Picketers: Me, Keith Henson (up the road), Arel Lucas, Android Cat. David Palter spotting me early on. Granfalloon walking by to say hi.

Leaflets: Is this Hubbard's Science?/What Judges Say (I'll copy fewer ones next time, still handing one run of these out), Arel had some Xenu leaflets, and whatever Keith had.

I arrived at Starbucks on time - and was earlier than everybody else again. David Palter showed up after ten minutes of waiting. Eventually, since it was almost time to picket and nobody else had showed up, I got David to watch my back for the first little while.

The cult was doing its "good roads and fair weather" bit - their Xenumas (hehe) open house was on, and the cult's Drug Free Marshalls front group had a display outside. They had a popcorn cart, body routers, and had blocked off a bit of Saint Mary Street with a stage and some kids stuff at the back. The inside of the org was an open house.

I picketed for a while, with David Palter handing out the odd leaflet behind me. Eventually that awful suppressive person Keith Henson (who can't complete a cycle of action, and so was late) and Arel Lucas showed up by Starbucks, but eventually made their way to their accustomed picketing spots.

Android Cat showed up a bit later, and then we were four.

Arel decided to picket down the sidewalk closest to the org - which the cult obviously didn't like. She got 'asked' by the off-duty police officer the cult had hired (maybe after reading my picket announcement? who knows?) not to picket on the org side of Saint Mary - was saying something about how Scientology had a permit, and they could exercise some modicum of control over who walked there (obviously not using those exact words).

Arel pointed out that other people were walking there, and the police officer said yes, but they didn't have signs. Obviously there's some problem here in realizing that people with signs have the same rights as people who don't have signs. Arel didn't actually challenge this by picketing up the side of the org again, but it strikes me that the next time I'm at the org I shall picket wherever I have the legal right to do so.

I noticed that finally there was somebody who had a worse time than picketers with the wind - the Scientologists with the popcorn and balloons. Whenever a gust of wind and the generosity of the popcorn server coincided, invariably a puff or two would leak out. They kept sweeping, so the sidewalk remained largely clean. The Scientologists with the balloons were nice enough to attempt to restrain the balloons from blowing against our signs - not that it always worked, though.

Despite the happy Xenumas display, enough passers-by were clued in about the veracity of the org's Xenumas show that they made a few pointed comments - Lisa McPherson (so the news has spread), the Crowleyan cross, and so forth.

As an aside, the Drug-Free Marshalls were looking mighty cold. The garb of the season was a DFM sweatshirt and hat. Some of them had gloves and scarves, but when they were singing on the stage they didn't have coats, and some were obviously shivering. All the adults were wrapped up warmly.

I hope those kids (some were pretty young) at least got to wear thermal underwear, because just jeans gets a bit cold on the knees around this time of year. Was it really so important to have them dressed all in DFM kit rather than be warm? Interesting value judgement.

At about 4:00 darkness was creeping in and the crowd was thinning out. We finished up and ran for the warmth of central heating.

I got pictures, and assuming they were any good I shall no doubt post them as late as I usually do.

Post-picket points to ponder:

I heard one of the Drug Free Marshalls saying "cigarettes aren't included - they're not a drug" to a passerby. Come again? Funny that he should say that - the 52 Division drug sample display right in front of him (with a disclaimer that the samples were mockups, not the real thing) clearly had a cigarette on display in the lower right-hand corner.

I actually heard one of the Drug Free Marshalls use the term "body routing", as he took over leafleting duties. So it's not offering a pleasant open house, it's routing raw meat into the org? Fascinating. (Of course, do tell me if I'm taking this the wrong way, will you?)

People in Avenue Road Roofing jackets don't want leaflets. Not surprising, since ARR is one of the more noticeable WISE (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises) companies in Toronto.

--

** Scientology's gate is down. **
Canadian Scientology information is now at:
http://xenu.ca

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