When the city is crumbling around you, the only thing left to do is watch Aladdin.

Well if riots 5 mins walk from your house don't spark a blog, I don't know what will.

I join you in the midst of the London riots which now seem to be spreading up and down the country. At first it was easy to distance myself. It seemed to be just in Tottenham. Confined. But then yesterday it kicked off big style. I got home from work and popped the news on and it was all buildings on fire and looting and cars on fire and riot police and pandemonium really. The headlines were in Peckham and I have a friend near Peckham so I was straight on the phone to check she was alright. Thankfully she was home and safe!

It just seems so pointless. They're destroying their own neighbourhoods. How is that going to solve anything? And as usual it's innocent people baring the brunt. And if you think you're big and hard by looting your local stores and scaring local people, then take off the bloody masks and show yourselves, you cowardly scum!

Anyway, luckily we were in last night as it all kicked off in Camden and Chalk Farm just before midnight and that is about 5/10mins walk from our house. I received a worried text message from D asking if we were okay. We were oblivious and in bed but it just sort of brought home the threat. This wasn't confined, this was spreading like a disease an incurable chav disease and who knows what or where will be targeted next.

I got to work fine this morning, avoiding Chalk Farm at all costs, using my usual Kentish Town station. The streets were quiet and the roads seemed eerily quieter than usual. There was a definite sense of apprehension amongst the commuters this morning. I busied myself with Cassandra Clare and the Fair to Midland album. There's nothing like some young adult fiction and a rockin' album to push you through the worry.

My manager from Ealing was particularly traumatised due to Ealing being hit badly last night, but all the staff bar one made it in, so we did fairly well. Being in our little bubble with the kids all day, you could possibly forget what was happening, except that all the parents and carers picking up and dropping off, wouldn't shut up about it. I didn't really like discussing it in front of the kids. I felt like they should be sheltered from it and I did it with style. I did a cinema day with them today. We watched the pixar short 'Boundin', a little bit of The Little Mermaid and a bit of Cars. We made tickets and everything. They had a great time as did the staff, because of course they only had to sit down and watch.

Coming home was kinda weird. Everyone was moving even faster than usual. I mean there's always a speed to the London commuters and it takes a while to get in sync with that, but today there was a greater urgency, that everyone wanted to be home before anything had a chance to develop. I didn't even see that many tourists which was probably a good thing....they may have been flattened. Ha ha.

Getting back was fine and Kentish Town was exactly as I'd left it, except for the shops being shut, with all their metal shutters down. It seems strange that Sainsbury's and The Co-op and Iceland being closed sets your teeth on edge and really hammers it home that something is wrong. But yeah, pretty much everything on Kentish Town high street was closed and I just hurried on home, putting the news on as soon as I got in. I watched it for a while until everything started repeating. I have my favourite quote from Isabelle Webster at BBC News.
"The mobs were feral, unabashed and they ruled the streets."
I loved that they were referred to as feral, wild, almost as if they'd been raised by wolves or something, like they didn't know how to play with others. A pretty true description it would seem.

Well, to conclude I'd like to wish everyone a safe evening, not just in London, but those experiencing problems in the midlands, up north and anywhere else that the ferals strike. Let's just hope that 16,000 strong Police force that they keep wittering on about, can actually do something to help.
Stay safe people. We're the good ones. We need more of us, to eventually over run the ferals and set our cities safe again.


Love to all
Stay in, watch a disney film or a feel good film and wish for a violence free night.
Helen
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