I've not been posting much recently. July is always a busy month: lots of family birthdays, Pride season and this year there was also the small matter of a few bombs...
For the benefit of anyone reading this who doesn't know me, I'm a Londoner and it's seemed somehow inappropriate to be updating my blog with links to daft websites over the last few weeks. Fortunately my experience of the event itself was strictly second-hand. Basically we all heard the news, phoned our mothers and had a cup of tea - it's been a while since I've had to do that but it's like riding a bike, you don't forget. One of my co-workers was caught up in the whole mess and was evacuated from his station but that's about it. At one point he texted us to say he was on a bus trying to get in. We just sent back a message saying "GET OFF THE BUS NOW !!". Fortunately he didn't get it - I think it might have freaked him a bit.
If you are looking for a first hand account of events go here : http://www.pfff.co.uk/weblog/archives/2005/07/surviving_a_ter_1.html
However, I did get to witness - and be impressed by - the emergency services at work. I work directly opposite one of the main ambulance stations for central London so we realised something was up when all their emergency vehicles took off and they started pulling in the volunteer backups - loads of them. By mid-morning there were at least 30 vehicles parked out front . Our road was cordoned off and became an ambulance parking lot. It was a first class demonstration of advanced planning and organisation. Most other building were evacuated but I think they let us stay because we made them coffee and let them use our loos.
The volunteers were amazing. They were pitching up in jeans, overalls or business suits having mostly been paged at work and dropped everything to get there. They checked in, collected their fluorescent vests and medical kits and were ready to roll. They didn't know if they were going to be called out to deal with a broken arm or another explosion but they stuck with it all day.
Together with a slightly reduced number of commuters, I was back on the Tube the next day . It's not bravery - if you live in London and need to get to work there's no alternative. However, it was encouraging to hear all the PA announcements on the Underground contemptuously referring to the previous days' events as an 'incident' . I don't think anyone was trying to dismiss the death of over 50 people but a little bravado goes a long way in situations like that.
A few days later I went home via Liverpool Street station. I walked into the courtyard in front of the station where the City Jazz Festival is taking place. A band was playing some great music on the stage, a few couples were dancing to the music, other commuters like me were enjoying the good weather, the good music and the nice atmosphere before heading home. Below us, about 100 feet away, the police were still conducting their forensic examination at the scene of the Aldgate bomb.
Despite everyone's best efforts, life has changed a little. Earlier this week I was greeted at the ticket barrier by about half a dozen police carrying semi-automatic weapons. OK, I know that the transport system is crawling with security, but guns at PADDINGTON ferrchrissakes! What would Aunt Lucy say!?!?!? Additionally I now know the ( alleged ) safe distance to keep from one of these bombs . This was owing to a surreally casual conversation with colleague acquainted with somebody who saw one of the bombs explode. I'm also starting to despise certain of my fellow commuters who change carriages the minute they spot someone ' a bit foreign looking ' Since the vast majority of London 's population is not at all Aryan that's a lot of carriage hopping.
Still, maybe it'll mean I get a seat more often.
Thankfully I'm finding that a large number of my fellows share my determinedly irreverent attitude , which is a relief. Here's a sample of some of the ones I'll remember for a lot longer than I want to remember 7/7
[Note . Terrorism 101 - don't try to scare Brits, it just makes them more bloody-minded, stubborn and pissed off]
Tim Worstall: Terrorist Bombs in London : No grand demonstrations, few warlike chants, a desire for revenge, of course, but the reaction of the average man and woman in the street? Yes, you've tried it now bugger off. We're not scared, no, you won't change us. Even if we are scared, you can still bugger off."
This whole business also introduced me to The London News Review which contains lots of satirical goodness quite apart from their A Letter To The Terrorists, From London : " ... we're better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we're going to go about our lives. We're going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we're going to work. And we're going down the pub.
So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the fuck out of our city. "
This all reminds me of a quote from Battle of Britain (1969) . Responding to an ultimatum from the German ambassador Baron Von Richter's, the British ambassador in Switzerland Sir David Kelly 'twats' him rather dramatically:
"We're not easily frightened. Also, we know how hard it is for an army to cross the channel. Last little corporal who tried came a cropper. So don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall! And even then we won't listen. "
(actually, London was being bombed long before Hitler came on the scene , so we're probably a bit more used to it than you might think. For more detail over the last 30 years see: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/london_bombing/uk_historyattacks.html)
However, although it's OK for us to talk like that in the immediate aftermath. We're really not too keen about the sentimental expressions of unity (the "we feel your pain" crap) which have popping up like fungi all over the web. S adly few non-Londoners have realised that until recently. Among the first offenders were the folk at London hurts who came up with a logo which frankly made me want to stick my finger down my throat. Fortunately, a few rather earthy Londoners armed with copies of Photoshop gave it the graphic Bronx cheer it so richly deserved: London Will Fucking Twat You In A Minute, Son
I think we've rather shocked the rest of the world in the way that we've unrelentingly flipped the bird at the bombers, their sympathisers, OUR sympathisers and well, anyone just looking at us in a funny way: One joker is even advertising for new bombers !
Meanwhile We're not afraid started out as a good idea (lack of punctuation aside) but when the declarations were being made by people (or their pets) in some really obscure (i.e.. safe) places it stated to get a bit meaningless. I mean, apart from Mount Etna suddenly exploding, what does a Tortoise in Sicily have to be afraid of anyway? Fortunately my new best friends at The London News Review came to the rescue with I am fucking terrified.
One of the things I have learned from recent events is not to react to the news that comes out 'on the day'. Most of it is speculative, second, third or fourth hand and a lot of it will come from people with an agenda. Give it 24 hours before you start taking any news too seriously. Bob Crow learned that lesson the hard way when he believed the initial explanation for the explosions and started making political capital out of it on Sky News. He should at least have waited; even without official confirmation most people can work out that a power surge can't blow the top off a bus. (and somebody should have told him that 'power surge' is probably the security code for terrorist attack).
As usual Teflon Tony seems to have avoided most of the fallout from these events. To give him his due, at least when he was informed of the UK's own 9/11, he was working with world leaders to clear third world debt rather than reading a children's story about a goat. Meanwhile David "I'm running for Tory leader' Davies spouted a nice bit of meaningless 'fight them on the beaches' hot air in the Commons, and it was left to London Mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone (who actually USES the Tube, unlike most politicians) to actually say something intelligent with substance. That's not bad for a man who presumably had a whopping hangover after helping to win the Olympic bid in Singapore the previous day.
One nice bit of news this week is that the IRA have thrown in the towel. They know when they're beaten. Even their bombers, despite being Irish, were rarely stupid enough to blow themselves up. [note to bombers - bear in mind that even if you do get those 72 virgins, there's no guarantee that you'll want them - their number also includes Anne Widdecombe].
So, what next? Tomorrow is another "Terrorist Thursday" and together with more people than took part in D-Day, I shall be commuting as usual...touch wood.
posted at 1:35 PM
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