Walking 16km for several good reasons

The main reason that I was in London this day was for a National Demonstration for Palestine. The route varies each time and on this day we marched from Whitehall to USA Embassy in Nine Elms.

When congregating at Whitehall at 12pm it was obvious that this was going to be another large march and that the enthusiasm for meaningful peace was undimmed by the length of the latest stage of Israel's genocidal aggression or by the temporary lull while hostages help by both sides are exchanged. Trump's plan to turn Gaza into an American beach resort probably encouraged a few more people out.

As always it was a peaceful march and it was lightly policed because of the anticipation of this. We also has the usual Jewish groups out in support and a (very) few Israel flag waving idiots clustered at one point. 

Having completed the march it was time for the second thing on the to-do list and my younger son and I headed to Peter Jones on Sloane Square to buy a mattress. They had a surprisingly large number on display which made making a selection that much harder but we managed to find what he wanted.

The third objective, which is always there when I am walking away from home, was to walk some new roads to add to my City Strides Life Map, hence the wiggly bits at the start end end of the route. That was another success and I added 22 streets.

The fourth objective was simply to do as many steps as possible and in walking 16km I did just that.

The final objective was to take part in a special Pokemon Go event on that afternoon. That was the lowest priority and out of a possible eight raids I managed just two, which was enough for me.

With all five objectives met it as a productive and enjoyable five hours well spent.