There was something different about London today and perhaps it was partly that we all seemed to be being a lot nicer to each other. We held eye contact with one another and there seemed to be an unfamiliar courtesy. I hope very much that my city is liberal and civilised enough not to look for anyone to blame for all this, apart from the people who did it. That's the flaw in the terrorist's plan (if they have one), because the indiscriminate nature of the attack means all races and religions were as likely to be affected. All of us went through the same thing yesterday and hopefully that brings us closer together.
I love Londoners (even the Catholics) and I love London. It is a largely tolerant city. I think we pretty much all realised that what has happened has actually made us appreciate what we have more. Some things are worth dying for. Though it's utterly tragic that anyone has had to die in such an unimaginable way.
The buses were running, of course, and people were on them - looking slightly paler than usual and more considered perhaps, but not frightened off. There was a steely determination to carry on as normal. It made me very proud to live here because there was genuine dignity on display.
I guess something so random and destructive as this makes those of us who have survived unscathed realise how lucky we are to be alive. For much of the afternoon I actually felt quite exhilirated just to still be here.
Later a friend told me how the wife of someone she worked with had been caught up in the Edgeware Rd blast. Despite it being a tenuous connection it did bring home part of the horror to me and made it all seem a little bit more real. She was relatively unscathed (physically at least) but mainly because the two people standing in front of her had taken the force of the blast. They had both been killed. Suddenly it all seemed real.
But I am not afraid, I am not even angry. I'm just going to carry on as I would have done anyway, though maybe a little more appreciatively.
Which means back to being funny tomorrow.
What do you mean that you thought I was going to carry on as before? How rude.
