I Count London Demo 4 Nov 2006

The Friday night trip to the pub was abandoned as the prospect of getting out of bed at 5.15am on Saturday morning with a hangover was too frightening. With a clear head, I managed to arrive at the assembly point on time where I met other environmentalist and, refreshingly, many other people from non environmental groups such as church organisations and families.

Although other campaigners had opted to travel by train, I was on one of two coaches supplied by the Sheffield Climate Change Campaign. During our journey to the capital we witnessed the M1 widening project first hand.  

About 11am we were dropped off near the US Embassy where we listened to live bands and speakers such as Zac Goldsmith and Caroline Lucas MEP. Later on, the protesters marched towards Trafalgar Square in what seemed to be an endless procession of people kitted out with banners, whistles and fancy dress.   

Due to the volume of protesters converging on Trafalgar Square, I missed the start of the rally and therefore the speeches by David Attenborough, Miranda Richardson, and TV presenter Simon Amstell. Despite this, I managed to listen to KT Tunstall followed by Razorlight singing three of their songs.  It seems that some of our members will have been to more Razorlight gigs than their biggest fans (We also atteneded the razorlight gig in Sheffield)!  

Before boarding the coach to go home, I was told the crowd had been in the region of at least 25,000 people.

Shaun