Wednesday 7 July 2010

Remembering five years ago

Such a terrible day, for all of us, even those who were safe many miles away. The courage of those who were caught up in the London bombings and ensuing chaos remains a vivid memory.

My son, a frequent Tube-traveller, learned of the carnage from me when, desperately worried, I sent him a text - he got such a shock that he sent me an angry response. A friend who was near one of the Tube stations recalls walking across London with hundreds of other people, all drifting along, shocked and silent. We respond in so many different ways to extreme events.

This was written by a survivor in the week that followed. I wonder how she and all the others are now; they are much in my thoughts today.

7 comments:

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

I think it came far too close to Smitonius for comfort , in that one went off round the corner from her college . But after endless fruitless phone calls , I found out that she and partner were safe , unlike very many in London that day .
The inability to get through on the 'phone makes one panic more , I agree . Makes you wonder how people in war zones cope , day in , day out .

Anonymous said...

Thankyou for posting that Urban thread.The young woman is right - I survived some unpleasant moments years ago and vowed never to hide in fright.

(And Zummerzet zounds lovely.Arrr!)

the veg artist said...

My husband is on the train into London now. He was born and raised a Londoner, and keeps telling me that the odds on anything happening to him are minute - he sees himself as only one of so many passing through.
I see him as the only one.
He doesn't understand the skill of long-distance worry.

Suse said...

That was a shocking day. Absolutely shocking.

ps. congratulations on forthcoming move to Somerset! That's where Cap'n Birdseye lives, right?

jabblog said...

I remember that day. My son and two of my daughters work in London and my husband had business in town that day. I knew nothing of it until middle daughter phoned as ambulances screamed past her place of work. It could have been any of them . . .

Bee said...

I was in London all day yesterday . . . riding the Tube and thinking of those poor people who thought it would all be business-as-usual that day.

mountainear said...

A shocking day - and yes, we all felt the shock waves and how many of us have a story to tell. In my case an anxious afternoon before being able to contact our eldest son and going into shops here in Shrewsbury and hearing the story gradually unfolding from fairly innocent beginnings to the awful truth.

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