In SOLIDarity with the Climate Camp

     ...who are, as we speak, laying siege to the ever-expanding                 Heathrow Airport at London  - www.climatecamp.org.uk/

 Some 2 years ago, I had taken the Climate Pledge ( www.airportpledge.org.uk ), promising that, since aviation transport is the fastest growing emitter of chemicals thought to accelerate climate  change, I would take direct action of some kind to help try and reverse the trend of airport expansion.

 I'd sometimes wonderered if I'd ever get round to it, and being on probation and, recently, an electronic curfew tag put me off stepping into the jaws of the law too.

 But the solution hit me the other morning, as I've been getting a bit high with the juices flowing,  and, paradoxically, more interested in flirting, phone sex, cyber sex and orgies than protesting, demonstrating, marching and riots, that I could just phone a "local" airport (Leeds / Bradford) and get the switchboard staff to vouch for me that I had taken "action".

 I got the number off the internet, and rang them up. Luckily a woman with a nice, friendly voice answered, and the conversation went something along the lines of:

 "Hello, I wonder if you can help me, but it's something quite unusual I've got to ask you."

 "Go ahead."

 "Well, you might have heard about this Climate Camp protest down at Heathrow, campaigning against airport expansion..."

 "No, I didn't know."

 "Well, yes, they're down there now. And I've heard reports that the police are preparing for action to spark off at other, smaller airports."

 "Oh. What, are they going to come here, to Leeds Bradford?"

 "I couldn't tell you. I just saw it on an internet news website, your security will know about it, or they can find out more easily than me."

 "Well, yes. So you don't know where's going to be affected?"

 "No, I shouldn't think there'll be any up our end. Just random, isn't it?"

 "I know what you mean."

 "Well, what I'm phoning for is that all this has reminded me that I've signed a pledge to take direct action against the air transport industry myself, you know with it being the fastest growing source of climate emissions?"

 "So are you going on one of these protests?"

 "Well, that's just the thing. I can't be bothered, I'm sat at home comfy, and I'd rather just ask, if it's alright by you, whether, since I've run through the issues a bit with you, blocked a phone line and taken up a bit of your work time, plus I've tipped you off about the risk of protesters - could you just send me an e-mail from the airport saying that we had this phone call?"

 "Well..."

 "Just like a receipt? And I can send it in to the climate pledge website?"

 "Go on then, what's your email?"