“I dug out my old CND badge for this, look!”

“Oh, that’s marvellous. I found an old ANC badge. It’s not really relevant, but I thought it was in the spirit of things, you know?”

“Oh yes, absolutely”

“I found this one at home, ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ - Jane modified it with a permanent marker this morning, see?”

“I added an exclamation mark, just there.”

“Certainly makes it a bit more relevant! Ha ha!”

[they laugh]

“You know, the last demo we were on was to save the Mermaid theatre,”

“Oh really? We missed that one - we were in the Dordogne, I think.”

“Oh yes, I remember - that was the really hot summer, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s it. Terrible sunburn, ha ha ha.”

“You poor thing! Anyway, there we were - Malcolm had broken his ankle tripping over a kerb in Florence the week before, and I had my leg in plaster - you know, from the operation,”

“Oh yes, how is it now?”

“Oh fine, barely notice these days,”

“So there I am on crutches, and Lucy’s barely able to walk because of the cast - we ended up with one crutch each, didn’t we, love?”

“Yes, that’s it - trailing right at the back of the march with a steward helping us along. Of course we looked ridiculous,”

“…but you have to do these things, don’t you?”

“We’ve always thought it was important to do something.”

“Oh yes, we totally agree.”

“There’s so little we can do these days, so if being there makes any difference at all, then it’s important, don’t you think?”

“Mmmm”

[They all nod earnestly]

Also overheard on the march:

“You know, I don’t mind waving placards and all that - it’s all in a good cause - but I wish they didn’t give you bloody splinters!”

Thereby illustrating perfectly the local/global issues at play here.