After a very wet start, the sun is beginning to come out. I've just been going through the blogs on my Google Reader for the first time in what looks like a month. I'm not promising, but will make an effort to check round a bit more frequently than that.
This weekend, 19 people were crushed to death in the German city of Duisburg. They were headed for a music festival which had attracted a million people. Crowd management had failed, meaning that too many people were trying to push through an entrance tunnel. I remember vividly the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002. A crowd of 1 or 2 million had gathered outside Buckingham Palace to hear a concert by various pop bands and singers. I moved to the front of the throng, but the atmosphere there was aggressive, with people insisting on moving to the very front, being excessively nationalistic - and this poor old couple being led away by police. I don't like big crowds.
