What a time to be alive: Internet captivated by ... a puddle

The internet has outdone itself again. Thousands of people worldwide have downed tools to watched a live stream of people crossing a big puddle in northern England.

More than 300,000 people have watched the video on Periscope while a Twitter hashtag of #Drummondpuddlewatch was one of the highest trending across Britain.

The puddle appeared just off Jesmond Road West, Newcastle, and was videoed out of the window of marketing company Drummond Central Ltd.

For hours, passers by were seen attempting to navigate around the mass of water without getting their feet wet. This involved running and jumping, climbing round the side and a slow tip-toe walk.

Soon the puddle’s fame began to spread and people began arriving holding surfboards and a lilo.

Beth Hazon, managing director of Drummond, said they had been watching people try to cross the puddle for weeks. “It’s crazy, we watch it every single day,” she said. “There’s been so much rain in the past month that we’ve seen people try and navigate their way across the puddle as to quite a busy stretch.

“So we decided to stream it purely for our own amusement, I’d love to say there’s some clever deep strategy but it is just genuinely hilarious.”

Richard Lovejoy, a 20-year-old student, was making his way home when he came across the obstacle. “I didn’t know anything about the furore online,” he said. “But I can see why it would be funny to watch.”

Even Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted to say he was watching it.

Periscope is a video tool that allows anyone to broadcast live online from their phone.