Chapter 56 - 7 July 2005


It's a warm day and as usual, I am running late for work. I hate the journey, jostling for a space on the train, not to sit, just to stand, to breathe. I try to catch an underground train at Liverpool Street station. I try every line that can take me to work, but there is no sign of a train. Eventually a man's voice on the tannoy states that there is a power surge on the lines. I cannot afford to take a taxi to work, but I have no choice. 

When I get to work, there is news of a bomb blast on the London underground. It transpires that there is more than one. My mother works in the city. I call her. She is fine, but insists she must carry on working.

As the day moves on, the nature of the incidents unfold. We crowd around a television in an office and watch. Various consecutive explosions, one of the newscasters says. It is still difficult to determine when the explosions began and if they will end. Most of London's public transport has ceased, deemed unsafe. The television screen shows footage of thousands of London's commuters making their way home on foot. Many of them probably didn't make it to work today. I sense many are not surprised. For some, Blair's alignment with Bush gives a sense of inevitability.

Before one o'clock, the office is closed. Staff are discouraged to return to work tomorrow. The news states there is no guarantee that it is safe to travel, but like so many others, I start my journey home on foot through an unpredictable London.

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