Well, I guess there must have been some OTs postulating some bad weather to keep the nasty SPs away, because it has absolutely p***ed down all day here in East Grinstead. Unfortunately, this tactic rather backfired as the poor Scilons arriving for the IAS shindig got soaked and the many outdoor events that the cult planned (knights on horseback, Scottish pipers etc) got a bit bedraggled. Not to mention the car parking which is in a field which is now completely soaked and waterlogged. The first escapees will be trying to leave the grounds right about now – I imagine that much spinning of wheels, cursing and mud-splattering of staff pushing cars, will ensue.
After a half-hearted protest in the town centre earlier in the day, the assorted Old Guard, Exes, Anons, Critics and Indy retired to the local hostelry for some last minute planning and quenching of thirst.
Suitably refreshed, the masses (well 15ish) marched on St Hill for some more standing in the rain and waving at arriving Scilons. A few choice phrases were also delivered.
I didn’t manage to get much video, I’m afraid as I didn’t dare risk my best camera and it was very dark. Although there was an amusing incident where a foreign Scilon decided to turn his car around on a patch of grass and rather predictably got completely stuck and had to wait for a tow. I might Tube this if I get the time.
It was interesting to note that there was a very small Police presence (they obviously know by now that we are not ‘terrorists’, despite what the cult says) and a very large private security presence. I saw at least a dozen guards (and presumably many more in other locations), land rovers, quad bikes and even an Alsatian or two. Seriously, what are they expecting? Miscavige is so effing paranoid.
Actually, there was a peaceful ‘invasion’ of St Hill, when about half a dozen protestors quietly walked through the main gate, but they were stopped very rapidly by a similar number of guards who then ushered them back off the property. Amusingly, while the guards were occupied, they left the side-gate totally unwatched and another (well-known, local) protestor simply walked right in and got some distance before he was spotted and asked to leave. Well, we had to give the guards something to do, didn’t we?
Due, to the weather, we probably weren’t as ‘in-yer-face’ as we would have liked to have been, but we showed up and we let the cultists know that we are still around
During all this, the TV production company got a threatening letter from Carter *uck, er, Carter F***, the cult’s infamous attack-shysters in the UK, threatening dire consequences if they so much as looked at a Scilon the wrong way. Didn’t stop them filming though. And one interesting fact that one of the guards let slip, was that the cult had circulated info sheets with photos of all the undesirables, so that they could recognise us on sight, including the TV crew. One of the cultists even tried to intimidate me by referring to me by name and then saying that he had recognised my car and seen it ‘down there’.
Oh, and you will all be pleased to note that I saw our vertically-challenged security guard, Andy Connor (with the ‘eyes’) again. Only this time, he wasn’t so keen to talk to me. Wonder why?
Tomorrow – the conference…
Axiom142