There was an "incident" in a

major shopping centre yesterday. It is a centre not too far from here and I happened to be at the computer when my news feed pinged in a "major incident".

Major? Was this going to involve some work? I looked. There it was, a shopping centre in lock down and reports of "someone with a weapon". 

A little later I read a report from one of the local journalists, now at the scene. Yes, there were people leaving the centre. Others apparently locked into shops. There were photographs of police dealing with "crowds" and more. It was Sunday afternoon and there were plenty of people there.

I did not go back to it until I checked my news feed at the same time I do every evening. The situation was still at the top of the local news. The reporting was sensational but there were still no reports of death or injury. Later reporting suggests two people were injured in the rush to leave.

It turned out to be a fight between two groups of youths. The police are apparently still trying to catch the offenders.  I hope they do and that they haul them into court and give them something more than a slap on the wrist. I also know it is unlikely to happen.

The overall cost of the incident is going to be very high. This is not just about the cost incurred by the need for the police response. There will be the financial cost to those who trade there. People left shopping trolleys of goods in the supermarket as they fled in panic. I also wonder how many people took advantage of the chaos to shoplift? There will always be some.

"The sort of excitement I could do without," a dog walker told me this morning as I was putting the bin out. He had been there and expressed his disgust at the way people had crowded around the entrance he had used and made it difficult for him to leave.

I know, had I been there, I would have wanted to leave promptly. I would have pedalled off and left the chaos behind me because the police were there. It was their unenviable role to handle it all. I would only have been in the way. I am the sort of individual who will pedal the long way around an accident rather than attempt to pass it. I do not want to be involved unless it is absolutely necessary. I do not want to be part of an "incident" of any sort.

There are, inevitably I suppose, more reports in this morning's paper. I glanced at them but I could not help thinking. "Nobody died and the two injuries were caused by panic. How would all those shoppers have coped if it had really been a major incident with death and destruction?" It would have brought back horrendous memories for a tiny number but most of those shoppers have no idea what the word "war" really means.  I hope they never know but perhaps it is time to teach the young what to do in an "incident" situation?