Sheep?

Not that it's at all important for any reason whatsoever, but this is my 400th post. Though I'm going to tie that in to what I have to talk about here, I have amazing powers of association I tell you!

This weekend I was out and about quite a bit. Tlsd has talked about a bit of it here and here, so I don't see any need to go over things you can read elsewhere, I don't have much else I feel I need to contribute. On the other hand, the main thing tlsd missed was the sheep walk.

The sheep walk was a curious thing. For starters, it was supposed to be 60 sheep and there is no way that was 60 sheep. Maybe 30, tops- but I think possibly even less. I got to the Millennium Bridge at probably 10:45 where people were amassing like, well, like sheep.
I managed to squeeze my way down the narrow route, but was being increasingly shoved about and losing visibility because I am not that tall. In fact, I didn't really manage to see the sheep coming over the bridge, which was sort of what I wanted to see most. But that was alright, because I managed to follow them all the way back to Smithfield market taking photos along the way and being alternately amused and irritated by the animal rights protesters.

Of course, it's all a bit symbolic no? Sheep. I listened to another argument later in the day made by someone who works at my office that we bumped into who said, 'What do sheep have to do with architecture and raising awareness?'. And I thought, what a silly thing to say, because any event that can manage to drum up the masses and herd them towards a singular focus is actually highly effective.

People as sheep. It's not a new theory. Humans are pack animals. We follow trends. We look for directions. And often many of those who think they are on the fringe or cutting edge are actually not at all. Which is sometimes very apparent from an outside or more global perspective. I was thinking all these things over the weekend about people who want to fit in to things. About how overriding that drive can seem sometimes, and sometime obliterate people's unique and endearing characteristics- because they so desperately wish they were just like everyone else. I think about blogging and it's rise in popularity. Are we all unique, or are we all just sheep? And then this morning I read this article which seemed to slot in nicely with my thoughts that and it seemed like serendipity.

Not that there's anything wrong with sheep.