The average citizen gets an extreme emotional delight in ‘crying the blues’ to anyone who might lend an attentive ear.

Called into being on short notice by Web sites and e-mail distribution lists, flash mobs meet at an appointed time, engage in some organized spontaneity for a few minutes, then rapidly disperse. The activities are innocent, if mysterious, and tend to bring together loose groupings of surprisingly conventional looking young adults.

Did you know? The London & North Western that became part of the LMS actually consisted of the older LNWR and the Lancashire & Yorkshire. Their merger came into effect on January 1 1922 to create the biggest but most short-lived "pre-Grouping' company.

They zapped a lot of files before realizing they had not backed up lately.