New Year's eve was a quiet affair with Jan and Victoria both not even staying up until midnight. They were all excited about the march the next day and the prospect of doing something positive.
Darren and Sakura had stayed up until midnight and had cracked open a bottle of champagne. Sakura had prepared a plate of Sushi and they both sat side by side on the sofa. It ended up feeling incredibly romantic for both of them, their first new year together.
Sakura had lit the candles on the coffee table and they had dimmed the lights just listening to some old classics such as Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse and even at one point Bing Crosby. Even though Darren liked a specific type of music he appreciated all good music and he wanted Sakura to enjoy the evening so he played a wide range of sounds.
That wasn't what was important anyway because as they sat together they talked and asked each other endless questions and they both recounted stories from their life.
'I can't believe you have never been to Japan,' said Darren 'I would have thought you'd have gone on holiday at some point.'
'No I don't know why but my parents have never gone back either and although we have traveled the world on holidays Japan was never an option.' Sakura explained. 'Whenever I suggested it my parents always dismissed it out of hand.'
'So what is your favorite destination then?' asked Darren amazed at how many countries Sakura had been to.
'Oh Africa has to be my top destination,' said Sakura, 'I've been there several times and I especially like Tanzania where we went on Safari for two weeks.'
'Oh Darren the Serengeti is the most wonderful place on earth just seeing all the animals running free. I was mesmerized! Giraffes are so beautiful and the Zebras all look like they're wearing high heels.' Daren laughed at this imaging all the Zebras in high heels.
'We saw all the animals but my happiest memory was playing with some lion cubs in a sanctuary. All animals are beautiful not like people,' she sighed 'Then we spent one week in Zanzibar let me show you some pictures.'
She scrolled through on her phone and showed him what looked like a tropical paradise.
'Oh wow! Is that Zanzibar?' Darren said 'look at the colour of the sea, that's amazing!' he said looking at a picture of the whitest sand and the sea in shades of aqua and turquoise.
'That looks really like paradise.' he said.
'Yes we even swam with wild dolphins,' she said showing him a picture of her actually swimming in the sea with a pod of dolphins.
Then he told her of all the dreams he had of travelling the world. Because of Corona he feared he would never do it. He told her of his trips to Spain and Turkey with the family and made her laugh when he recounted the karaoke in Spain and that the whole family did a Spice Girl routine.
'And my dad dresses up as Ginger Spice can you believe it it's so embarrassing.' he said. At this revelation Sakura got such a fit of the giggles.
'Wow family's can be embarrassing. Show me a picture you must have one.' said Sakura.
'No I've got a bloody video,' and they both cracked up when he played her the tik tok video. Watching his sister Emma brought up so many emotions but it was also good just to sit and laugh. They both then spent hours talking telling each other more stories and at midnight they made a pact to one day go to Tanzania and Zanzibar together.
The next morning, they all got up early and Jan was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast. They decided that it would be too much to take Teddy so Victoria was staying home. Originally they had all planned on going but then they reconsidered feeling protective towards little Teddy and deciding not to take the risk. In the end it was to prove a wise decision.
Jan was really excited having watched all the protests online and now she was finally going to participate. She felt good to be doing something to fight back but nothing could have prepared her for the feelings that would surge through her.
After breakfast they set off in Darren's old Peugeot. It was a beautiful day for it, the sky was clear and bright on that crisp winter morning and most importantly there was no rain forecast.
Jan had packed her raincoat anyway and some bottles of water. She was wearing a pair of trainers with some jeans and a warm cashmere oatmeal sweater topped off with a navy pea coat and a warm red scarf with matching gloves. She felt comfortable and warm. She carried a tan leather mulberry cross over bag so she could always take her gloves and scarf off and put them in the bag. She had thought long and hard about what to wear as she wanted to feel comfortable, warm and prepared if not a bit stylish too.
Darren and Sakura were also both dressed for comfort with Sakura looking adorable in a black woolly hat with a big bobble on the top. Darren parked behind Oxford street in a little alley off Great Portland Street and they headed to Hyde Park.
The march was starting at 10am from Speakers corner. They all linked arms and made their way. As they approached they saw more and more unmasked smiling faces and Darren punched the air and shouted 'Freeeedom!' and Jan joined in and they all laughed.
The excitement was building by the time they were at Speakers Corner. They all milled around with more and more people joining in. Darren was filming it all for his channel and was surprised to be recognized over and over again.
'Hey you're that bloke from 'Nothing Adds Up'. Well done man I follow all your videos.' said one of the protestors. Darren felt chuffed at the encouragement and smiled and laughed with crowds of people. He interviewed individuals on their thoughts and views and filmed Jan getting a bear hug from a guy with a t-shirt that said 'Free Hugs'.
The atmosphere was full of love and positivity as they all gathered and walked down Oxford Street with cars beeping support they sang. 'You can stick your vaccine up your arse!' along with shouts of 'Freedom'.
Darren filmed a big group singing George Michael's 'Freedom' with Jan joining in enthusiastically. As they reached Oxford Circus and more people joined the march they realized it was thousands and thousands of people and everyone was elated. The atmosphere was electric.
The Police had lined up and tried to stop them continuing but the crowd suddenly switched and turned down Soho and through the smaller streets. Some scuffles broke out with big gangs of Police dressed in what looked like riot gear. They would pick out an individual and twenty or thirty of them would surround the poor person. Crowds would gather shouting 'Shame on you! Shame on you'. This freaked Jan out and she stayed close to Darren and Sakura. It shocked them all to see how brutal the police were being.
Jan shouted even louder 'Freedom, Freedom!' As they neared Trafalgar Square they could feel the tension as police in their hundreds gathered rather menacingly and in some areas kettled the crowd. At one point they saw the police rushing into a group knocking over a woman and dragging her off. It was shocking but the crowd stayed strong and peaceful despite the police brutality.
'I wonder how many people are here,' said Jan.
Must be at least five thousand or more,' said Darren 'but of course the mainstream media will say it was only a few hundred.
Up on the stage various speakers were coming on. A doctor from Germany spoke very knowledgably dismissing the narrative and as he left the stage he was dragged off to the police station arrested and released with no charge the next day. Another speaker an amazing woman from Ireland, a well known Virologist Dolores Cahill, who also spoke questioning the need for a vaccine and saying this is a fake pandemic. This woman had written books and worked for the EU now she was struck of the list and called a crank. Something was very wrong and Jan listened intently.
They also chatted with different groups of people and Jan was able to tell her story.
'My beautiful daughter Emma took her own life because of isolation and lockdown and they put on her death certificate that she died of Covid,' she told a group of people and people gathered around her and hugged her and somehow by voicing it all it helped to heal her.
Then a beautiful moment happened as David Icke charismatically took the crown with a rendition of the Liverpool classic 'You'll never walk alone' with thousands of people all linking arms and many people with tears streaming down their face. They sang loud and proud.
What was to come next appeared so ugly and shocking from the scene of peaceful protestors that just wanted to voice the truth.