Speakers' Corner

Once again, we found ourselves moving through some early-morning fog, this time on our way south to Clapham Common, where we had tickets to a free advance screening of the latest film by the Coen brothers, Burn After Reading.

The film was great fun and since it was over by lunchtime, we decided to pick up some picnic ingredients and take advantage of the (now) sunny afternoon. When I spotted this amazing array of bread on the sidewalk,

I remembered that Breads Etcetera is meant to have some of the best bread in London--the perfect picnic purchase! We also considered trying their much-touted brunch, but the place was predictably packed out, with a substantial queue waiting for their turn at the toaster-topped tables, so we settled for a loaf of bread on this visit, and found a bench in Clapham Common to enjoy our treats. Their sourdough bread was tasty, with just the right amount of chewiness and tangy flavour:

From Clapham, we made our way across the river, ending up in Hyde Park.

When we realized how close we were to the northeastern corner of the park, we decided to head over to Speakers' Corner, a place that I'd never experienced before on a Sunday, when anyone is welcome to loft themselves above the crowds and deliver a speech on a topic of their choice. I thought that one person would be speaking at a time, but it turned out that many people were speaking to their small crowds at the same time, sometimes speaking out against the topics of his (all the speakers were men today) neighbour. We wandered from speaker to speaker, listening in on a bit of the speeches on politics, religion, and race.

Predictably, most of the speakers seemed a bit on the loopy side, as did the pamphlets that were being handed out to audience members. I guess some people didn't like what they were being handed!

This was my favourite sighting at Speakers' Corner--not a shouting speaker, but a silent hugger:

Just when we thought we were done with confrontational speeches, this wall told us off as we were leaving the park!