Thursday, July 07, 2005
I feel lucky
This morning at ten to nine I was on my way to see a customer when my tube train ground to a halt at Moorgate station. "Please leave the station" said the tannoy, "there is an emergency in progress". I was mildly irritated at this, but Moorgate was only one stop short of where I needed to be i.e. Liverpool Street and the walk was pleasant in the nice weather.
I arrived at the office and commented on my experience, but none of us thought any more of it until we realised that all hell was breaking loose outside. It was continuous sirens pretty much all morning. Furthermore, it was announced that we were not allowed to leave the building "until further notice". The snack vending machines emptied pretty quickly after that.
Of course, I had Internet access and, being in a merchant bank, I had access to a telly showing Sky News so I knew exactly what was going on. I also knew several people were aware that I was in London and so set about trying to phone them all. My mobile phone was useless even though text messages were getting through, especially the ones that told me that my voicemail had four messages on it. Eventually, I was able to get a land line out and experienced the novelty of Sara being pleased to hear from me.
The journey home turned out to be easier than I was expecting. We walked to Waterloo and I managed to get a train from there to Reading pretty quickly. On the way, I had a look at somebody's Evening Standard which said that the group responsible had said "Britain is now living in fear". I looked around the carriage but couldn't see anybody afraid - they were all just pretty pissed off. Apart from being scum these terrorists are just talking bollocks.
I'm at home now and I have seen some of the pictures on the news. I feel desperately sad for the people who were not quite as fortunate as me and for their familes. For me, today was a bit of an adventure but for others, this is a nightmare and my thoughts are with them right now.
I arrived at the office and commented on my experience, but none of us thought any more of it until we realised that all hell was breaking loose outside. It was continuous sirens pretty much all morning. Furthermore, it was announced that we were not allowed to leave the building "until further notice". The snack vending machines emptied pretty quickly after that.
Of course, I had Internet access and, being in a merchant bank, I had access to a telly showing Sky News so I knew exactly what was going on. I also knew several people were aware that I was in London and so set about trying to phone them all. My mobile phone was useless even though text messages were getting through, especially the ones that told me that my voicemail had four messages on it. Eventually, I was able to get a land line out and experienced the novelty of Sara being pleased to hear from me.
The journey home turned out to be easier than I was expecting. We walked to Waterloo and I managed to get a train from there to Reading pretty quickly. On the way, I had a look at somebody's Evening Standard which said that the group responsible had said "Britain is now living in fear". I looked around the carriage but couldn't see anybody afraid - they were all just pretty pissed off. Apart from being scum these terrorists are just talking bollocks.
I'm at home now and I have seen some of the pictures on the news. I feel desperately sad for the people who were not quite as fortunate as me and for their familes. For me, today was a bit of an adventure but for others, this is a nightmare and my thoughts are with them right now.
# posted by JeremyP : 7:54 pm
