London's Burning

[ecchi]

I was visiting a friend yesterday and just before leaving his place he heard on the radio news that the riots in London had spread, and the area that I live in was one of the areas that the police expected trouble. I laughed at the idea, in a "nothing happens round here" type of way, and went home.

Got off the train, and the station was full of police "ready for trouble", again I laughed at "police overreaction to rumours".

Then I left the station:

Hundreds of teenagers, possibly thousands (I didn't count), crowding the streets. Most of the shops were closed with their shutters down. As I walked home, even the shops outside the city centre were closing and drawing down the shutters, one restaurant owner was running along the street yelling at any shop still open to close up and screaming "they're coming, they're coming". I'd stopped to get some fresh chilli's to use to make dinner and still thought they were over reacting, the teenagers would probably do a lot of yelling and throwing things at police cars, but that would be all.

Remind me never to go into the prediction business!

Mass rioting. Shops smashed up. Major league looting. And an entire block burned to the ground! All a few minutes from where I live.

I have not been out yet, but the pictures on the news make it look like some post apocalyptic nightmare, and the film of the actual looting looked like something from a movie, the sort of movie where you throw popcorn at the screen because it is too over the top and unbelievable.

Maybe I should move somewhere safer - like Afghanistan!