What the Hell?! They're Bombing London!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
81

I was going to start a new thread, but I think I’d rather just commune with y’all here. What I need to get out of my system goes just fine here, I think.

First off, I am thinking about all my UK Dope friends. I wish everyone in the country was allright, but since that’s shot to hell, I’ll settle for hoping that my friends here are ok and don’t have any family that’s in trouble, hurt, or worse. I have cried this morning, and you were a part of that.

I was supposed to be there. My Goddaughter, (well, not really Goddaughter in the Catholic religious having had a ceremony about it way, but in the my dead best friend to whom I promised I would be the “B” team should something happen to her way) got a trip to Europe for graduation and we’ve been planning it for over a year. I was supposed to be the two of us, but my work got in the way and I had to drop out. Another friend of ours took up the reins and they left last week.

I had not seen or heard any news on my way into work today. I had satellite music in the car on the way to the train station, and a movie the whole way in. I was completely clueless about the world. My husband called me just before the train pulled into Union Station and he says to me, (very matter of factly,) “Say! Did’ja hear about the bombings in London??” He didn’t know what the itinerary was. He had no clue that my girl was supposed to be leaving London today by rail for Amsterdam.

I hate that kind of panic.

We couldn’t find her.

But it turned out ok. She’s fine. It seems that they hated the place they were staying in London, so they got up extra early to get out of there and got off the train 20 minutes before the bombs went off. She finally found some random office where someone was kind enough to let her get an email out.

I’ve puked, and I still don’t feel better. I wish I could calm down. If I wasn’t at work, I’d make somebody hug me. Everything is fine, so I should be able to relax, right?! RIGHT?!

82

The BAA is saying that all airports remain operational - with varying delays.

83

Francesca is fine (she’s posted several times in her LJ this AM) and was no where near the bombings.

84

According to the posts on the NADS offshoot of the SDMB, everyone is accounted for as best I can tell.

http://s11.invisionfree.com/NADS/index.php?showtopic=301

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Faruiza, I’m in town. Email me an adress if you need a Doper-Hug.
What I think of the animals who do things like this shouldn’t be posted. I lose my thin veneer of civilization very easily.

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I’ve received word from my Yorkshire friend. She’s in shock. They do have an office in London, and she was there last Thursday.

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I think seeing the airplanes fly into the towers and actually watching the towers fall on TV increased the shock value immensely.

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That and sadly, the number of victims.

89

Doper in London checking in - I was on the Tube as bombs 1-3 went off, but luckily was on a different line (Jubilee), and didn’t know at the time that it was an attack. We we did get an annoucement near Baker Street that there had been a ‘power surge’, and we would not be stopping at Westminster. Got to work around 9:20 and we noticed there had been a number of small explosions caused by ‘power surges’.

We started surfing the net, but it wasn’t until one site mentioned the bus that we all decided this was much bigger than a power failure, and shortly after the police confirmed it was a series of bombs. Then there was the struggle to contact family back home - got through to my Dad in NZ finally, and then managed to get a few texts out, but the network was pretty jammed.

Sirens outside all day, and constant updates to stay inside when possible. Thought I was going to have a 13km walk home, but around 4 the buses started running again. I walked for an hour through central London, before I decided that it was ridiculous to be avoiding the buses, and finally caught one. Streets were pretty empty, people were aware but not panicked - in fact a lot of people out having a beer in the afternoon sun, slightly surreal, but I guess everyone picks their own way to deal with this. So safe at home now, definately shaken though.

90

I am so very glad the LonDopers are reporting in OK. I hope that stays the same for all your friends and loved ones. My wife and I had lunch near the Edgware Road tube station Tuesday and left our hotel near Paddington Station yesterday just after noon at the end of a 3 week holiday in the UK. That brings this tragedy home even more than my normal love for the UK.

Something we reflected on while in London was how there was such a mix nationalities among the people. The victims could be from any country in the world, including Arab countries. (Although, assuming this is AQ activity, I guess that doesn’t matter given how they are bombing innocents in Iraq as well.)

It may seem trite to add to what all the others are saying, but my thoughts and good wishes go out to all of you affected by this horrible activity as well.

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We don’t know where Ivylad’s uncle is.

He works for British Air, and although he lives in Middlesex, he takes the tube to Heathrow to work.

:eek:

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Thanks for all the LonDoper Updates and I hope Ivyland’s uncle is just intransit.

I was thinking abstractedly today, does Japan or other asian countries have this kind of worry?

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We’re thinking of all the LonDopers (indeed, all of London) over here, everyone stay safe.