A much better day than the day before when Lucy and Jason got very cold talking with people at the opening of Oakwood Clock. Despite the rain, people were upbeat and willing to sit down ( in the rain) and talk tolerance with them. One rather interesting moment was when a young boy got the question ‘Who is the Enemy?” to which he gleefully replied “Meeeeee!!!!” To give this context, i think his thinking was along the lines of games and play and well isn’t it much more fun to be the baddie…isn’t it?!!

So back to the better weather day…quite warm, no rain…we were cautiously optimistic. The plan was to start the day talking to people on Briggate then head up to The Black swan in the Calls where there was a symposium as part of Live at Leeds. Being on Briggate was interesting. people were very suspicious and actively NOT wanting to engage with us. I’m not sure if they were more worried we were going to sell them a weird tea set or that we were going to enlist them in a religious cult.

We’d also invited Humans of Leeds ( who shall remain anonymous) to join us, which he did. A couple of people did talk to us as we started to head down the high street….one man in particular who talked about meeting the King of Greece. here is what he had to say ( as interpreted by Humans of Leeds)…

“My job is one of those where everyone asks, ‘How did you get a job like that?’ and I tell them, ‘Somebody had to do it, and I decided it was going to be me’. I lecture to passengers on cruise ships, telling them about the places they’re visiting and what they’re seeing as we approach into a port. As we tie-up, I point out all the different landmarks they can go visit” “So how did you get a job like that?” “Well, your parents always have friends and one of my father’s friends, Uncle John, owned three ships. Each winter he’d take one vessel off the line and take a cruise with some people he knew and some guests. I happened to be on one of these cruises and throughout our time he’d been introducing me to the guests and telling them I was going to be lecturing to them later. All the guests were very keen on the idea and I went along with it thinking it was a wind-up. Anyway, we were approaching Gibraltar and I was on the bridge with Uncle John. He picked up the ship microphone and announced that there was a special guest on board who was going to tell them all about Gibraltar. He forced the microphone into my hands and all eyes were on me. Except for one gent who got up and started walking off just as I was about to speak. Since I was doing this for them, I got a little annoyed, ‘Excuse me Sir!’ I shouted, ‘Please do me the courtesy of taking your seat and listening’. He sat down hastily and I spoke for 20 minutes or so and then we took a break for afternoon tea. During tea, the staff captain came up to me and said I was the talk of the ship. I couldn’t understand why and he explained, ‘That man you told to sit down earlier, he’s the King of Greece!’

 

Our final stop for the day was at The Black Swan – the Arts Symposium as part of Live at Leeds. The sun came out which was lovely. We relaxed surrounded by various live arts interventions. Questions which arose…

If you could change anything, what would you change? Make life expectancy 300 years plus so that people would have to live with the consequences of their own decisions. A world where we all start on a more equal footing…same level of privilege and wealth and love.

The question ‘What is your favourite word?’ came up, which led to us all answering the ten Proust questions…

What is your favorite word?
What is your least favorite word?
What turns you on?
What turns you off?
What sound or noise do you love?
What sound or noise do you hate?
What is your favorite curse word?
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
What profession would you not like to do?
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

Apparently, these questions reveal our inner personality (above is the edited version we answered). What insights these questions actually gave us into one another I’m not, but it was a definite leveller and fun! I’d recommend it for an interesting conversation starter most definitely.

Questions added by people at The Black Swan….

Do we truly have free will?

Do I really need this?

What’s going on?

What are you grateful for?

Who are you?

Who or what has most influenced you in your life?

And my personal favourite…

Is Love chemical? Is it? What do you think?