Dear Editor,
This morning (July 7 2005) when I left home it seemed like any other day though my usual tube station (on the Northern line - same line as Moorgate, Old St and Kings Cross) was closed.
I thought nothing of it and took an alternate route to work. When I got to work, I heard that there had been "an incident" on one of the trains.
This is truly nothing unusual for the desperately out-of-date London Underground trains, so no-one seemed bothered.
Then my colleague sitting accross from me told me a friend of his had been near the scene of another blast at another station.
Then five minutes later I heard a bus had exploded near Russel Square. Then another.
As my colleague and I looked at each other, it was like a realisation crashing down on us that there was no way these events were a coincidence.
9/11 all over again
All I did from then on was watch the news and feel a kind of distant shock and disbelief - very similar to the shock and disbelief I felt when watching the plane crashes on September 11 2001.
Though this time, the explosions were 200 metres away from where I work.
Since September 11th, I think Londonders have subconsciously thought that London is next - just looking at the amazingly co-ordinated efforts of all the emergency services makes it clear that the city had prepared itself for this possibility.
But still - when it's really happening - one is not quite sure of what to do.
This is worse than a mugging, or a break-in kind of shock. It's a kind of collective shock - London is in a daze and not quite sure what to do with itself.
I can't work, and my first thought as events revealed themselves was to find out if everyone I knew in the city was alright and to let everyone know I was okay.
But the emergency services were given priority of mobile networks so the most frustrating thing was not being able to contact people until a little bit later.
The sounds of sirens
All this amidst the sounds of sirens in the street every couple of minutes. The most amazing thing though is that my circle of friends have been in constant e-mail contact with each other every couple of minutes - maybe to reassure ourselves and maybe to feel not so alone in all of this.
Colleagues of mine near Liverpool Street say there is a general "lock down" in London - no-one is leaving their offices or general vicinity or else they're walking around the streets - either walking home (as there are no trains or buses) or getting some lunch.
I went to the pub with some colleagues at lunch for a pint - yes, not what I'd normally do during a lunchtime but it seemed the right thing to do!
The pub was absolutely packed, and you have to love the Brits for that - when in doubt, head for the nearest pub!
Still, I feel shaky, disorientated, shocked and above all, homesick!
All of a sudden Cape Town with its crime and poverty and HIV and Aids seems a whole lot more appealing than this central pulse point of Europe and the seeming new focus of terrorist activity.
Catherine Parker,
South African living in London
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