Kerbside Singalong

Just when I thought city living could not get more irritating, Boris Johnson and company have come up with more lunacy that will make it just that.

The Sunday Times reports that the mayor of London is backing a new scheme where "31 pianos are to be plonked around the capital to encourage people to gather for a singsong with strangers. They will be placed at prominent sites such as the British Library, the Natural History Museum, the Bank of England and Tate Britain."

A full-time piano tuner will zip around between pianos on a bicycle to keep them all in working order.

The article goes on to say that:

The organisers believe the scheme will encourage trust. Although the pianos will be chained to bollards and railings, members of the public will be trusted not to vandalise the instruments or steal the laminated songbooks.

Colette Hiller, director of the scheme, which is part of the Sing London festival [says] “We want people to treat the piano nicely, as they would a piano in their own home, to enjoy the songbooks with care and to cover the piano when it rains.”

Right. (Can you imagine how long these things would last in Manhattan?)

Anyway, now between wedging myself into overcrowded tube carraiges, dodging motorcycles and avoiding free newspapers being shoved into my face, I can listening to screaming Susan Boyle wannabes belting out show tunes on street corners courtesy of the Mayor of London.

Thanks, Boris.