Speakers' corner

Dad: "I was going to speak at Speakers' Corner, but there was a looong queue. Didn't have time to wait because I had to meet you."
Me: "That's ok Dad, I'll book you a slot for next weekend."

It was quite a surprise when we got out of high tea around 6pm, and Speakers' Corner at Hyde Park was still going strong. I've always wanted to hear the ranters :) Public speaking is not my best ability. In fact, I had to do a presentation last week to a whole bunch of HR people. I swear, I could hear crickets scratching at the end of it :P So I was impressed to see such a large crowd gather to hear what a total random stranger had to say.

That is... until I realised, I couldn't understand a word of what was being said :P Strangely, the ones drawing a crowd were speaking in Arabic. I asked someone for a translation, and was told, "This man is from Egypt. He is saying, Egypt is the best country. Better than all the other Arabic countries". Hrm. Fairly mundane topic, but I guess that would explain why there were a lot of Arabic men arguing with him. I was hoping for something a little more controversial, like about the conflicts in Iran or Iraq.

The only English speaker I could hear, was ranting about Jesus. What's new eh?

So, kinda disappointed by Speakers' Corner, but at least now I can mark it as "done" on my Rondon to-do list.