I got more than I bargained for today at the US Embassy in London (Patreon)

I got more than I bargained for at the US Embassy in London

Today I travelled to London for an appointment at the US Embassy to try and get a travelling visa. Whilst waiting for my turn, a loud, american announcement blared out from the tannoy exclaiming "Attention, move away from the windows immediately and take cover. Move away from the windows and take cover. This is not a joke. This is not a joke." Not exactly what you want to hear in such a place. We followed the orders none the less and stood about for a few minutes, unable to leave. The staff didn't know what was going on but that it was no false alarm. Having been aware of the ongoing escalating friction between Iran and the US but having not really been following it closely over the past 12 hours, it did cross my mind whether world war III was commencing, which was a scary thought. Then my thoughts turned to my bag, which I had stashed outside in a bush because on the website it said that bags were not allowed, even though loads of people had bags. Surely it wasn't that, but because we were banished from the windows I couldn't know for sure. In the end it turned out that some nutter had tried to force his way in to the embassy down stairs before being swiftly dived on by the security and then the police. To top off what was a thrilling episode, I was told that I was allowed into the states, despite having an old, lingering and in my opinion unjust criminal record. Unfortunately there was one casualty, dry Jan.