After stopping at the bank we cross Trafalgar Square to the Canadian High Commission. Cross is not quite the right word for the circumnavigation up past the pavement artists in front of the National Gallery. The square itself is blocked off as preparations are made for the U2 concert on Saturday night. Seven thousand free tickets disappeared within hours.
Stop at the high commission mainly to lament the changes over the past ten years or so, from the time it was a home away from home for Canadians and you could read a slightly outdated Globe and Mail or join the short queue of backpackers waiting to check their email on one of three rather slow computers. Nice clean loo as well. Now the primary function of those guarding the entrance - who never seem to be Canadian - appears to be keeping the likes of us out. There is still a small gallery and the exhibitions are open to the public, but J's suspicion is that their primary interests are commercial rather than diplomatic.
This began under Harper of course but sadly doesn't seem to have been reversed by the current administration. In fact quite the opposite. When diplomatic staff were already lamenting the scrapping of diplomacy for commerce and hard nosed confrontation there were still cultural events at Canada House. As ordinary citizens we registered and attended a discussion of multiculturalism and Islam by journalists Doug Saunders and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. Even a glass of wine and some civilised conversation first. The man on security detail (ex Greek army) is sympathetic but clearly thinks we haven't kept up with the times. Someone was stabbed just over there he tells us, pointing down the street. You know what it's like now - you read the papers. And just try going to the American embassy - they'll make you stand well back while they point a gun at you. Not sure that times are much more dangerous than they were for citizens on the street, although we can see that terrorist incidents are more frequent and embassies are obvious potential targets. However, not convinced. Soft targets have featured prominently lately, not only because they are less well guarded but because they increase public fear by suggesting people are not safe anywhere.
Our friendly Greek offers to take our photo (declined), provides us with little Canadian/UK flag pins (albeit described as Canadian/English flags) and points out that we could resort to the embassy in the event that we lost our passports. (Has fortunately never occurred, although many years ago I did wash my jeans with passport in pocket). But he's not really the right person to regret the loss of a legitimate cultural rôle for an embassy.
