Mobs and Flashes
Confused onlookers witnessed a bizarre event last Saturday as the weird and wonderful world of the Flash-mob visited Oxford. The crazy group gathered under the Bridge of Sighs at 1pm on Saturday, under instructions simply to "follow the woman in the furry hat."
Flash-mobbing aims to bring together a large group of people via email and text message. They then gather in one place, do something spontaneous and disperse quickly.
In London Flash-mob has had resounding success with over 200 people congregating outside a Sofa shop. Also in New York many gathered in Toys R Us apparently fixated on a plastic dinosaur whose roars reduced them to moans.
Here Flash-mob, organised by Leo Hunter and Nikki Joy from the Oxford area, did not prompt so large a turn-out. Around 20 people arrived at the appointed place and followed the lead of the eccentric organisers as directed. They jumped, kicked, body-popped and ran from one side of the street to the other before dispersing.
A local student resident told The Oxstu: "It was so quiet we weren't even aware it was happening." However, despite the poor turnout Hunter maintains: "it was a success - one of those things you only do once or twice in a lifetime but you look back on with a wry smile."
Flash-mob also managed to attract the attention of bemused tourists. Marco from Naples, who was only in Oxford for the day, actually joined in and told The Oxstu: "it's a great idea and it's nice to see that people in Oxford don't take themselves too seriously."
13th Nov 2003