Quick Jeeves - to the fire escape route!

I've been at a conference in the Whitehall area this morning - very interesting it was, and a nice lunch too.

The fire exit signs (they're on the way out aren't they?) are so posh the man fleeing from impending danger is wearing a top hat and tails. I love that.

While there I, and two other delegates / attendees at my table, managed to shock, confuse and eventually convince a Swedish chap that English football stadiums really can be emptied in about 10 minutes.* He was utterly incredulous about this and demanded I explain how it worked.

I replied, 'don't look at me mate, I'm just a journalist', which failed to impress him, but thankfully, with my two table sitters - who knew the speed and order of a football crowd post-match - we managed to, just about, win him around to this notion. He claimed he'd seen a sector of a Dutch crowd empty in about 2-3 hours. I was tempted to make a cliched joke about the Dutch, but decided decorum suggested not.

*If you want proof of this - see Bernabeu 2004 - eight minutes.