on the wrong side of a police line

I found myself on the wrong side of a police line today. I'd been in a meeting in Central London and when it finished I exited the building into sunlight and a surprisingly quiet street.

That's when I noticed the red and white tape.

And then the blue flashing lights and the policemen.

I looked along the road the other way - a similar scene.

Hmm, the door I was existing from seemed to be about in the middle of a 200 metre strip of street that had been cordoned off.

I decided to walk towards the policemen, and the large crowd of people behind them. I also noticed the traffic seemed to be quite backed up behind the police and the flashing lights.

I was fairly aware of the helicopter overhead, but not sure if it was related.

Of course, as I exited the cordoned area I asked the policeman what was happening.

"Suspect package."

Old habits made me walk around a corner. There was now both distance and large building between me and the tape.

As I then walked back towards Whitehall, I noticed what is probably my personal best for a row of buses. It's not so unusual to see a dozen buses in a row in Trafalgar Square.

This time, as I walked towards Westminster Bridge I counted 33 buses. Actually I think there were more but I gave up counting at around that point.

All caught up in the same cordon and road shutdown. I'm hoping it was part of the various London practices that are taking place.

And then over the bridge. Westminster Bridge - after what I'd blogged yesterday, I noticed it was strangely devoid of Eastern Europeans playing card tricks or shell games.

It turns out that today a Route 2 red bus had been commandeered by the police. They drove it alongside the Romanian card players and then swooped to round them all up. Actually, they had attempted to drive it to the bridge but were initially stuck in the dense traffic that I'd noticed. London has its own variation on a car chase. One could surely say the card tricksters were BUSted.

I noticed Shrek and the bagpipe player were still in operation.