11.20.03 | Poison Chocolates

I went shopping at the grocery store today. The woman at the till (check-out lane) was quite unusual: she actually smiled and greeted me hello, bagged my items and told me to "have a nice day" on the way out. It was like I had been mysteriously teleported to Wal-Mart.

Maybe she was just being nice because President Bush has been in town the last two days. The media has been in quite a tizzy. First it was because of the all the added security -- "Fortress London," the Evening Standard newspaper said. Then, and more importantly, it was because of the apparent lack of security.

A reporter for the Daily Mirror newspaper (one cool thing about London: there are about a dozen different daily newspapers to choose from) had secretly infiltrated Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle two months ago by falsifying his CV (resume) and getting a job as a footman. (A footman, I believe, is a butler who occasionally gets to wear a flashy red cape). Besides learning what the Queen watches on TV (EastEnders, the Bill, horse racing), the reporter, Ryan Parry, highlighted the glaring lack of security and detailed how he had unfettered access, including laying out chocolates and flowers for Bush's party, just hours before he finally quit to avoid any further security entanglements regarding Bush's visit. Mr. Parry said how it would have been supremely easy to carry in dangerous items, such as bombs, guns or poison.

Hmm. Poison chocolates. I don't think something so nefarious would be required. To get at Mr. Bush, all a terrorist footman would have to do would be to set out a bowl of pretzels and watch him choke.

It's strange to be in another country that's hosting your president. I remember back in 1988 when Mr. Bush Sr. visited my high school as part of his campaign trail. That was a pretty big deal. But for the rest of my life, an American President's itinerary -- going to a preschool in Georgia, or visiting a factory in Michigan -- has always seemed rather commonplace and unimportant.

Here in London, the media coverage about Bush's visit has been intense. It even seeps down to the "shootin' the breeze" talk at the gym I go to. His visit is a good reminder on how powerful United States is and how its policies directly influence the lives of just about everyone else in the world. As an American, you don't really realize it until you go to live in another country.

There are significant protests going on in central London to accompany Mr. Bush's visit. It's said that about 150,000 people will be marching through the streets today protesting about Bush and the Iraq war. I thought about going because: 1) I have enough spare time in my life to afford taking an afternoon off; and 2) it would be interesting. In the end, though, I figured I would have to believe in the cause in order to march, and while I disagree with many of Bush's decisions and generally think of him as a kind of boob, the events in Iraq haven't yet forced me to that point.

Bush leaves tomorrow. I'm left wondering what it would be like to have Mr. Blair as the President of the United States. << REWIND