Melting

Which is what the casing of my camera started to do because I was holding it too close to the flame of this candle. Thank god it didn't damage the lens.

On Sunday evening I listened to a play on Radio 3 called 'My Generation' by Alice Nutter, who used to be in the band Chumbawumba about four generations of protest and activism in one family over the years since the eighties and I was a bit taken aback by the memories that it brought back:

- when I first discovered feminism: being 'asked to leave' a consciousness raising group; Reclaim the Night marches; an older, wiser friend grabbing hold of my hand as I was about to throw a rock at a policeman; Bradford Women's Health Collective; Rape Crisis; Peter Sutcliffe, serial killer; leaving my first husband and deciding to keep his name purely because I hated my birth name.

- the miners strike: Bradford wasn't a mining town but support for the miners and their families was strong. Each payday I would buy an item of women's clothing to take to the Trades Club to be taken away and given to one of the miner's families support groups.

- raves, convoys: although not directly involved I had friends who were travellers that I had met through organising juggling conventions; good people who simply lived an alternative lifestyle. I think it was around this time - the eighties or early nineties when I first came across the solar powered circus 'Croissant Neuf'; and Jugglers for Peace, who went into war zones.

The final part of the play focused on recent developments: the student protests against tuition fees; Occupy. And I'm still at it. Except that I'm not quite so front line as I used to be. Another thing that the play reminded me of is a wonderful organisation in Bradford called the 1 in 12 club which has been going for 31 years!. Its origins, I think, were in the Claimants Union, and I can remember when it first started.

A decision has been taken by the Occupy Norwich General Assembly to remove the tents from the Haymarket and move on to the next phase. I'll be there, as I was on October 15th when the camp was established.