Plinth of Darkness

There are times when I do miss London, and this is one of them – not just because of the weather, but because I would like to be down in Trafalgar Square watching this. I’ve been dipping in on the web feed rather too often as it is (although I always seem to catch the point where one plinther finishes and another one starts so it’s a lot of people rummaging around in bags and announcing to the waiting world that they’ve forgotten some vital prop). Some of it’s boring, some of it’s fascinating, some of it is plain bizarre (man dressed as godzilla playing swingball, anyone?) and if Antony Gormley wanted to reinforce the stereotype of the British as a nation of eccentrics he has done so in spades. (There’s a woman in a pinny cleaning it now). For me, the best turns have been the ones where people have something to say, and have thought of an interesting way to say it; the least involving ones have been the ones who just text their friends (‘I’m on the plinth! It’s rubbish!) and the chap who was writing a book. Believe me, I already know how tedious that one can be…

Last night I watched almost the entire hour of this chap, who was blowing up balloons to illustrate greenhouse emissions per head as the sun rose over the square. What made it fascinating was not so much the ideaor the execution but the random passer-by – back from a night out with his takeaway in his hand – who stopped to ask what was going on. After a quick briefing from the (very knowledgeable) plinther – the whole subject seemed to have escaped him up to then – he was up to speed with tipping points, positive feedback loops, carbon budgets and the like, and he stayed until the end, his takeaway forgotten in his hand. At one point, I caught the following exchange:

Random Passer By: So what can I do about it?

Chap on Plinth: There’s not much you can do as an individual. You need to lobby your politicians to act

RPB: It’s up to the politicians to save us?

COP: Yes

RPB: I’m drunk, and it’s four in the morning, but even I can see that’s not going to end well…

You can catch up with this, and all the others here. Be warned, though – it can be strangely addictive.