Well, the whole shebang is over and I managed to not hit any jaywalking pilgrims while out on the roads. I would compare certain elements to that of Woodstock (the FIRST one!) except that the music I heard (on the tube) was worse than atrocious. Singer-songwriter stuff in "Celtic meets Andrew Lloyd Webber" mode. The big problem was that the songs went on for fifteen minutes with the same maudlin choruses repeated endlessly. When this happens there are always a few in the heavenly choir who start to extemporize big time....and I heard quite a bit of off-key improvising.

It really IS tricky to watch this going on all around you, when you simply don't relate it to the supernatural in any way......and believe me, I've tried. The tendency is to just shake your head in wonder at the hundreds of thousands of youth (and not so youth) who are so moved by it. I suppose it doesn't help also, that I spent a few hours on the net trying to read objective accounts of this Pope's life from the thirties on. I wasn't that impressed with many of the positions he's apparently taken....but what the heck, it's been an interesting week.

Cheers

Rick