What riots?

This morning, I enjoyed a little lie-in and pootled about catching up with jobs. I  had an appointment for an eye test at midday because I think I now need glasses to drive at night. My multifocal lenses are great for work as I can read easily, but driving at night is a different matter.

I had a thorough eye test, and she said my prescription hadn't changed. I then saw the branch manager about varifocal glasses and ordered a special pair for driving at night. I just hope I can get on with them! Sophie had texted me to ask to meet for lunch, so I sped back to Keith who was waiting in the car, and we drove to Riverside for lunch at Costa in the Next store.

Sophie was slightly agitated as she had problems with staff at work, so we sat and had a good chat over lunch. She rushed back to work after we'd eaten, and Keith and I popped into a very dismal Homebase to look for large garden waste bags. There was hardly anything left in the DIY store so it was sad to see all the things that people didn't want including a couple of kitchens that had been slashed in price by 60%!

From Homebase, we drove to B&Q and found a large Hippo bag that would take a good amount of our garden rubbish. I decided to drive back through town and see what was happening along the Kettering Road, where a planned "protest" was due to take place this evening.

Yesterday, at work, we received an email from a customer about one of our leisure centres that is close to this area, asking if we were going to close early? It was the first any of us had heard about it but of course, the youngsters had all seen the news on social media that a far-right group were going to meet at an immigration lawyer's office near the junction with Clare Street.

We drove into town and as we waited at traffic lights to turn right onto Clare Street, we saw a very sinister character go past on a quad bike, dressed from head to toe in black and wearing a black mask over their face. Further down Clare Street, we saw two policemen, and there was more of a police presence at the junction. The immigration lawyer's office was shuttered and I would estimate that about 90% of shops, restaurants and take-aways were either shuttered up or boarded with thick panels of wood. This part of Northampton is mainly ethnic restaurants and supermarkets, and I felt sorry for all the businesses who were obviously scared of what was going to happen. The police were very visible and talking to the business owners so the threats had been taken seriously.

We returned home and after sitting with a cup of tea and reading the paper for half an hour, we tackled the usual chores, I hoovered and dusted the living room and started the shopping list. Over a drink, we sat and chatted about our forthcoming breaks and worked out what had been paid for and what hadn't!

After dinner, I received a WhatsApp message from a colleague with a link to TikTok and live footage of the Kettering Road in Northampton. There were a lot of people about but they seemed to be anti-racist and the gathering was peaceful. The road had been shut but it appeared that any far-right demonstrators had decided not to go out! This seemed to be the case all over England and there were far more anti-racism crowds so the planned 100 gatherings didn't happen, which was great news. Perhaps good sense had prevailed!