Thirteen Days to zero! @ No 10

Arturo told me that things should calm down a bit now. No major headaches for Downing Street in the immediate future, he told me. Then I said two words to him: "Dick Whittington!"

"Dick Whittington! What are you on about?" He asked bemused.

"The Lord Mayors Show! That's what! Use your noddle, Arturo!"

And use it he did. "Blimey, O'Reilly! You're right!" He was shocked.

Of course, I was right! Let me explain the situation. 'Boy David' Cameron, soon back from a successful trip to Australia, will be hoping for a few days of peace and quiet. But no such luck, old boy!

You see there is to be quite a big event in London in exactly 13 day's time! Now there's a lucky number for you - and with Halloween coming up tomorrow too! The omens are not looking good!

The big event is The Lord Mayor's Show scheduled for Saturday 12 November. Hence my brilliant reference to Dick Whittington! Get it?

There is a web site devoted to this year's show. On the site is a map. Here is part of that map!

http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/visitors/procession/map

Take a close look at the map. Notice where the procession will be at 12.19 precisely! The Lord Mayor Elect will be receiving a blessing on the steps of St Pauls.

Now do you see why Arturo went 'Blimey, O'Reilly!'?

The Occupy group of protesters, calmly sitting in their tents or listening to the numerous lectures, have staked their claim to the area immediately outside the Cathedral. The Dean of St Paul's will give the blessing to the Lord Mayor! This will be right in the line of sight of Occupy!

No wonder the situation is exercising the little brain of 'Mop-Head' Boris Johnson! He and the Dean have a dilemma. Even 'Boy David' Cameron is having to exercise his 'little grey cells'. What to do? What to do?

* Get rough with the youthful protesters and suffer the wrath of the media and most of the public.
* Turn away and do nothing - risk the fury of the City and the financial institutions!
Ow! Sitting on the horns of a dilemma is painful indeed!

Andrew Rawnsley has written about it in today's Observer. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/30/andrew-rawnsley-occupy-protesters-grown-up?CMP=twt_gu&t=1319955786)

He writes:

My congratulations to the encampment outside St Paul's for sending almost the entire British establishment into a tizzy every bit as confused as some of the protesters themselves. Amazing what you can achieve by occupying a small, albeit famous, patch of the capital with a few nylon tents and some amateurish banners expressing well-mannered rage about capitalism. You have brought a frown to the forehead of the prime minister, hyperbolic froth to the lips of Boris Johnson, attracted the disdain of a pomposity of pontificators and thrown the state church into something approaching a constitutional crisis. It is twisted knickers time among pundits, politicians and prelates. Imagine what might be achieved if this movement can get really serious and starts taking its protest more directly to the avaricious bankers, corporate larcenists and crony capitalists who are the central source of their discontent with how we live now.

So - what would you do? Make your choice:

1. Soak the protesters with water hoses to get them to leave, in good time?
2. Move the procession away from St Paul's - get the Dean to do a blessing on the Embankment?
3. Cancel the Show till next year when Occupy may have moved?
4. Just stand back and say 'Que sera, sera!'

Luckily, it's not a problem for me or for Arturo - but I'll bet that 'Boy David' Cameron, Mop-Head Johnson and Dean Graeme Knowles are having a few sleepless nights over it!

'Bye'