Manchester...

seems to be going through a massive construction programme of boozers and student digs. Every second building is a bar named Colon or Meek. Undergraduates lurk in nooks and crannies many becoming trapped in the shoes of pedestrians. An experience akin to stepping on a slug though without the squashy, and that muffled "Oy!" as they wake up can really make a person jump. Generally the student body is harmless as it moves from site to site, from lecture to seminar in vast heaving migrations through the southern half of Manchester's city centre, which incidentally is also the largest student campus in Europe.

Using excellent graphics a recent history book shows the route and size of Napoleon's grand army as it invaded Russia in 1812, laid seige to Moscow and was then forced by General Winter into an ignominious retreat. You can see the wide swathe as tens upon tens of thousands of troops cross the eastern borders into Imperial Russia. Many battles are fought but the real attrition begins with winter and the great retreat. All but a trickle make it to their final destination, to their dream of a return once more to France. Far too many fall by the wayside and are never seen again. I suspect if we did a poll of how many students make it past the bars we might be looking at a similar demographic.