One foot in front of the other

[dolorosa_12]

That may as well be the theme of this weekend, for various reasons. On Saturday, I headed down to London for a demonstration in support of Ukraine. We marched from the Ukrainian embassy to the Russian one, and then had about an hour or so of speeches — the event was organised by Ukraine Solidary Campaign, so the speakers were Labour MPs, representatives of various unions (my union was there, but no one from it spoke), Ukrainian activists representing various civil society organisations, and a heart-wrenching speech from a young man who (aged 16) lived through 75 days of the siege of Mariupol before escaping.

Weirdly, given the dark place we are currently in in terms of European geopolitics, I felt a lot better after being part of this. My own rule of 'the antidote to despair is concrete action (especially involving physical movement, outside, with other people)' held true, and it was particularly helpful to listen to the specific things the MPs were saying in their speeches. I'm not good at estimating crowd sizes, but I'd say the numbers were probably in the thousands, which isn't massive, but isn't terrible. Most drivers (including buses) that passed us beeped in solidarity. It's no hardship to march in support of something that I'm fairly confident is a mainstream position across the whole UK; support for Ukraine is not a partisan issue here, apart from at the absolute extremes of left and right (even if our power — even at a political leadership level — to do anything about it is limited), so this was a protest to keep the fire alive, to lift spirits, and to remind Ukrainians that they are not alone. I saw another Dreamwidth friend mention in one of their posts that political action is like a muscle that you have to keep exercising, and I felt this was very much the case here. And it was cathartic to yell at the Russian embassy. Here's a photoset of placards (no faces, of course), plus vyshyvanka-clad dog.

I've already described the journey home in my previous post, so won't discuss that further here.

Today, I dragged my exhausted body off to the swimming pool, and dragged it through the water for 1km, and felt better for it. After a few hours back at home, our friends collected us for this month's walk with the walking group: 6km or so through the Norfolk fields outside the village of Hilgay. All our walks seem to feature some theme (horses, apples in an orchard, mud), and this walk's theme very much was snowdrops, which absolutely carpetted the landscape, and kept popping up in unexpected places. There was also a lot of interesting fauna, including swans, ducks, a buzzard, and a stoat. We opted to skip the rather creepy pub in Hilgay, and drove instead a few kilometres towards home, and stopped for a post-walk drink in the much nicer pub in Southery, which had a fire going in a little wood-burning stove, and offered a cosy respite from the wind and the cold grey skies.

Now I'm back home, with Matthias fretfully watching the results roll in from the German election, attempting to finish the last fifty pages of Ada Palmer's Inventing the Renaissance, which has been a great distraction this week. For obvious reasons, I've been finding it hard to focus on reading, but weirdly, a discursive, historical doorstopper, filled to bursting with interesting digressions and new-to-me corners of the past was exactly the right thing to pick up. Other than that, I've only finished one other book, a reread of KJ Charles's historical M/M romance novel, Band Sinister, which kept me occupied on the train to and from London.

I'll keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Comments

[trepkos]

You saw a stoat! That's amazing!

[dolorosa_12]

It was amazing! We only saw it briefly — it ran out over the path and then disappeared into some bushes.

[chestnut_pod]

I'm glad there are good things <3

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you.

[lirazel]

I so feel you on the feeling better after doing thing. I'm glad you had the opportunity to do that and feel a little better.

Snowdrops! Something I fell in love with in the UK and miss very much!

[dolorosa_12]

The antidote to despair is not doomscrolling! You need to do something that makes you feel a) not alone, and b) as if your actions have effects and meaning. It always lifts the spirits.

Snowdrops are so great! I love all the UK springtime bulbs, and I love bluebells in the early summer, but snowdrops really are my favourite.

I love your icon!

[lirazel]

Absolutely! I know everyone else is feeling very terrible about the state of the world right now, and obviously I am too on an intellectual level, but I've already gotten involved with so many interesting groups of people trying to make the world a better place here that I'm feeling WAY less depressed than I otherwise would be.

Bluebells might just be my favorite, but there is something so special about snowdrops and how early they bloom!

Thank you! That movie is my politics!

[dolorosa_12]

Did I ever tell you I met some of the real-world activists whose stories were fictionalised in the film? It was at a screening of the film, followed by a Q&A, held at the university ages ago as part of LGBT History month. You'll be pleased and unsurprised to know that they were still extremely politically active, still with the same fire.

[lirazel]

Oh, I love knowing that! <3

[lokifan]

Such a great icon, nice work!!! Mind if I nab it (with credit ofc) or is it your special baby?

[lirazel]

Sure! All my icons are nabbable!

[lokifan]

Brilliant!

[lokifan]

Great placards!

I'm happy to see spring is on the way :) Snowdrops are here in south London too.

[dolorosa_12]

There were lots of great placards on display, and surprisingly positive energy, given the dire situation.

Spring is very much on the way. The bulbs in our garden are coming up as well. Snowdrops in London sound gorgeous!

1 km swim!

[jesse_the_k]

I'm deeply impressed.

Re: 1 km swim!

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you! I swim 1km four times a week. (I find it more impressive that my 75-year-old mother also swims 1km several times a week! She puts me to shame!)