That seems like a very sensible idea. The video is funny, though: Look! People are walking! A lot of people! Now fewer people! Now the buses are going! Woo!

The trick when you are crossing diagonally is to make sure you get past the mid-point before the people walking at 90 degrees to you do. Otherwise you are constantly dodging people. Still, "scramble" crossings are much better that the stupid concept of having to cross both streets separately.

"In homage to its Far Eastern inspiration, Mr Johnson struck a two-metre high cymbal as Japanese musicians played taiko drums. "

I - what?

I adore taiko drums and think they should be present at every ceremony ever.

Hmmm... that just gave me some wedding ideas...

Occhiblu, I had the same reaction as you. I commented aloud that I thought it was funny that they felt the need to include the video, and my husband promptly responded "There's a video? I want to see it!". Go figure.

The people mingling as they cross the center should all high-five each other as they pass.

Ahh, nice. We have (much less impressively) a couple of diagonals here in Squirrel Hill, and Oakland, which is lovely as the students seem to believe they are sacred cows and amble into the very busy streets when and where they feel like it.

No drums, though.

This is a good thing. Oxford Circus used to be a total goatfuck to navigate on foot. It's probably still going to be too crowded for my liking. I always cut down a side turning and navigate via a parallel street, usually past the BBC in Portland Place, a deco masterpiece which always worth a detour to admire.

!maryann, I thought of Squirrel Hill when I saw that too. That pattern is pretty common here; first let cars in one direction go, then let the cars in the other direction go and then let the pedestrians go in all directions.

Wow, London just keeps getting busier. I was in my old hood (Victoria station) for a brief hopscotch between trains and underground and a quick buy of coffee in one of those outdoor stands and my jaw dropped at how crazy busy the station had become compared to when I lived there. I'd like to see CCTV or something from 1994 and compare it to 2007 when I was back because I swear the amount of people, buses, police, street vendors, taxis and trains must have at the very least, quadrupled.

(and yes, that did indeed make me feel really really old because that's a long time away and yet I feel pretty much exactly the same, it was all the changes that made me realize how much time had passed)

"In homage to its Far Eastern inspiration, Mr Johnson struck a two-metre high cymbal as Japanese musicians played taiko drums. "

I - what?

Armoured-ant had a similar, but much swearier, reaction. (contains c word)