No Riots in Pimlico

Posted on 2011/08/14 10:43:07 (August 2011).

[Tuesday 9th August 2011]
After last night the mood in the office today had changed - whilst yesterday people had been making light of the situation, today there seemed to be a genuine sense of anxiety about it. Obviously, mixed with a healthy dose of gallows humour though.

Having read rumours on Twitter in the afternoon that there were going to be riots in Pimlico tonight (and even some that there already were) I was very slightly concerned. However I decided rather than just worry about it I'd do something - so went and visited some of the areas where apparently trouble was brewing. There was absolutely nothing wrong at all - and I then made it my mission for the rest of the evening to post pictures on Twitter of everything being just fine in those areas, and challenge anyone who was unhelpfully spreading rumours to the contrary. I realised eventually that if you searched for the name of any area or neighbourhood on Twitter, there were rumours about riots there. A ridiculous situation! I stopped worrying at that point.

There wasn't in fact any serious trouble anywhere in London tonight - probably because the police presence had been bolstered from 6000 to 16000 (and they were very visible everywhere I went today) - or maybe because this freak incident had just run its' course - in London at least. Unrest had of course spread to other parts of the country, but in London, for the time being at least, it seemed like things were back to normal.

Post a comment