Revisit Harrod’s in all its Christmas decadence. Probably ten years or more since we were there last, as for us it’s not shopping, just an exercise in viewing pornographic displays of food and jewellery. Beautiful, in both cases, but not tempted. Even a plate of fish and chips eaten on a stool at the counter is £27 ($46 CAD), not including the glass of what looks like champagne but might, of course, only be prosecco at champagne prices.
Round the corner from Harrod’s is the Ecuadorian Embassy, uncomfortable home to Julian Assange. A very small but committed group of supporters has mounted a supportive and informative vigil on the sidewalk opposite the embassy - itself simply a floor in a red brick apartment building, circa 1900. The other floors contain ordinary flats. There is a great deal of scaffolding in front of the building. As one of the small group says, midwinter is an unlikely time for renovation and painting but the framework and covering does shroud the building and may well hide some of the seventeen closed circuit cameras that are supposed to be in the immediate area, only seven of which they have identified. They’re pleased that we know Craig Murray went to see Assange - he’s been a support to them as well as to other justice causes. The previous ambassador was sympathetic, but a new one arrives today, so the future is uncertain. The difficulty, of course, that the Americans would be more than happy to extradite Assange and silence him permanently. One member of the group, who refers to himself as a Catholic anarchist, has been strongly influenced by the Berrigans, with whom he was in touch, and Dorothy Day. Younger visitors than we are might not relate! We don’t meet this man, but are told he spends nights in a sleeping bag on the corner. They’re a committed little group, as concerned about social justice and equality as transparency and freedom of speech. Leave feeling, not for the first time, that our life is pretty self-indulgent.
Dinner at the Polish Cultural Centre café. Cabbage rolls, goulash, pierogies, and dessert - poppyseed cheesecake (J) and apple charlotte (me). And a bonus of a small art exhibit on the theme of “taste of freedom“ on our way out.