A country mouse goes to London
Down to London today and on the train I read Matthew Parris in the Times. He asked "Has rural Britain responded differently to the London bombings than urban Britain? Is the country another country?"
I think he has a point that if you can identify with the people involved it becomes much more real. I knew people working in London that day and therefore could connect with it more than other people who felt yes, it was shocking but not so relevant to them. Others have made the point that bombings like this happen every day in Baghdad and we become immune to it.
So arriving at St Pancras and immediately the aftermath is apparent. A4 posters of missing people with poignant appeals for information there were not many of them but they were all pictures of young people, smiling and happy.
Then walking along the Euston Road with many others who would have travelled on the Circle Line trains, we passed St Pancras Church with its piles of flowers and beyond the screens shielding our view of the bus in Tavistock Square. People seemed hypersensitive to the sound of sirens a common enough sound on the Euston Road, but today they had more significance.
And after a busy meeting where the matters of Thursday were not discussed, except in terms of people�s travel arrangements, it was back along Marylebone Road and Euston Road. Now as I passed the screenings at Tavistock Square the place was humming loads of cameramen with very long lenses - pointing at the screens but waiting for something to happen. And of course as soon as there are cameras people stop to gawp and see what the cameras are looking at no doubt there were also people there to pay their respects, but it was not a peaceful place to do that better to be inside the church for peace and calm.
And then back on the train and home safely to the normality of small town Britain.
3 comments:
Somehow-I dont see that
i havent lived in london for 10 years-but i remember the IRA campaign and you just sort of got immune
horrible though it is
Life goes on
beanz glad your trip to London was a safe one-there have been over 51 security alerts since friday morning - i was evacuated from tube this morning (victoria line) with an alert at Euston station...so fear is something that we in London are going to be living with for some time. I agree that we do become detached when far awhile...I would rather people feel that way, as the anxiety we feel right now is not something we want others to have to go throuh. Stay safe. Michelle
Beanz
There is no difference between town and country. We all respond more to what we Know, what is closest.
Apparantly one of the consequencies is that more bikes are being sold so we all adapt somehow or other
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