The world has gone nuts!
Okay. So I went for my driving lesson today. It went really well - only stalled it twice (though once was my instructors fault really but in her defence I was heading in the general direction of someone's garden wall at the time) and I only made a couple of mistakes in the three-point-turn. But that was all my fault - I was doing it too fast.
But then I get back into Carlisle city centre and I see a massive crowd round Costa. I saw a whole load of people with walkie talkies wandering around so I went through The Lanes - the shopping centre in Carlisle - and was about halfway through when a voice came over the tannoy:
"Due to an incident on Scotch Street, Scotch Street is now closed"
Just so you know, Carlisle city centre is a pedestrian zone. The only traffic allowed up is the odd delivery van.
Map - http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|scotch%20street,%20carlisle#map=54.8947,-2.93473|18|32&loc=GB:54.89466:-2.93542:17|scotch%20street,%20carlisle|Scotch%20Street,%20Carlisle%20City,%20Carlisle,%20Cumbria,%20England,%20CA3
They had shut off the entire thing! Also they shut all the shops that had entrances in Scotch Street so that no-one could get in.
I ended up in the Market building - which was right at the bottom of Scotch Street (the only part not shut) and I was trying to listen to the radio that a friend of mine had (he owns a couple of stalls in the building XD) to see what was actually happening.
Turns out there was a 'suspiscious package' in Poundland! (why Poundland I'll never know) and they had shut off the whole street in case it was a bomb.
I leave the city for a couple of hours and this happens!!