www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/22/1069027391752.html

Bush's $2m mushy peas
By Paul Stokes and Sally Pook
November 23, 2003
The Sun-Herald

It was billed as a quiet pub lunch in the English countryside: a chance for President George Bush to mix with ordinary folk, sample traditional fish and chips and enjoy a kitchen-table chat at the constituency home of his friend and ally, Tony Blair ...
Two jumbo jets, two liveried presidential helicopters, four more US Navy helicopters, a motorcade of limousines, 200 US secret service agents and 1300 English police were required to unite Mr Bush safely with his fish and mushy peas. Total cost? £1 million ($2.3 million) ...
While Mr Bush clattered off ... the Queen boarded the train to Winchester to open an army museum ...
The village football pitch was transformed into a helipad as hundreds of police, some with dogs, created a buffer zone of several hundred yards to keep out the locals.
They were almost too effective as Mr Bush, after exchanging greetings with the Blairs, looked around desperately for an English hand to shake ...
Further embarrassment was averted when Mr Bush found a pair of villagers, Gary and Angela Forshaw, waving from behind the barriers ...
The dissenters were kept well away from the Dun Cow, where about 100 carefully selected locals were asked to join the Bushes and the Blairs for lunch.
They started with leek and potato soup , followed by the fish and chips and mushy peas, and lemon creme brulee for pudding. The President, a reformed alcoholic, had a non-alcoholic lager ...
Mr Rayner said it had not been decided who would pay for the £11.45 ($27) meal, but he didn't begrudge the President his visit ...
[permalink][comment] - posted by Mez @ 11/24/2003 10:36:00 pm