Aftermath

Distraught and unable to concentrate at work, I left early on Thursday. Constantly reading the BBC's coverage and the newspapers' blow-by-blow timelines of the attack, I was all I could do to not burst into sobs at my desk. Having taken the Tube every day for six months, I kept imagining myself in the place of the commuters. Luckily for me, most of my friends don't live in London, but I still spent an hour or so emailing everyone I could think of who lived over there.

Comments ranged from my old boss's "it is chaos here, as you can imagine! I am working out how to get home" to the classic British understatement from a friend working in Canary Wharf: "it has been a bit of a mess here the last 24 hours."

A few friends had close encounters, such as my friend's father:
"None of us were in london, but Russell Square is where i am a visiting Fellow and am here quite often, so it is close to home."

One of my favorite responses was from a good Welsh pal:
"So its bloody poo poo ka ka about what has happened in london today, damn fuckin terrorists, cunty bastards. Im just lucky cos I have been in london the last couple of days-so im glad i didnt stay for one more night!"

Even people outside of London itself were affected, mostly by panic-induced misinformation. This is from an American friend who lives in Scotland and works in England:

"Our office [in Brighton] is right next to the train station. They had to shut everything down around here because there was a suspicious package in the station. They managed to control it apparently.

I am very nervous now because I have to fly from Gatwick up to Glasgow tomorrow and now do that again and again for the next 10 months! I hate flying anyway. Cross your fingers tomorrow for me!"

Friends in Croydon, a suburb of London, had this to say:

"We were all happy that London had won the Olympic Games but the terrorist attacks have made all of us worried and depressed so whats new.

We were in work and had no idea what was going on there were lots of police around and the buses and trains were stopped although people were shopping as if nothing happened. A radio station announced that Sutton a town very close had been attacked and that HSBC bank in Croydon had a large explosive device in it, neither was actually true. But at the time we had no idea about the scale of the attack and about what was the target because no one knew. 50,000 Police and emergency response decended on London so at least we felt that we were being protected.

Near Kings Cross the tube has collapsed and a destroyed train is still there full of victims, now dead of course,and that bus explosion worried everyone. We dont know who did it yet though Iam sure that the scum will be caught. It is no where near the horror that New York suffered so we are all lucky i guess."

Most of my friends seem to count their blessings, either by comparing the attack in London to New York's devastation, or by remarking how well the IRA has prepared the British for this sort of thing:

"Things are a little strange round here right now. Blanket news and paper coverage as you imagine.

It is also strange how everything seems to be back to normal, we had one day of feeling bad and now everyone seems to be making a point of trying to get back to normal.

The whole day yesterday reminded me of being a kid and hearing about IRA bombs on the news, it was pretty common at least twice a year there would be a big bomb somewhere like London or Manchester or Warrington, eventually you became kind of desensitized to it even when people would die it was just a case of another IRA bomb but since there has been a ceasefire for about 6 years I had forgotten what it was like to have a bomb go off in your home country, very strange feelings. I will certainly be apprehensive when I am next on the tube.

Still it seems like London is coping well and the British love nothing better then keeping a stiff upper lip in times of adversity so I am sure London will be back to normal very quickly."

And of course, there are those who make light of it all:

"Whats aweful? What have we had to go through? Did I miss something?

Oh right - that. No, really. London's been bombed so many times before that its really not that big a deal. Pretty sure all the trains and buses are back on schedule already! Nice of you all the same. Thanks!"

I'm blessed that none of my friends (or even their friends) were affected. But what's next? I spoke to a friend in France this morning, and have to wonder: when will Paris get hit?

When will it end?