4th Plinth Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormleys One & Other project raising awareness for Chiari Malformation

After setting off at 6am on a grey Saturday morning I arrived in London at 9.45am, 15 minutes later than I was due at the One & Other offices, I was panicking about being late and not having remembered to take the emergency contact number with me until I received a call from one of the team telling me not to worry, they had the kettle on ready for my arrival...

By the time I eventually arrived at the office the sky had cleared and I had no use for the pac-a-mac I'd bought at the services on the way up. I was greeted by the security guard Diane, who checked to make sure I wasn't about to take anything dangerous onto the plinth with me, after deducing I wasn't carrying any weaponry in my handbag I was shown into the One & Other portacabins. As promised the kettle was on so I took a seat while I filled out the necessary paperwork stating I was responsible for my own safety (probably something I should NEVER agree to) and that I agreed to my images being used.

My family had travelled to London with me so at this point I sent them into the square to meet the others who were coming to support us. They were armed with t-shirts, petitions and lollies that would be handed out to the crowd. Whilst they were meeting and greeting fellow Chiarians I was interviewed for the library archive, this was an audio recording and as you would expect, half way through, brain fog set in! I completely forgot what I was talking about but managed to wing my way to the end of the interview, although I have absolutely no recollection of what I was saying, after that I had some photos taken and before I knew it I was ready to be taken to the plinth...

I had a quick safety briefing and boarded the JCB, I was made to promise that if anything fell into the safety net I would leave it there, in turn I made them promise me that If I should fall into the safety net they wouldn't follow the same rules. The JCBs have become the unspoken stars of the whole One & Other experience, they are agricultural machines that have been adapted with huge cages on the front to lift plinthers into position, you can often here the faint 'beep, beep, beep' on the live feed as they make their way to and from the plinth. Its funny that hearing the noise I'd heard so many times watching other plinther's hours was what made it sink in, I was finally there!

At 11am I was raised up into the sky then lowered onto the plinth before me, oddly this seemed to be the point at which my nerves vanished, I briefly took in the cameras pointed at me, how high the plinth actually is (22ft is a long way up) and the crowd before me, ordinarily any one of these elements would frighten the living daylights out of me but once you're up there its a strangely calming experience.

I set about anchoring my banner down with gaffer tape and prepared my 'stage' I took a book of quotes from chiarians up with me and the plan was with 45 pages and an hour on the plinth I would have 15 minutes left to take photos and take in the surroundings. Now, as we all know, nothing EVER goes to plan.
As I was going through the quotes, the first: 'my brain is too big for my skull' and 'I have Chiari malformation' it was great to see the people in the square taking note and asking me to look their way for photos, quite frequenty I would hear a yell from the tourists on the passing open top busses asking for a wave, well...they were shouting and waving at me so I assumed thats what they wanted me to do.

As my hour passed more and more Chiarians with their 'Fight Chiari Malformation' t-shirts began to arrive, I had never met any of these people before although some of them I had been in touch with for a while via my facebook group. It was great to see so many people who had never met other Chiarians coming together, we're all affected in different ways yet we all share a common bond.

Part way through my hour my banner I'd so 'carefully' stuck down blew away into the crowds, luckily it glided over the safety net and ended up in my mothers hands, it spent the remainder of the hour doing laps of the crowds and probably raised alot more awareness down in the square than its time lying on the plinth for the webcam viewers!

Before I knew it I heard the familiar 'beep, beep, beep' of the JCB coming to get me, somehow I still wasn't at the end of my book by this point so I hurried to get through it and get some photos taken, I wasn't going to miss that opportunity! I'm grateful that what I was doing on the plinth allowed me to take in some of the surroundings, the square was a hive of activity and I was able catch a glimpse of the worlds greatest freerunners practicing for the world chamionships that afternoon.

I left the plinth to a round of applause, possibly because I was getting off, sad to see the end of my hour but happy that I could now get to be part of the crowd below, on the ride back to the offices I first met the people who had come to support me, I was overwhelmed that so many people I had never met had turned up to help out. After saying my thank-yous and goodbyes to the team I finally got to go and meet everyone properly, I think everyone there would agree it was an amazing day and I'm so grateful I had this once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope that my stint on the plinth will live on past it's allocated hour and continue to raise awareness for a long time to come.

http://ichiarian.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

http://www.oneandother.co.uk/

Other related blogs:

So what is Chiari malformation?
Laura;s video on YouTube
Lauras UK Press release