So, apparently there is a thing about zines and cake inextricably linked together here. The London Zine Symposium even has their own vegan lemon ginger cake recipe. I think that if I write a zine about this trip it will be called “Zines and Cake”
Yesterday we were on a mission to find the cake ingredients and also meet up with Robb who I told I would call Tomm from not on in writing . I decided I was going to cook for my lovely hosts and was seeking out the ingredients for Enchiladas… which was hard than you might expect. There were no black beans and the only refried beans and enchilada sauce was Old El Paso. Then I bought some chili peppers that I thought would work.
We met up with Tomm who had lost one of his bags on the bus so we were calling the depot to find it but they weren’t much help. I also picked up my second box that I shipped over. It was a little beat to hell but I had dropped it twice off the back of my bike on the way to the post office anyway. SO, now i have 80 copies of SSR and all of my zines!
We went to get Robb and I oyster cards for the tube and somehow I confused the kind old English gentleman behind the glass. He got confused and we got confused and he ended up putting 20 pounds instead of 10 on my card! Then after looking at my receipt and my card said something about how it was was because I was such an attractive young lady… which could have been creepy if I hadn’t of gotten free travel out of it!
Then we went to a demonstration that was more like a dance party on a street corner in London. We showed up to a bunch of punks dancing on the pedestal of some statue of a horse blaring punk a ska from a PA system music holding signs. Apparently this was where a G20 protester died a few weeks ago.
I think there were almost more people taking pohotos than participating at times.
Then behind the statue was an entirely different thing going on with a Maypole and a Greenman Jack in the Green guy dressed as a hedge. Apparently it is an English folk thing. There were also drummers.
It was actually a beautiful day too!
I'm not sure if it was supposed to be ironic that he was made from military netting and not really natural things.
At one point the hedge kept bumping into Edd and I saying “WE NEED MORE BUNNY RABBITS!” “WE NEED MORE BUNNY RABBITS! AND AAARDVARKS” “WE NEED MORE AAARDVARKS. SOFT AAARDVARKS AND HARD AARDVARKS” “WE NEED MORE HIPPOPOTOMUSES!” and on and on.
Then after the maypole there was another PA with some ranty people and more music. Also a fake paddy wagon picking up people and pretending to take them to jail. At one point there was a sexy girl in stripped stockings eating cupcakes and drinking champagne being pulled around in the back.
After I took the picture I was fake yelled at fortaking the picture.
more!
The sound system was playing Rage Against the Machine and Dead Pres. The guy with the bullhorns had been ranting loudly for what seemed like hours and many many people were drinking. Apparently that is ok in public here. It was really weird to se so many open containers in public at an event like this.
There was a woman wearing a serveillance camera as a hat. I thought that was clever.
The cops here aren't nearly as scary. The protesters who were dressed as cops were amusing.
After that we came back to the flat. I made enchiladas and the crew of 3 French women showed up one of them being Cecile who I had been in contact with for the Fanzinotheque stuff in Poitiers. We all at enchilada and I think everyone seemed to like them. I learned that the French think Vegetarianism is really weird so veganism is completely ridiculous. I sort of expected to eat a lot of bread and fruit anyway. Jenna, Isy, Edd and I are all vegan so at least we can stick together. I think things will be fine though.
True Fact: There are supposedly over a million pounds of counterfeit pound coins floating around. Who goes through the trouble of making fake coins? That’s nuts! But we figured that it is probably easier than making fake notes.
I going to go see if I can help Edd with the cakes… because apparently they are an intrinsic part of zines!
Alex Wrekk 