Protest on Western Avenue

I got up late and idled away the morning, still feeling groggy, still coughing up phlegm, lacking in energy. Clare cooked lunch. Afterwards I finished off Sunday's sermon, then we went for a walk and bumped into Pete and Roger in the park, relaxing after a low key jogging session. The tarmacking work is complete now, all the way up to Penhill traffic lights, and most of the new road markings have been added. After one circuit of Llandaff Fields, we went home. I had a cup of coffee then went out again to walk for another hour.

When I walked for the second time to the far end of Llandaff Fields, I discovered there was no traffic at all on Western Avenue though it was rush hour by this time. Police had stopped all movement because someone was making a protest on the footbridge from Cardiff Met to the fields. Fire and Rescue Service vehicles were in attendance, and a person in full firefighter's garb was on the outside of the bridge railings. I couldn't see properly, but I got the impression someone else was being held on to. 

At first I wondered if it was a 'Just Stop Oil protest', but then noticed a bed sheet with writing on draped from the middle of the bridge, protesting about the action of Social Services, so maybe it was a protest of a more personal kind. No sooner than I stopped to check the lettering, I was moved on by one of the cops, eager no doubt to prevent a crowd gathering. It resulted in traffic chaos, and no detail about the incident were published later in the day. Someone it seems was in great distress about loss of children put into care. 

In the evening I spent an hour and a half reading La Sombra del Viento and then watched this week's episode of Disturbing Diappearances', this week set in Dunkirk. Interestingly, the series has moved from Strasbourg to the Dunkirk. In different episodes it has focused on the work of the detectives, the public prosecutor and tonight the investigating magistrate. A useful introduction to the French legal system and how it works, quite different from ours.