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BEDFONT DAY 19 - DUNCAN’S REPORT BACKJun 6th, 2010 by admin
Sometimes Bedfont days just pass by without anything significant happening. People turn up, they have a “buckshee BASSA breakfast in a bun”, they man a picket line or two, they chew the cud, join in with a bit of sychronised megaphone chanting and then after a pint or a Pimms or two they crash in the field for an hour before meandering home satisfied that they have supported the cause. Such was today. The expected inclement weather never materialised, there was a laid back atmosphere and even the burger man was seen contemplating his navel which makes a change from him contemplating his bank balance.
Finlay Stott (aged 2) lost his Fireman Sam toy for a while but peace was restored when it was found “drowning” in the dog’s water bowl.
The henna lady continued to daub any available skin with her XXXX tattoos, the cakes continued to pour in, the samosas arrived on time, the generators that feed electricity into the marquee packed up twice and the Daily Mail printed its daily ritual of finding someone or something about Unite to have a bitch about. I mean it really is the limit Tony Woodley taking his sick wife on EasyJet to Paphos for a week and staying at a £600 a week apartment. What is the world coming to?
There is some news inasmuch some of the reps are meeting Derek Simpson tomorrow to go through the letter to BA informing them the reasons why we will shortly be issuing a notification to ballot letter. Willie Walsh is in Berlin until Tuesday afternoon allegedly at a IATA conference but in my opinion he is more likely to be looking at ways to rebuild the Berlin Wall.
I wiled away an hour this morning talking to an old BASSA veteran who participated in the 1997 dispute when, believe it or not, the relationship between us and the company was nearly as venomous. He had with him a folder that contained 5 fanzine magazines.
A group of anonymous crew brought out an underground magazine called “Chaos” in the aftermath of the strike and really lampooned BA to the extent that the company were desperate to find out who was behind it. All fingers pointed to BASSA but in fact we were, for once, innocent but we all had fun watching BA running around like headless chickens trying to find out the identities of the publishers. Issue One was really hard-hitting and hilarious but what caught my eye was a quote from the famous Russian novelist and dramatist, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, which is probably more apt now than when it was used in 1997. In my particular circumstances ie no longer an employee of BA, I certainly know where Aleksandr was coming from.
“You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But, when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he is no longer in your power - he’s free again”.
So, three days to go. Tuesday is House of Commons day (details to be posted later) and Wednesday will culminate in another march along the Bath Rd, which means tomorrow is the last normal day. There are still members earning their XXXX for the first time (I met 2 today) so it is still important we make sure the Bedfont experience remains ongoing for virgin visitors. Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. Regards to all - Duncan
PS My tomatoes are doing just fine, thanks to all those who enquired after their welfare today.