'That day'

I'm sure the mainstream media have covered the recent events in London fairly comprehensively back home - so no need to reproduce the details here - but it would be somewhat remiss not to relay some of my feelings of the day.

As it happpens I was in one of our offices in Staines for the day (way down South (West??) I think). So I was well clear of the incident itself. Had I have been working in my main office - I would have been on one of the lines that was hit about an hour before the bombs went off. It is easy to be melodramatic about these things - but the tubes and buses are such an integral part of life over here that a good couple of million people are quite legitimately reflecting on the fact that it could so easily have been them.

I found out about the bombing when MJD called. I am used to random phone calls from the bro - but a 'just ringing to check that you were alive' call was kind of strange. From there it was on to the Beeb website to see what the hell was happening. First emotion, when will it stop? Then - shit, who do I know in the area? How many bombs are there? Eventually you come round to the rather self-indulgent, 'what if it had been me?' line of thinking.

Emails and texts started flying out, and thankfully, all were responded to.

One of the strangest things is how quickly things seem back to normal. All services, bar one or two stations, were back up and running within half a day. I did think twice about using public transport that day - but what option?? After a look around Staines on Thursday - I was either going on public transport or walking (I don't walk).

There were Police everywhere, laconic security announcements galore, but everywhere there was a material calm. To the point where there wasn't even a heightened level of 'titter' on the train, I don't know if people didn't know much at that point - or whether it was a numb kind of reaction, but everything was very quiet.

I went to The Albert and hooked up with a few Kiwi's and friends after work, sitting at home and watching the coverage on the Beeb would have been too depressing. It was then that I felt a bit of impact from the days event - hard to describe really - but it almost felt like a chemical reaction, some senses and feelings heightened - others dulled. All the Kiwi's were feeling a long way from home and it did make me feel a bit homesick for the first time since I have been here.

2 days, and another Lions Test, later things are (somewhat strangely) back to normal. House sitting at Mark and Kathryn's for a week or so and enjoying some zen time.