Crowds

I spent my day caught in two very different crowds.  Around noon, I went to the Petticoat Lane Market, since I had read that it really flourishes on Sundays.  It was a bargain shopper's paradise.  :)  I walked all the way down the lane, checking out the various stalls along the route.  There were so many people of various ethnicities, and the market was noisy with music playing and people haggling.  It was a bit difficult to navigate through the crowds at times, but I just tried to keep moving as much as possible rather than holding everyone up.  (A few people actually managed to work their way through the narrow lane with children in strollers, which I did not imagine would be possible.)  I found it rather ironic that I found Harrods so overwhelming, yet I was completely comfortable in this busy market.  Maybe this is a living statement about class distinctions...:)

After I wandered up and down the market, I headed over to Hyde Park to visit Speakers' Corner.  As an American, I am almost ashamed to say that this felt like my first real taste of democracy.  I wandered from soapbox to soapbox (actually stepladder to stepladder) and listened to the various speakers trying to convey whatever they considered to be true, which ranged from Jesus as the Messiah to the problems with the political power structure in Britain to the lack of true freedom of the press.  The best part was watching people argue with them (one speaker in particular became very angry and shouted back the best insult he could concoct at the moment: "Your mother died of syphilis!").  One speaker who was particularly captivating was dressed in a tie-dye t-shirt with a Union Jack wrapped around his shoulders like a cape and a hat with devil horns.  He had some interesting points regarding the distinction between love and fear in reference to abuse and persecution (particularly given the current scandal in the papers regarding a young child who was beaten to death by his mother), despite the potential turn-off of his reference to himself as "Satan" multiple times throughout the talk.  He actually had a resident brown-noser who kept agreeing with everything he said...I think it takes all the fun out of Speakers' Corner if you just accept everything that is offered.  :)  I also found it rather amusing that between the Christian Evangelists and the group challenging the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a group stood giving out Free Hugs.  (I took part, of course...in the middle of all of the arguments, who could pass up a hug?)  I had a wonderful time, and I hope to go back again in the next few weeks (schedule permitting, of course).