First lessons in road protests
Last month’s tree-sit by environmentalists in the Rospuda Valley showed their determination to fight and win. Come spring, we might expect masses of green-minded supporters from all corners of Europe (see this). But perhaps it’s worth mentioning where today’s protesters took their first lessons.
Throughout the early 90s of the last century post-Thatcher Britain witnessed a flurry of actions aimed at stopping new motorways being build. Earth First! groups, together with many other groups, then became involved in the road protest, as an attempt to reverse the government’s road-building programme. The first road protest happened at Twyford Down where a permanent protest camp was set up. The Donga Tribe arose from this camp.
Between 1993 and 1995, groups like the Donga Tribe built tree houses and tunnels to delay the extension of the M3 through St Catherine’s Hill. Although unsuccessful, the protests eventually led to a re-think of road policy.
Following “Yellow Wednesday”, when hordes of police and security guards invaded the camp to bulldoze the area, the Dongas left Twyford Down for Bramdean Common. They constituted about twenty people in their early twenties. Some of the Tribe maintained an involvement in various subsequent road protests (Solsbury Hill, North Wales, Newbury bypass), but gradually morphed into a semi-nomadic tribe, travelling the South West of England on foot, squatting various hill-forts and putting on seasonal gatherings in an attempt to reawaken a sense of connectedness with the land. The last of the nomadic Dongas were travelling in Cornwall until the end of 1999, after which some of them moved to France to continue their nomadic lifestyle. There were many subsequent road protests including Newbury bypass, the A30, the M11 link road protest in London, where whole streets were “squatted.”
Swampy became well known during the eviction at the A30 camp, although there were many other smaller road protest camps. Some camps did actually result in roads being cancelled, the first such cancellation occurring in London.
Building, or destroying?
An appetite for cake
At times, it’s more than that. It could be a desire, a craving, an urge, a compulsion. In December, when daylight slips unnoticed into evening and we don’t start our working day before 4pm, a good chunk of cake can save your life. At GV, we’ve always taken patisserie seriously – adorned birthdays, namedays and numerous other occasions with cakes, baked our own pastries, exchanged recipes, sampled goodies abroad and brought inspiration back home.
Regretably, a few years ago two such shops closed one after another in the streets neighbouring GV, and other businesses started to mushroom in the area. So far, hairdressers, beauticians and shoe shops have been dominating the converted ground floor flats. It was a bit of a shock to see one day ‘ciastkarnia’ named Kryszeń moving into one of them. All of a sudden, the art of patisserie gained more recognition and erased bleak memories of the 90s.
What makes them absolutely different from other such places in Białystok is this essential combination of two shops: a patisserie and coffee shop. The place is large enough to accommodate five tables, and although the seatings are a bit tacky and coffee (on the watery side) is served in paper cups, they’ve made their first step. Let’s hope that a success will bring more refinement to the place. A success is already in the air since all goodies they sell give away mastery of the craft behind. They surely live up to GV’s high standards. Thumbs up from us, Kryszeń!
White chocolate cake at Kryszeń in Malmeda
A review of September invasion in the streets
Delight. A jolly good year to you, witty frogs!
Outrage. A whiff of banal aggression.
Another invasion is in progress; these days in a form of electoral litter swamping both public and private places. Watch this space for a visual review soon.
Language schools
The new enrolment is gradually getting into full swing. Ever growing number of language schools in this relatively small city probably reaches dozens now. It’s amazing to watch what they are doing to attract potential clients. This season’s inventory covers an impressive array of images and tricks they’ve resorted to. Here are just a few:
- Flags. Flags everywhere. The more, the better. One may think a United Nations summit is being held in town.
- Smiling children at the blackboard – kids love English. A kind of Michael Jackson-style happy English class.
- Cars to win. A smart for Lolita.
- Clean, grinning teenagers. Straight from a Bravo Girl cover.
- Scruffy teens in sneakers. One levitating above the ground in a pose of a crawling tot against the background of a… tulip.
- Endangered species. Namely frogs, multiplied in a neat group. Aha, this one is clever!
- Human tongues of various length and shape. Twisted, sticking, or lolling, bare or painted Union Jack, in a post-punk fashion. Outrage!
- Images of public transport. Specifically red buses, and other late 60s British memorabilia. Somewhat tainted recently by last year’s blast in Tavistock Square and the hysteria that followed.
- No images at all. Just plain text, embellished with abbreviated titles in front of names: dyr, dr, mgr. Are Fr and Rev still to come?
Modesty tells us not to self-refer.
ads for language
(on close studying of the first instalment of ads for language schools in yesterday’s Wyborcza)
It’s perfectly understandable why helter-skelter English courses are still in demand here in Podlasie, this easternmost flank of EU. Just ask a bunch of local university graduates what they are hoping to do in Britain or Ireland these days. Some are already driving red buses.
It’s equally logical to join a Spanish course after you’ve basked in the Mediterranean sun for a week and vowed to return.
But here is a real puzzle – one of the school offers a course in Japanese! Or a foolproof recipe for getting into Bushe’s terrorist register – they run Arabic courses.
