stuck in a bus because of a demostration in parliament square

 

london 12.26pm rain 10C wednesday 2016

i am sitting in the bus 88, in trafalgar square stuck here because of a demonstration in parliament square. the whole area is grid locked. and we dont know when the demo will end. 

oh, 3 police on horses went by , on the pavement too. haha. democracy is all very well, but these pointless demonstrations just makes inconvenience to the travelling public.

what about our right not to support whatever u are demonstrating against huh? i hope the demonstrators get very wet, because it is pouring down with rain. hoho.

the newspapers never report these things, so as not to encourage them. no one other than us here trapped in traffic knows there is a demo going on. and even then, we dont know what they are demonstrating against. and when we do finally get to them, and find out from their banners, it is very likely we will be against them. out of sheer irritation at them for disrupting our journey. so it kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it? but then we all know demonstrators are people who just like to hear themselves speak.

oh we are moving now, and at a rapid rate too. so looks like the demonstrators have finished.

i have just been to chinatown to buy cuttlefish balls and steamboat pack. i first saw it when i went there yesterday to buy black soya sauce. and bought  a pack of the cuttlefish balls, costing only 99p for 200mg. i have not bought these before, usually i buy fish balls. these frozen cuttlefish balls normally costs £1.85, compared to the frozen fish balls @£1.65 and the fresh fish balls at £2.20. but i have not bought these things for quite some time now. partly because at their normal price it is not worth it. i can get frozen fish in the supermarket for £1.70 for 520mg, and it is all fish, unlike fishballs, which donthave 100% fish, but other things to bulk them up, and they are very salty. which makes them delicious of course, salt is a great appetizer, but i try not to have too much of them. they were selling pot noodles for 10p each too. quite a bargain, they were near their expiring date, 1 month from now, but i did not buy any as i am not too keen on the artificial flavour of them. when i went there this morning, all the pot noodles have been sold out, though they have lots of packs of instant noodles. all 10p each. 

last night i got back and cooked half of it,the cuttleballs,  and it was quite nice, very firm and quite big, those balls, and so i decided to go back today and buy some more. this time when i arrived ,there were only 4 packs left , so i bought them all. i daresay they will replenish it as the day go by. because that was what happened to the steamboat pack of assorted things yesterday. in fact, when i got there a man was replenishing the steamboat assorted packs. so they must be very popular. 

anyway this time i bought the 4 packs of cuttlefish balls and one pack of the steamboat selection500mg. (weight for weight, the assorted steamboat pack is better value i guess) .they go very well in noodle soups. and because they are frozen they can keep in the freezer. 99p each.

well, the rain has stopped, but we are not even at parliament square and stuck again. ah well, since i am in no hurry i shall just stay here. i could get out and walk back, as it is quite near , and the sun is out again. but there is no rush …. my whole life now is leisurely , quite nice in some ways but if u are the kind of person who likes to have a purpose in life, or want meaning in your life you might get restless at the aimlessness of it. haha.

i am trying to get a glimpse of the demonstrators to see what they are against. but no sign of them. the sun is out but it is still raining. well i see a group of them just outside the gates to the house of parliament, but they could be tourists,(ya, they are tourists) it looks like the demonstrators have gone. ya, they are gone, and nothing is happening except for the traffic jams. i realised i might have missed seeing them, as i was sitting on the lower deck of the bus. i forgot or rather could not be bothered to walk upstairs and get a birds eye view when we were stuck earlier. 

the bus is diverted to run up to lambeth bridge, and along the river. instead of the road behind the houses that runs behind the tate millbank. so we are clear of the jam and on our way. ha. it is now 12.53pm.

added 3.24pm i thought i shall check the evening standard website to see if they have any news of this demonstration. well they have. it is by black cab drivers protesting against uber . they were blocking whitehall,so not in parliament square as such. it started at 11am and i suppose when i was there, it was the tail end of it, as it was for 2hrs duration. i can sympathise with them actually, these people have invested a lot of time and effort and money learning the road map of london and taking the test to qualify as black cab drivers, and it must be a heartache to see uber drivers just come along and steal their business.

(the video they show seem to be doing the typical advert thing. showing a bit and then bringing the advert on . as usual i cannot stand it, and just stop the advert and not see the rest of the video. maybe u have more patience to see the advert and continue to see the rest of the video about the demonstrators. )

but it is a hard lesson that technology is destroying a lot of traditional jobs, and it is tough that it is their job that is being hit. in the past they have been holding the capital to ransom as it were, being picky who they pick up, and always going off shift and not stopping when u want them, or not being available when it rains, or refusing to take u south of the river if it suits them. and charging quite a lot  and still expect to be tipped… but at least they know the best routes and black cabs can use the bus lanes, which can be used to avoid a lot of jams.

well, it is like bnb stealing business from B&B and hotel owners, i guess.