Law & Order at today's Tunnel Picket (Wednesday)

Public Order Response team hard at work

The morning started with an official reaction - or perhaps that should be over-reaction. Ben was escorted by two members of the Public Order Response team to the picket line, where he received a ticket for jay-walking - at 5.45 in the morning, with not a car in sight! Perhaps the fact that he occupied the rig yesterday might have had something to do with this...
The officer signing the ticket chastised me: 'Don't photograph me while I'm writing this!' If Mel hadn't reminded me that I didn't have to obey, I'm pretty sure I would have pointed my camera elsewhere, such is the power of authority. I must say my inclination to defer to officialdom never ceases to shock me.
But there were some good moments today.
We have a new picket member who was particularly emphatic that it was more than time that he joined us:

Jules, our new recruit, with admirer

With a welcome like the one above, I'm sure there will be no holding Jules back.
We might not quite rate the Red Arrows (yet), but today we had our own personal fly over:

Aerial salute

They might not have known they were doing it, but in our opinion the four balloons above were obviously paying homage to the tunnel picketers below. And how apt that our fly-over team, rather than burning oil, was air-powered.
And finally - the protestors displaying placards by the side of the road report more and more honks of support. They concluded that the motorist who called out: 'Mole!' today was not a fan. But I wondered if perhaps he was simply recognising our police code name - 'Operation Burrow'. After all, a single glance at 'Wind in the  Willows' and you will be in no doubt of the rich connection between moles and their beloved burrows.

Greta, a committed advocate of public transport 

We dispersed early today, but before that there was a de-briefing:

Yes. Anthony & Mel are in there - somewhere!

There's one thing for sure - we'll be back again tomorrow.