou' (mouth and brain were not too well aligned), waved (ditto gestures), and set off very fast.

Between Tottenham Court Rd and Gower St
(I can't believe I've forgotten what the road's called, I've walked down it like a million times)

Luckily, the streets got better lit and busier pretty soon, and before long I was back at halls. It's been quite a while since I felt like that- I don't feel unsafe in the centre of London even after dark, and I haven't been elsewhere alone at night recently; last year I was living with my parents and was scarcely ever away from home in the evening (bad public transport and no car of my own), and before that I was in Japan which is absurdly safe, and where I never felt threatened at all (except for the time when I was worried about the policeman finding the knife, which I can't remember whether I've already written about; if not then I'm sure I'll find time to put it all down in detail at some point).

The march halfway down Tottenham Court Rd

*I forget exactly what those consequences were- it was probably failing the course, and as I'd paid £500 to go on it...

**There had already been some rain before we got to the Tate, as well as some very strong winds.

***And to be taking them in an official capacity- I have in the past missed some good shots because I was shy of using a flash thus and advertising that I was snapping, or because I snatched the camera back down again too quickly, for the same reason

****I know! A demo I was thinking of passing up for a change! Shock horror!