Americans Away From Home

It was sunny yesterday, a beautiful mild day in London Town. As the dome of St. Paul's sparkled in the sunshine, fifty Obama supporters gathered for photos on Millennium Bridge in London.  The event was actually a Meetup, hosted by the UK Obama Meetup.

"Where do you live?" I asked the group.

Two people were from Australia, one from New Zealand, and one from Canada. The rest were mainly Americans, living in the UK, with a number of British Obama supporters as well.

"Where do you vote?" I asked them.  "California!" someone shouted. "Massachusetts." "Vermont." And so it went, as supporters called out the names of the States they would vote in come November's election for U.S. President.

Obama supporters carried hand-painted signs, American flags, banners, and a man named George had the original Obama drawing he made in charcoal; the woman who thought up the bridge project, Meredith Wheeler, wore the Statue of Liberty's crown, as a friend presented her with sunflowers.

Photos were being taken by a volunteer shooting video, and a photographer from the Guardian newspaper, when I suddenly noticed that another person was taking our photo too. It was someone who happened to be crossing the bridge at that moment, and I turned to the woman next to me and said, "Look, we're being photographed by a tourist!"

It was prophetic. A few minutes later, at least 20 people who were walking on the bridge had lined up in a horizontal row facing us, all taking our photos while our photo was being taken. It felt like being at a Hollywood movie premiere, only we were the red carpet!

If you're in the UK or have friends in the UK, please join our UK Obama Meetup.  It's the UK's largest Obama group,
and people are friendly and fun, and passionate about Obama.

Here's one of our first photos taken on the bridge.

Carole