Comments on: Something bad going on

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 15:31:00 +0000

I had three lengthy walks today – from Victoria to Tottenham Court Road, from Tottenham Court Road to the South Bank, and then back to Victoria again – and consequently had plenty of chances to eavesdrop on what the Great British Public (who were out in vast numbers on the second and third trips given the lack of public transport) was saying…

…and pretty much without exception, it was along the lines of "well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, good job there were fewer casualties than expected, bloody hell I bet the trains’ll be crap tonight – do you know anyone with a spare sofa to crash on?", all delivered in tones that suggested it was the most normal thing in the world.

I joined in loads of conversations with complete strangers along these very lines – and, hand on heart, I didn’t spot one single person who looked or sounded even vaguely scared, or mildly perturbed. ‘Blitz spirit’ may be a hoary old cliché, but it was out in force today.

By: dave heasman

dave heasman — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 14:46:00 +0000

"FEAR all over the struck city."
?

What city would that be, Mr Wolf?

By: BuffaloWolf

BuffaloWolf — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 10:42:00 +0000

Sure this the Al Quaeda’s style. Small bombs, a few deaths and total confusion and FEAR all over the struck city.
This is the way that yellow bellied,scum sucking COWARDS operate.

By: marcus

marcus — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 09:24:00 +0000

really small explosions though. Bus explosion didn't even take out the whole bus, people in the next carriage on the underground unharmed (and many in the same carriage). This surely won't cause physical damage to the infrastructure or many deaths, which doesn't seem like Al Quaeda's approach.

I assume the bus explosion was someone trying to reach Euston (the victoria line)?

By: dsquared

dsquared — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 08:37:00 +0000

Tim, when the Northern Line reaches the south of Portugal perhaps I will be in the mood for being lectured on taste by locals there. At present it stops at Morden so I’m not. I’ve spent the last three hours walking home in the pissing rain and trying to get through to my family to tell them I’m alive. There are apparently about 200 people in London who have had a much worse time of things but what you’re seeing here is the "London Pride" that they used to sing about.

By: Tim Worstall

Tim Worstall — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 08:32:00 +0000

Nicely sensitive d2

By: dsquared

dsquared — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 08:25:00 +0000

There was an actual power failure on the Northern before 0630; there were boards up about it when I went in.

I nearly managed to be the last person to dodge onto the Central Line heading toward Liverpool Street at 0915 but was stopped by a policeman, bloody nanny state. Apparently there was an explosion down in the Tube at Moorgate which is near my office but I had long since buggered off home.

If Al Quaeda were really serious about disrupting things they would have poured some snow on the tracks.

By: marcus

marcus — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:53:00 +0000

hmm – just after we relected Ken – who’s willing to pay the increased congestion charge now?

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:38:00 +0000

No-one thought there was anything remotely unusual – it’s absolutely par for the course to find Victoria tube station closed (often for platform congestion reasons), so most regular commuters just switch to the buses within seconds of spotting the grilles over the entrance.

By: john b

john b — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 07:09:00 +0000

Also ‘allegedly’, there was a real power failure on the Northern Line a bit earlier on, which might have confused LU staff into thinking that was still the problem.