Hup and down the square!

I always find these sorts of guards (of the unblinking, tourist-ignoring, random boot-stamping variety) slightly inhuman.

This is ruined a little when they do something very routine and entirely un-toy-solder-like. In this case, the three marched up to a gate, by a circuitous but geometrically precise route, and came to a loud, heel-jarring halt. They then were forced to wait while the senior officer (marching at the rear in the above shot... I like to think he's a sergeant major) fumbled about in his pocket for keys, opened the gate to let his juniors through, followed, with even more pivoting and boot-stamping in his efforts to turn around and close the gate (I think to compensate for the unceremoniousness of the activity he was undertaking), before continuing on to escort them to a changing of the guard.