Cry me a river

I was triggered in the office when a colleague Katie, who's recently relocated to Dorset, revealed she's now living in the Christchurch constituency of Christopher Chope, the misogynist who blocked the upskirting bill. I had to have a thirty-minute diatribe about his lack of worth as a politician, whilst Katie pledged to vote against him. The anti-Trump sticker attached to my monitor doesn't help me to remain untriggered and perhaps isn't best placed... The nose inhaler and tissues are on hand to deal with the ongoing snottiness.

In the evening I was staggered by what was happening outside my flat window. There's a secluded alleyway that is used for drug deals because it has various routes for entering and then melting away. This is constantly being reported to the non-emergency line. Tonight at least twenty people were congregated, in various states of agitation, waiting for a dealer. I was blown away by how overt it was. Panic rippled through the group when they worried the dealer wouldn't show, and they scattered up and down the road, passing messages increasingly frantically. They were directly beneath my window arguing and growing desperate for their fix. It was tragic to see the addiction that gripped them all, and truly incredible how little they seemed to care that dozens of people could see and hear them. Someone called the police and a police van lumbered around the corner like a bungling idiot, which they spotted and dispersed from very effectively. I could see it play out extremely well. Cambridge has always had a drug issue but is this an example of overt criminality because there is barely any police presence due to cuts? I wouldn't be surprised if so.

Overall I feel sad that these problems affect society, and recognise that the issue will just be shunted elsewhere if they lose their ability to deal in the alleyway. But at least the young children and elderly people living in the neighbourhood won't have to walk through crowds of drug dealers loitering on corners, which must be very intimidating.

I did have a good conversation today with a potential collaborator on our Mozambique work, whose name is J Timberlake. Jonathan, not Justin.