Red Rebels outside St. Peter Mancroft Church

Bit dozy this morning, but three year olds are usually firing on all four cylinders soon after first light…before long we had invented an absurd game which involved brandishing your fists in mock annoyance with a thunder face, which soon had Esme giggling like a loon. Then packing the car with an enormous banner, strapping the small person into a child seat and motoring off to the northern fringe of Norwich where she lives with her Mum and Dad, Jess and Isaac, and twin brothers. Hugs and cuddles of reunion all round.
After coffee and a family “chinwag”, as my Mum used to say, Hanne Lene and I lugged the enormous banner half a mile to a bus stop. Ten minutes later we were en route to central Norwich, courtesy of First Buses, my journey subsidised thanks to an Older Person’s Bus Pass. Nice to get a freebie after most of a lifetime of rate- and Council Taxpaying :-)
We met some friends and fellow campaigners for a coffee at the Forum and had intended to hand over the ludicrously massive banner to a small group of supporters from the Stop the Wensum Link Campaign. However some of them didn’t make it and in the end we found ourselves among a small band of souls carrying it across to the City Hall for the start of the COP26 rally.
Stirring speeches ensued from a diverse bunch including an impassioned delivery from Clive Lewis M.P. and a message delivered and read out by the son of an indigenous Amazonian tribe threatened by logging. There was a great turnout from a wide range of local organisations, groups and campaigns and a very lively energy in general. Somebody commented that it was the largest demo they had seen in Norwich in many a year, and certainly I haven’t been to a larger gathering here.
After the speeches, the Red Rebels led us off on a slow march round the city, punctuated by percussive outbursts from the XR Samba Band and a fair bit of chanting. It was a good do, and, although I personally have little faith that it will make a ha’porth of difference to the halfhearted show of indifference of this Government (and previous Governments, to be fair) to environmental destruction and species extinction, or spur them into meaningful action at the COP in Glasgow, it felt good to join with others in standing up and being counted.