I woke up this morning to the desperately grim news of multiple bomb blasts in London, on the first day of the G8 summit in Scotland and just 24 hours after the news of the city’s 2012 Olympics triumph. As I write, the official death toll stands at 37, although it will no doubt rise higher as some of the critically-injured victims fail to pull through.
I lived in London for 12 years (through the IRA’s mainland bombing campaign in fact, which now seems relatively civilized in comparison to this sickeningly brutal attack on the softest targets), and although none of my family is currently living in the capital, I have a handful of good friends, and a much larger number of less-close friends, colleagues and acquintances there.
I sent a mass e-mail to everyone that I thought might be at risk, and so far the worst reports have been tales of disrupted journeys and close shaves like this one:
Tony.
Hello.
I am fine but may well have been saved by a late running train. I was in Farringdon at time of bombs and should have already been in King's Cross. The week before I was stuck on a train in that tunnel for 32 minutes. This morning we were just disembarked at Farringdon and told to proceed by bus.
As no further information was then given to anybody I was just getting grumpier and grumpier as I went from bus to tube to bus to train to bus to tube to bus. Paying for each bus trip as I tried to get to work and finding one by one that all tube stations were shut.
Of course I just came to the conclusion that it was a conspiracy against me. Especially when the bus I got on to take me home (so I could just drive to work) stopped and turned off it's engine and lights. When the driver came upstairs asking about any unclaimed bags and said, "There's bombs going off all over London" it all made sense. Finding nothing the brave man then proceeded to drive us all to our destinations. Fortunately mine was merely home and not actual destiny.
So that was why they got all the tube trains out of the tunnels so fast though.
I got home, watched the news on the telly for fifteen minutes then cycled to work. An hour and a half late. If I was working for a company I could have had the day off free. But bombs can't stop the self employed. I shall also cycle in tomorrow.
Hope your life is ok.
Cheers
I'm off to the pub now
Paul F.
I feel very sorry for the friends and relatives of people that were not as lucky as my friend Paul.