In December 2020, the long awaited first vaccines were administered in the UK. Various organisations and companies had been developing and testing vaccines in unbelievably fast time. This was partly [probably largely] made possible by various governments [including the UK] gambling vast amounts of money in order to get a guaranteed number of doses from whichever companies won the race. So in December I received my first Pfizer vaccination, having been alerted by my GP and Guys Hospital that I was eligible because of my age.
I, like others thought health workers should have had priority, but we oldies became the priority along with some immuno-suppressed people. As supplies increased of the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca in the UK, so the offer moved down the age range so that in a remarkable amount of time all adults were offered vaccination, and were taking it.
After some weeks [the gap varied over time] we were all offered our second one. And then months later, a booster, and for the surviving seniors, more recently a fourth booster.
Inevitably antivaccination protests and social media developed and grew and grew. There were various understandable [to me] reasons why people didn’t want to be vaccinated, but the growing antivaxxer movement attracted a lot of ‘undecided’ people as it grew. There is nothing like the feeling and security of belonging to what feels like a legitimate and growing group to attract more people
But I became increasingly sceptical and interested as to where the finance, and strong apparently sound social media presence came from. It occurred to me that perhaps there was, in the UK and elsewhere, support coming from groups or governments using this as a way of destabilising the elected governments.
In London there were still an alarming [to the authorities] number of unvaccinated people, so all sorts of ways of attracting them were devised. This included a van parked down Lyham Road next to the shop and on the edge of a large housing estate. People were told that they did not have to have GP, the legal right to be here, or even a fixed address. I did not see many people showing interest when I stopped to find out more, and the youngsters standing and sitting around to answer any questions were not allowed to approach people. No hint of coercion was allowed.
We now have “Freedom Day”. Along with everyone else I’m not quite sure what this means except that people are allowed to mix, and regardless of the numbers supposedly limited they are mixing. This whilst the number of new cases every day are in thousands but deaths and hospital admissions down.
The bus slows down towards Trafalgar Square and then crawls forward 1 foot at a time. This is because on Trafalgar Square there is a huge crowd with banners, posters, drums, and noise. We have ground to a halt because this demo is apparently crossing over our road presumably to go to Whitehall. I take my phone out and try and video but not very successfully. However, I do realise this is an anti-VAX demo.
Then I look to the right, and on the other side of the road is another demo. This one is about trans-rights, seems smaller less showy but with quite a lot of fun. And interestingly quite a few black people, some singing and dancing.
I look then to my left and
between us and Trafalgar Square we have another demo. Hundreds perhaps thousands of young men on cycles go past.
My first reaction is one of joy. Isn’t it wonderful to live in a country and a city which allows such demonstrations. There are only five of us on the bus and two young women complaining loudly and shouting at the driver about why he doesn’t move. They also remark, I think aimed at me that this is not entertainment. They are angry, they are frustrated and I wonder what their lives are like. At some stage I explained to them that our bus can’t move because the demo is crossing the road down which we will be going. Sometime later exasperated by their performance I suggest that if they are in a real hurry that they go and ask the driver if he could open the door and let them out so that they could walk to get away from the hold-up. The response is “you have no idea where I live so how can you possibly think I could do that”. They keep quiet after I say that if they walked a little way down they would probably be able to get another bus which was clear of the hold-up. Other passengers in the bus just sit passively and apparently disinterestedly. I wonder why.
Finally we move and make our way towards Brixton. As we near it we start slowing and eventually stop along with about another 30 or so buses. I’m very tired so I think I will just sit it out. I think oh dear another stabbing of a young man. A few days ago in mid-afternoon on Brixton High Street police cars and ribbons and mid-afternoon a young man has been killed. I ask the driver if he has any idea why the hold-up. He says it is a demo. By this stage my enthusiasm for freedom and enjoyment of people having rights has faded. I tried desperately to think how I’m earth I can get home but know I am trapped. So I asked the driver to open up let me out, I walk a little find a bench sit on it, glad of a little fresh air [hardly fresh as I have the fumes of about 30 or more buses around me]. So I walk on a bit and across the road I spot an ice cream parlour.
I decide I’m going to go and sit wherever I can and just wait until the traffic moves.
In I go to another world. I am ushered to a seat, given a menu and told to go to the desk to give my order. At every table is a large notice saying “anyone found damaging these seats will be prosecuted”. I know I’m in another world as I try and imagine who it is you would want to damage these plastic seats. The place has a lot of mothers and children, at what stage will they run riot? 
The menu is made up entirely of very sugared things. I can’t even see coffee mentioned as a possible. So I succumb and order a mango miracle and a glass of tap water. I eat half of my huge confection which has a little mango ice cream along with a lot of cream, meringue and other ice cream. No sign of any people wanting to destroy the seats.
Eventually I see the traffic is moving and I cross the road and get a bus home – crawling onto my bed to have an exhausted sleep.
So much for London’s freedom. The Brixton demo also is an anti-VAX one. In the bus I pick up leaflets which have invited me to Trafalgar Square for Freedom Day – ‘all of us together round the world’ bringing the word of eminent scientists about the vaccine having spikes which will invade us. Very clever message. I try and find information on the Internet about these academics. They are mentioned but not what they say, not the articles that are quoted. They seem to be academics [perhaps disgruntled, falling out with their peers] who for whatever reason [perhaps because of this] have been shunned
This raises more questions in my mind about Google and its power to remove things it doesn’t approve of. Before this I would have said how good that’s falsehoods are not being spread. But then I start thinking about removing such things from the Internet only giving the conspiracy theory people more ammunition they can deal with. They can claim that the truth is being hidden from us. I give up. What is the answer?
Meanwhile the number of covid cases rises, sometime dramatically, but luckily the hospital can still, on the whole cope. I have young people living round me, and in each house there has been a case of covid.
RECORDED BY MY DRAGON, and then corrected when it really got muddled about what it was hearing