London has fun with soft furnishings.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was my first full day in London. I checked out the Barbican Centre, where I saw a very interesting Daniel Libeskind exhibition. I didn't mean to sneak in, I really just wandered in, and didn't realise you were supposed to pay £5 until I was wandering out again!

I also spend a few delicious hours in the nearby London Museum, I won't bore you with the details but I loved it. Having been kicked out at closing time, I decided to have a look at the outside of St Paul's cathdral. On the way there I was passed by two young men with pillowcases slung over their shoulders. I thought this was a little bit odd, maybe they were headed to some outdoor event such as a concert, but the weather wasn't ideal. Then I saw someone with a handful of fluff in his hands. Curiouser and curiouser.

When I reached the front steps of the cathedral, there was a tight crowd of people, the ones around the outside just standing and laughing, and I could see pillows flying around in the middle. Two policement stood at the edge, watching. I had almost walked right into a huge pillow fight. I stood up on the steps to get a better view, and took a couple of photos. I had heard of flash mobs before, I think there was a recent one in Sydney involving people shooting each other with bananas, but this was the first time I'd seen it happening. I thought they were usually supposed to be over quickly... obviously people were having way too much fun hitting each other with pillows. The ground was covered in feathers and fluff, and it had obviously started quite a while before I got there. After 15 minutes or so of this (I got bored and started consulting bus maps) a huge cheer went up. Someone had been declared the winner. His pillow must have had the strongest stitching.