The secret world of puddles

As the new year arrived in 2016, my home city of Newcastle upon Tyne was briefly the center of global attention—for a puddle. The Drummond Puddle, as it was grandly known, was a watery hazard placed perfectly where converging footpaths funneled a daily stream of victims to their doom. To the wonderment of the world, their fate was livestreamed over the internet to more than half a million viewers.