Today was an odd day all in.
Following a dispute about pension rights (more here) some unions called a strike and as a result I found myself driving into work today past several of my colleagues on the picket line. One of them politely handed me a leaflet headed “Help save our pensions!” and gave me a quick smile as I went on into the car park. I liked this very British approach: we might be angry, we might be walking out to a picket line to make a stand, but we’ll be polite, we’ll hand out leaflets, and mind how you go now. Even when I was in the building the surreal atmosphere kept going: every now and again someone inside would peek out a window at the picket line. Sometimes someone out there would look back. It was like an incredibly genteel siege.
Now I have time to think about it I should have brought them a flask of tea and a book of old wartime songs to get the spirit of the blitz really going. Actually much as I might make jokes I admired the people standing out there in a line. My union wasn’t involved and I had to go in, but there they were, standing up for each other and fighting the good fight, sticking it to the man and all that. Sure, they all lost a day’s pay, but they stood up to be counted, and it seems they weren’t alone. It’s estimated that more than one million people walked out today. Makes me wish I was with them. Not that I would have been out on the picket line, but I have Babylon 5 DVDs to watch. Priorities, people. Gotta watch out for the important stuff.
All through the day the building was weird. Because so many people were off, staff were being pulled from all over the place to fill essential positions. The overall effect was like one of those Star Trek episodes where the crew are thrust into a parallel universe. Spock? At reception? Aren’t you the science officer? Well, not quite that bad, but in that general area. I kept expecting to see someone with a goatee beard and a general “evil twin” air about them.