Yesterday was yet another of those days which reminded me how awesome living in London is. To be honest I didn’t have much of a plan: I have a new anti-Trump hat which I thought I’d go try to show off in Parliament Square, but I fancied a bit of a trundle first. I caught the Elisabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road, and had a look round Soho. There wasn’t much going on there, so I headed towards Westminster.

On my way through Trafalgar Square, however, I got rather distracted. The square was swelling with people; people were selling food from vans. I encountered a street preacher who, naturally, I instantly started to tell to shut up. I then got into a debate with him about the nature of reality, which lasted about half an hour. But it was only when that ended that the fun really began.

Heading towards the entrance to Whitehall I started to hear music: cool, rock music of the kind I usually like. Some guys were playing in that end of the square, and people were starting to gather to listen. There were three or four of them: fairly young, and they looked rather funky. The young lady on the drums struck me as especially impressive. The crowd around them was growing, and starting to get into the swing of things.

Needless to say I joined them. I was rather hesitant at first, not wanting to cause any trouble, but pretty soon I was rocking about, flying around in my powerchair like a mad-thing! The band seemed to welcome it, and the funky-looking lead singer encouraged me. They were playing all kinds of cool things, including American Idiot by Greenday. That, of course, lead me to ask if they knew Basketcase, and when they started playing it, the buildings around the square echoing to the lyrics “Do you have the time, to listen to me whine…” I went into full rock mode. The afternoon had suddenly become awesome.

Between songs, the lead singer spoke to the crowd, introducing the band as The Vone. They were busking of course, and asking for donations. I instantly took a liking to this group of young people, and was especially taken by how the lead singer took the time to see what I was typing into my Ipad. Their gig lasted about an hour or so, after which I started talking to them. The lead singer, Marcello, thanked me for my dancing, and I apologised for stealing the show somewhat. As the band packed up their things, I asked if they fancied a beer, and Marcello told me that they were about to go to a nearby pub, inviting me along.

The rest of the evening was spent getting to know my new friends. Marcello turned out to be a fascinating guy: I had assumed he was American given his accent, but he was from brazil. He works as a musician for Cbeebees. He also told me that he lives in Woolwich, so there is a chance we could meet up again. London has this incredible ability to introduce you to fascinating people, so that every morning you never know who you’re going to meet or what you’ll encounter. Yesterday was another of those amazing days which suddenly morphed into something incredible. I have new friends and new memories – what more could I ask for?