7/7 London bombings

[Quartz]

3 years ago today London was bombed by terrorists.

Scumbags, you failed utterly.

[ivylass]

We remember those who died, and applaud the stiff upper lip that England invented.

[Hal Briston]

Cripes, I thought this was a breaking news thread...all I could think was "Oh fuck, not again...".

[Dunderman]

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it. Bombs going off? We'll deal. No traffic in the centre? We'll walk in a city of seven million people. We've had worse.

[carlb]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it. Bombs going off? We'll deal. No traffic in the centre? We'll walk in a city of seven million people. We've had worse.

I had essentially the same experience. I think I got in the day before, but late, so the 7th was to be my first full day there. My wife was there on business, so I had the day to myself. I started walking to the British Museum from Aldwych. A few blocks from the hotel I saw a police car screaming down the street, which got my attention, because I hadn't remembered a lot of that in prior trips. Then a couple more. Then I heard helicopters. It was clear that something was going down, so I watched the first news reports with a bunch of other people in an electronics shop. Once it became clear that things were not going to be normal, I went back to my hotel and spent the day watching the news. I was impressed by demeanor of the news presenters on TV (who were not overly sensationalist), and I was extra impressed with the government officials, particularly the London police. They were calm, cool, and collected, and never speculated or guessed at what was going on. If they didn't know the answer to a question, they said so. It was a refreshingly adult way of communicating with the public.

The next day I did make it to the British Museum. On my way out, they closed the doors and asked us to stay inside for a little while. Again, I was incredibly impressed with how calm and matter-of-fact everyone was. After a while we got the all-clear, and went about our business. It turns out that a couple of young ladies visiting from China didn't want to drag their rolling suitcase through the museum so they had chained it to the fence outside the museum. Even accounting for possible language challenges, that's just plain stupid.

[slaphead]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it.

I was in a canoe in the middle of a lake in Sweden. I got a text message from a colleague along the lines of:

Bombs going off all over the place. Office evacuated. Transport shut down. In the cardinal with Coran watching the news

When the going gets tough, go to the pub. For a year or more we referred to The Cardinal as The Winchester.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Originally Posted by slaphead

I was in a canoe in the middle of a lake in Sweden. I got a text message from a colleague along the lines of:

When the going gets tough, go to the pub. For a year or more we referred to The Cardinal as The Winchester.

I got virtually the same thing from my brother's PDA-email thingy, only he didn't know there were bombs everywhere. He had just left King's Cross on the next train along on the same line.

This is the same man who called in sick on the day of the Docklands/Canary Wharf bombing in 1996. His office windows were shattered and he would at the very least have been sliced open by glass

Anyway. Carry on, London.

[Dunderman]

I was moved by how the newspapers reacted as well. They were like the people, only more so. One columnist wrote something along the lines of "You tried your worst and you managed to hold up public transit for a day and get a death toll in the double figures. That happens all the time anyway". Another listed all the bad things British people have lived through (vikings, invasions, the Black Plague, the Great Fire, the Blitz...) and finished with "you guys are amateurs".

All very cool, and just the right way to deal.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

Another listed all the bad things British people have lived through (vikings, invasions, the Black Plague, the Great Fire, the Blitz...)

...British food, the weather, Puritans, Jeremy Beadle...

[Kythereia]

Originally Posted by Really Not All That Bright

...British food, the weather, Puritans, Jeremy Beadle...

...the Spice Girls, Madonna, Manchester, the almost-apocalypse...

(*holds hand over heart for Britain*)

[Man With a Cat]

Hang tough London, we're there with you.

[puppygod]

Obligatory link: http://www.werenotafraid.com/

[Wallenstein]

Except that we've allowed our government to introduce 42 days detention without trial, we're allowing councils to use anti-terror legislation to crack down on begging, we have journalists being banned from filming street scenes... all to "fight terror".

The same stocisim that prevented us from getting too worked up about 7/7 is now letting us sleep-walk into giving up more and more of our freedoms.

The stiff upper lip cuts both ways, alas.

[Pushkin]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word

That's all you can do really unless you're on the spot when it happens and you're hurt or helping. You've time to be a bit more shocked later when the papers or television shows you the scene.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Originally Posted by Wallenstein

Except that we've allowed our government to introduce 42 days detention without trial...

What?!?

[Wallenstein]

Originally Posted by Really Not All That Bright

What?!?

It was originally supposed to be 90 days, but the Govt backtracked it to 42 days.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...errorism.lords

It's not been enacted formally into law yet, but the initial legislation was passed by the House of Commons and is now going through the ratification process.

What's worse is that 69% of Britons support the legislation.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Are they going to send the detainees to Gibraltar or something?

Seems to have worked over here...

[Miller]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it. Bombs going off? We'll deal. No traffic in the centre? We'll walk in a city of seven million people. We've had worse.

I saw one Londoner interviewed who said, "I lived through the Blitz. We've been bombed by a better class of bastard than you before."

[ivan astikov]

Originally Posted by Kythereia

...the Spice Girls, Madonna, Manchester, the almost-apocalypse...

(*holds hand over heart for Britain*)

Can I ask what Manchester has done to offend you? I know a few dodgy geezers in this city, and they might be able to sort out your problem for you....

[Kythereia]

Originally Posted by ivan astikov

Can I ask what Manchester has done to offend you? I know a few dodgy geezers in this city, and they might be able to sort out your problem for you....

"But demons like Ligur and Hastur wouldn't understand. They'd have never thought up Welsh-language television, for example. Or value-added tax. Or Manchester.

He'd been particularly pleased with Manchester."

--Messr. Anthony J. Crowley, Good Omens

[ivan astikov]

Originally Posted by Kythereia

"But demons like Ligur and Hastur wouldn't understand. They'd have never thought up Welsh-language television, for example. Or value-added tax. Or Manchester.

He'd been particularly pleased with Manchester."

--Messr. Anthony J. Crowley, Good Omens

I don't care how well respected the man may be, I hope you are not basing your opinion of my beloved city, on a Terry Pratchett character's say so?

[Dunderman]

Originally Posted by ivan astikov

I don't care how well respected the man may be, I hope you are not basing your opinion of my beloved city, on a Terry Pratchett character's say so?

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd post to a terrorist bombing memorial thread: Maybe you're taking this a bit too seriously.

[WotNot]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd post to a terrorist bombing memorial thread: Maybe you're taking this a bit too seriously.

It's possible he is, but speaking as someone who recently had a near-complete sense of humour failure after yet another unprovoked dig at my native accent, I can assure you that one’s skin can occasionally wear just as thin as the jokes.

And taking a pop at Manchester in a thread commemorating a city-centre bombing is probably ill-judged, at best.

[Aquila Be]

Originally Posted by Quartz

3 years ago today London was bombed by terrorists.

Scumbags, you failed utterly.

Failed? I suppose it all depends on how one chooses to remember the occasion.

The anniversary of the bombing has become a regular cause for joyful celebration by many relatives of at least one of the bombers:

Daily Mail 8 July 2008

In a village in Pakistan, a banquet was held to honour one of the young men who committed the murderous crimes.

Relatives of Shehzad Tanweer, who is buried there, staged the feast to 'celebrate his life' and 'remember him as a martyr' on the third anniversary of the terror attacks which killed 52 people and injured many more.

The article continues:

And to mark the occasion, rice was distributed among villagers. For the last two years, the family gathering has been held in secret at his grave, but this year police urged the family not to hold a memorial at the site.
His headstone - the largest in the cemetery of the village - bears the phrase 'La ilaha il Mohammed dur rasool Allah' which means 'There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger'.

The Daily Mail article goes into greater detail but it does seem that the bomber's actions were by no means unlamented by all. He appears to be regarded as a some kind of hero by his family and his fellow villagers.

[amarone]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it. Bombs going off? We'll deal. No traffic in the centre? We'll walk in a city of seven million people. We've had worse.

For many of us we grew up knowing that if we went to a pub or restaurant or Christmas shopping, there was a tiny, but finite, chance we would get blown up. We got used to it and learned not to worry about it.

[Kythereia]

Originally Posted by WotNot

It's possible he is, but speaking as someone who recently had a near-complete sense of humour failure after yet another unprovoked dig at my native accent, I can assure you that one’s skin can occasionally wear just as thin as the jokes.

And taking a pop at Manchester in a thread commemorating a city-centre bombing is probably ill-judged, at best.

I apologize--I really am sorry. It was not my intention to offend. Please consider it retracted.

[chowder]

Originally Posted by ivan astikov

I don't care how well respected the man may be, I hope you are not basing your opinion of my beloved city, on a Terry Pratchett character's say so?

Methinks you really are taking this to seriously me old cock

Then again he probably meant manure so he could be right

[HazelNutCoffee]

Originally Posted by Priceguy

I arrived in London that day, and I'll always remember how people reacted. They just... endured, I think is the right word. Oh, the city is in complete chaos? We'll handle it. Bombs going off? We'll deal. No traffic in the centre? We'll walk in a city of seven million people. We've had worse.

I also flew in the day of, and it was amazing how stoically people took it. I thought the tube would be deserted the next day, but people were out and about per the usual. You had to respect that attitude.

[Full Metal Lotus]

My first Baby sitter was a woman Named Bahbrerah (Barbra, for you yanks)

I don't remember much about her..

I can still say "I was a war bride!" in a colchester accent.

I asked my mom about her.

Barbra was the wife of the farmer next door. She got pregnant by a Canadian soldier serving in Europe and gave birth in the subway tunnels during the blitz.

He married her and brought her (and their daughter) back to the homestead in Alberta .

On one of the nights of the London bombings, she went into labour. A group of her niebours carried her bed into the subway "as not to cause her unnesacary discomfort or embarrasment" . When they went back up, after the "all clear" they carried her bed (and her new daughter) past the shell of her house to a home that had survived the bombing, still in her bed.

3 days later, she carried her daughter into the "tubes" once again, and once agian, when they came up, the house they had been invited into was hot cinders.

This woman talked about this whole thing the way you or I would discuss the inconvienience of having a broken shoelace.. her attitude was...

"Well, they can take your house, they can take your street.. they can never take your heart or hope.. if you let them do that, you might as well invite Mr. Hitler in for tea, and roll over and die..."

She died when I was in my early teens, and I wish I had gotten to know her better.. Terrorists!? Hmmph! They better wipe their feet before they walk into Barbara's house!

regards
FML