第3巻第3章 トラファルガー広場
私たちがロンドンに戻った時もまた,いくつかの珍しい体験をした。ある朝,二人の青年と一人の若い女性が私の家の玄関先の踏み段のところに現われ,私と核兵器反対の運動について議論をしたいので私に面会したいと要求した。私はしばらくの間彼らとその問題について議論した後,もうそろそろお帰りになる時間だと彼らにそれとなく知らせた。彼らは帰ることを拒んだ。私や家政婦が -その時,家には二人しかいなかった。- 何を言おうとも彼らを動かすことはできなかった。また,私たちは彼らを動かせるほど強い体力もまったくなかった。彼らは我が家の応接間で坐り込みを始めた。いささか心配になり,私は警察を呼びにやらせた。警察官の対応は欠点のないものであった。微笑さえせず,なおさらのこと嘲笑するようなこともなかった。そうして彼らは坐り込みをしている3人を立ち退かせた。その坐り込みの連中というのは,あとでわかったことであるが,世間に名前が知れわたることを望んだ女優と,彼女の崇拝者で彼女の手助けをしたいと望んでいた2人の若者であった。彼らは世間に名前が知れ,私にとっては面白い逸話となり,大変愉快な出来事であった。しかし百人委員会委員の中には,私が警察を呼んだことをかなり不快に思う者もいた。 |
v.3,chap.3: Trafalgar Square At the end of the week after gaol we returned to North Wales but the barrage of press and TV interviews continued wherever we were and, of course, there were daily visitors from all over - Italians, Japanese, French, Belgian, Singhalese, Dutch, South and North Americans, etc., etc. It was all wearing, and when we could we drove off into the country by ourselves. We had a number of adventutes. One afternoon we walked along a sandy beach and around a rocky point to a cove. The rocks of the point were covered by dried seaweed. At first we tested the solidity of the way, but we grew careless, and uaexpectedly I, who was ahead, sank to my thighs. At each move, I sank further. My wife was only at the edge of the bad patch. She managed to crawl to a rock and finally to haul me out. On other occasions, our car got stuck in the sand or in the bog and had to be pulled out - once, to our amused annoyance, by a nuclear station's van. When we returned to London, too, we had adventures. One morning two young men and a young women appeared upon my doorstep and demanded to see me as, they said, they wished to discuss anti-nuclear work. I discussed matters with them for some time and then intimated that it was time for them to go. They refussed to go. Nothing that I or my housekeeper - we were the only people in the house - could say would budge them, and we were far from being strong enough to move them. They proceeded to stage a sit-down in my drawing-room. With some misgivings, I sent for the police. Their behaviour was impeccable. They did not even smile, much less jeer. And they evicted the sitters-down. The latter were later discovered. I was told, to be a young actress who wanted publicity and two of her admirers wishing to help her. They got the publicity and provided me with a good story and much entertainment. Some of the Committee were rather annoyed by my having called in the police. |
(掲載日:2010.3.16/更新日:2012.6.24)