July 8, 2005

A London Email

My cousin George in London sent an email telling of his experience yesterday amid the terrorist attack.

I just got home this morning - I was in Kings X yesterday morning, arriving just after the explosion in the tube line that is underneath the overground station. I'm happy to say I was never in any danger, and really, given the congestion of the London rush hour, and the number of explosions, I think we're all a bit relieved that the death toll is not much higher.

The police sealed off the whole area and I was stuck there for three to four hours, not able to phone anyone on my mobile. Ken was getting worried, and finally got through to me about three hours after the last (bus) bombing, which was also about a half-mile from where I was.

I did see two of the walking wounded - one looked like a young American girl - her hands were bandaged up professionally but her clothing covered in blood and she was just calmly walking away from the area. When I saw her, I still had no sure idea of what had happened. I wanted to ask her, and could have done, but wasn't sure she needed to answer my questions just at that time. After seeing her, I viewed Sky News through a pub window (the pub was shut) alongside some American tourists, and that is when it became obvious that it was a bombing. As usual, people watching tele knew a lot more about what was going on than the people there.

Ken drove over to a rendezvous point in Camden Town - I walked there at around 2:30 pm, with many thousands of other pedestrians walking home. Ken drove me to his house where I spent the night. Because most of the commuters had come in on public transport, the roads were busy with pedestrians, but not vehicles.

I have to say, my northbound commuter train arrived on time to the second, this morning - this doesn't usually happen on a normal day.