Later, outside in the dark, two of the younger men stood and smoked, one a pipe, the other a cigarette.
‘A power cut?’
‘Trouble with the unions.’
‘Do you have enough men?’
‘Is there ever enough?’
‘It’s the tithe that’s stopping a lot of new recruits. You must stop collecting it.’
‘We need the money.’
‘Money more than men?’
‘For now, yes. Look, go back to York and carry on organising. You’ll get a lot more support now. I’m going back to Bath to do the same thing.’
The Bishop was forced to travel back to Bath by car. A signallers’strike had stopped all the trains going to the West Country.
The number of checkpoints on the way home surprised the Bishop. The police officers were still as respectful, but the BUF men were not. Twice the Bishop and his driver were ordered out of the car and searched by the BUF. Nothing was found as there was nothing to find. The Bishop had to recite a number of prayers to keep calm.
No comments:
Post a Comment