I had a very surreal experience today.

I had to go down to the village.  There was nothing surreal about that, and Sandy drove beautifully, as she always does.

I dropped into the pub to buy some tobacco, and to have a chat with Pullit, as one does.  We stood and batted the breeze and looked out the window.

It was then I saw them.

There was a group of about six in front of the grocery shop.  They were obviously tourists, as they all had massive cameras around their necks.  But they were just standing there, like sheep.  Every now and then, one would raise a camera and photograph nothing in particular.

After I left the pub, I realised there were a whole lot more.  I would say there were around two dozen in all, and they were all just standing silently and photographing nothing.  Have you ever seen “Children of the Damned”?  It was a bit like that, only more hair raising.

I stood near a group to hear the accents, but no one said a word.  They looked like your typical Americans – over fed and over here, but they were too quiet.  Eerie.

I waited until another raised his camera, and I stood right in front of him to block his view.  He never batted an eyelid, and just carried on staring through the viewfinder, with a glazed expression.  There was a woman beside him who was very busy photographing the sky.  Maybe they were Americans who had been trapped here by the airlines’ inability to fly through imaginary dust, and were just going through the motions until they could get home again?  Who knows?

It was really scaring me at this stage, so I shot one just to see what the reaction would be.  There was a reaction all right – they all came over and clustered around the body and photographed it, in total silence.

I admit I was really scared it this stage.

I got home as fast as the dog could drive me.