We didn’t have long to wait in Killington Lake before the other two buses showed up. There was, however, something of a pause while coffees were drunk, lunch eaten and plans made. Not being much involved with the plans, and having had an easy ride what with not having to drive, I made myself suspitious/useful by filming beautiful panning shots of the car park.
I thought I’d seen every service stop on the M6, but Killington Lake was new to me. Helen on our bus (a knitting genius from whom I plan to commission a pair of psychadelic rainbow socks) went so far as to call it her favourite.
Almost as nice, but not quite, was the next service stop, just after the turn off to avoid the M6 toll. This was about two or three hours later, during which time I filled the Archers vacuum with podcasts. The other two buses made then for Basingstoke, but we detoured to a Travel Lodge to drop off some of our number who’d opted for more civilised digs (including psychadelic rainbow socks Helen).
At our more humble lodgings, we put the finishing touches on our plan, ate some excellent food and practiced disembarking from the buses while locked together. Well, of those three, I only did the eating, hiding behind my camera the rest of the time. I AM only ‘media support’ you know.
I’m starting to sense a frisson, though. I’m conciously avoiding specifics about where we are because the police (hopefully) don’t know we’re here. If they did, they’d probably have turned up and confiscated our locking devices. I’m not here to get arrested, but for some (fourteen of us, to be exact) that’s the whole point. They might not get arrested tomorrow, but bailing them out is certainly part of tomorrow’s itinerary.
I should be safe from arrest, as I won’t actually be doing anything illegal. (I just hope my tripod doesn’t look too much like an automatic weapon.)