A Week Is a Long Time...

A burnt-out building in Tottenham. Credit: Beacon Radio

...when it comes to making decisions about the areas of London in which I would be prepared to live. Only last Saturday, I was cheerfully describing my stroll down Mare Street in Hackney, in search of the Designers/Makers Market, and subsequent jaunt through Broadway Market, along the Regent's Canal and back to NW1 via Dalston. Now, of course, Mare Street  is one of many London areas experiencing riots, looting, fires and general unrest.

There are fairly frequent sirens going past my house but not many more than usual, and luckily for me, NoMaRo seems to be unaffected so far. My bus home from work, which comes via Hackney Central, was not only quick to arrive but arrived with three other buses with the same number; perhaps they cut the route short.

I've been following the Telegraph's rolling updates of the riots, partly because it seems like an easy way of finding out if any trouble is starting to erupt close to my flat or my office and partly because it's strangely compulsive (and scary). I do know a lot about riots and civil unrest but my knowledge is mainly limited to the Peasants' Revolt, the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Rising of the Northern Earls and similar.

Let's just hope everything calms down. And soon.

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