It’s all over the news and I have been watching Sky today and getting the media’s official coverage of events. Interesting people the English. Strong in a polite sort of way. The official death count is 50, 4 attacks on 3 tubes and a bus. A severe hit for a large metropolitan and mostly because of the psychology and stress involved with these attacks. The real “value” for the terror organizations is the disruption of daily life, and I think that for the most part they have failed in London.
I was very impressed by the calm and order that were visible in the streets in the following 24 hours. No crowds or disruptions to the police and an overall sense of cool control. Cool customers these British and good for them. Well handled.
As someone who has lived through a long period of urban terror, its not easy to keep daily life moving along. I spoke to several friends living in London in the hours following the attacks and they were most of all surprised. I think that locals were in a way better prepared. They seemed to have an idea that this was coming and almost knew to expect it. Foreigners working in London were surprised this could happen in a city like London. That sort of raises another thought. Have people living in large cities become the new front line warriers in this world?
July 9, 2005 at 1:19 pm
I felt that these events left a very strong impression on Londoners. There may have been some interviews that looked good but to tell the truth, as someone living there and watching it all happen, there was an effect to this event and one that I suspect will be felt daily.
London, UK
July 9, 2005