Months of madness

This is a March in three parts: in the month of March there is a march from the town of March to Cambridge. It is described on its website as a “long, flat, pointless walk across the Fens” – to protest nothing. Its pointlessness is the very reason people do it. If a definition of madness is not realising that what you’re doing is mad, one definition of eccentricity is realising it but carrying on regardless.

In an attempt to revive interest this year, however, the bluff of the March March march was called: hardly anyone turned up. Does this mean that eccentricity is on the decline? Not at all. In May, one can go “worm charming” in Devon. Later that month they roll cheeses down Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester. In June, there is an egg-cracking festival in Lincolnshire. And for those who wish to continue the alliterative tradition, perhaps August Town, Jamaica, is the place to go. An august August in August sounds like a jolly silly holiday.