I have signed up to be one of the people on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. For those of you who don't know, the fourth plinth has been allocated to different sculptors for a number of years.
The latest artist to be offered the spot is Antony Gormley - who has come up with a concept called One & Other, which involves inviting members of the public to each spend an hour on the plinth doing pretty much whatever they want.
Anyway, a couple of Sundays ago I decided to go to see the spectacle. When I arrived, Trafalgar Square was buzzing with different protesters. I saw Tamils protesting about the situation in Sri Lanka and Iranians protesting about the crackdown following their elections.
Perhaps it is reflective of our apathy but, despite finding ourselves in the midst of an economic crisis that has wiped out the savings of millions, there wasn't anyone protesting about domestic issues.
Meanwhile, I watched as a giant JCB cherry picker deposited a woman with a small yoga stool on the fourth plinth.
She proceeded to have her lunch and then started writing what appeared to be a very long list. I was confused as to what she meant by all of this and so I went to the organisers office to find out.
There I found another woman alleging that the current plinther was in fact part of a sect supposed to be involved in people smuggling!
I have no idea if this accusation was true but it did make me think that pretty much anyone could have a go at this. So, I signed up as a reserve plinther.
The organiser told me they often had cancellations and if I could get to the plinth with about 20 minutes notice (Professional Pensions Towers is a five-minute walk away) I could at some point over the coming months have my hour on the plinth.
The problem now is what would I do with my hour up there? Do I rant about pension accounting standards? I reckon an hour might not be long enough for that. What about the lack of consistency in pensions policy? Perhaps I could simply try to encourage people to think about pensions and savings full stop. Though how I do this, I am not quite sure.
There is a website for the plinthers (www.oneandother.co.uk), which would allow me to go into more detail about what my hour up there means, but the key is to make some sort of impact while I am up there.
As it is, I will be dressed in my suit and replying to emails on my BlackBerry. Hardly inspiring but probably reflective of what the average London journalist spends their time doing.
If anyone has any alternative (but legal) ideas of what I should do when I get my hour on the plinth, please let me know.
