På café for å unngå kaoset

I dag er Condolezza Rice på besøk i Liverpool og på LIPA så jeg har rømt til Manchester. Det har vært fullt av Secret Service-folk rundt på skolen i det siste, og her om dagen fikk vi email om hvordan LIPA forventet at vi skulle oppføre oss når vi fikk besøk. Her er et lite utdrag:

Jack Straw, UK Foreign Secretary and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be visiting Liverpool later this week. The city is officially welcoming the visit as it prepares to be European Capital of Culture for 2008.

As well as visiting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Maritime Museum, they will also be making a brief visit to LIPA, representative of Liverpool’s vibrant, artistic culture.

While they are at LIPA we are keen to ensure that:

q They enjoy the normal warm welcome we extend to all our visitors;
q We do not let the city down by failing to prepare adequately for the visit;
q The visit is kept relatively low key and remains non-political in nature.

So, although this Friday will be a normal working day as far as we are concerned, because of our guests’ international profile, we will have to make sure that our normal security procedures, in respect of the Mount Street Building, are rigorously observed.

q Only students in possession of a valid swipe card bearing a legible photograph will be allowed into the building on Friday. As we are likely to be employing external security staff on the car park gates you should not turn up in the hope that our own security staff will recognise you and let you in

q You should only bring a bag with you on Friday if you need to. If you do bring a bag then you can expect it to be searched before you can enter the site or building. LIPA staff may also need to check your bags for limited periods and in limited areas during the day;

q No visitors will be admitted to the site before 5.00 pm. If you are expecting any then you should make arrangements to meet them off-site;

q For a very short period during the day you may find that access to certain areas of the building is temporarily restricted. Other than this, all areas will be accessible in the normal way.

We are aware that this visit is not welcome by some students. If you genuinely feel that you do not wish to be associated with it then we would respect your decision not to come into LIPA that day.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you may experience. However, I am sure you will appreciate that the extra vigilance we will be employing on Friday is in the interests of everyone’s safety and security.

Ray Adams
Director of Administration and Personnel

Like greit å holde seg borte, tenker jeg. Men selvfølgelig, så fort emailen kom begynte jeg jo å tenke på hva jeg burde putte i veska mi den dagen for å skape mest mulig kaos! Hva med Stanley-kniv og hammer? Det er begrenset hvor mye skumle ting jeg har hjemme.

Men i Manchester er alt stille og rolig, i alle fall så stille og rolig som det kan være i en storby en flott vårdag i slutten av mars. På bussen inn til sentrum i dag kjørte jeg forbi rader på rader med påskeliljer, og da tenkte jeg: Det var jo hyggelig hjemme i Norge med all snøen, men det er ikke så verst her heller hvor våren faktisk har begynt å komme.