Harriet Scott
Encountering the Beast
Of an afternoon I sometimes get the urge to throw myself around Regents Park in London as I find this helps with loosening the limbs and tightening the buttocks. Today I was rewarded with an encounter with The Beast. As I tried to run my usual route around the Outer Circle and past the American Embassy I was stopped in my tracks first by many barricades and then by the Presidential procession itself. Given that security around the Obama’s was somewhat tight (can someone tell me what Islington School Girls can possibly hide up their jumpers?), I consider myself lucky to have got within 2 meters of Barack and Michelle. Resplendant in lycra, I waved enthusiastically as they drove slowly by en route to the Palace. Through the near blacked out windows I could see them in the back seat of the car they call The Beast, and even though we were separated by the 5 inch thick doors built to protect from fire, flood and fans, I felt that we had a moment.
