No police, no drilling, no picket (Tuesday)

All dressed up with nowhere to go

A crowd of us turned up as usual this morning to picket the drill site at the corner of Nicholson and Princes Streets. Unexpectedly, there were no police or drillers in sight. We waited for a while, but finally concluded that drilling was unlikely to be happening today.
Various reasons for this were suggested, perhaps the most likely being that the police have been redeployed to assist in fire stricken areas. Without police securing the site, the drillers know that we would prevent them from proceeding, so they have taken the day off. We decided to do likewise, with the proviso that just in case drilling starts up elsewhere, scouts and local residents will be on high alert throughout the day.
But all in all, for us, it was a bit of an anti-climax. Most protestors had had their morning coffee before they set out, so there was no going back home to sleep. Little did we know that we were in for an unexpected treat:

Thank you George!

George, a greengrocer from Preston Market, arrived with a box of gorgeous fresh fruit: 'I just wanted to show my support'. Rosie, a loyal customer, took delivery of our healthy summer breakfast.

Yum!

A group of us stayed at the site until around 7am, just to ensure that no activity eventuated. The dozen or so security guards protecting the drill stood alone and disconsolate around the abandoned site:

A long day ahead