7/7 London bombings

[ivan_astikov]

@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? :dubious:

[Dunderman]

@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? :dubious:

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]

@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]

@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]

@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]

@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]

@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? :dubious:

Methinks you really are taking this to seriously me old cock

Then again he probably meant manure so he could be right

[HazelNutCoffee]

@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