gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

terrorists etc.

Thanks to everybody writing in to ask me if I'm alright. Yes, I'm fine.

My heart goes out to those who were killed and injured. It is all so utterly appalling.

Yesterday was totally surreal.

Yesterday morning I was walking down Earl's Court Road in London (2-3 miles away from the bombs) when the bombs went off. I was caught up in the impending commuting chaos in that usual, well mannered British way. Nobody, including me, knew what was going on. I just thought it must be a strike or a big-time technical SNAFU.

So, around 5pm I get a phone call from an American friend.

"Are you OK???"

"Yes, I'm fine," I say. "I'm currently in Cannes, drinking a beer on an 63 metre yacht."

It was a very cool yacht. On the foredeck was a trap door, underneath which was a large storage compartment where they keep the helicopter.

The aft deck had both a helipad and a jaccuzzi.

Nice boat etc.

Somehow I managed to go from terrorist incident to big Mediterranean yacht in a single day. Though the London Underground and buses weren't working, somehow the Brits managed to keep the trains to Gatwick Airport running and the planes flying.

A testament to the British attitude that life must go on.

Somehow I managed to get to Victoria on foot, catch the train to the airport and catch my plane on time.

I only found out about the true nature of the London events when my American friend phoned me on the yacht, yesterday evening. Funny how one loses track of world events when travelling.

Strange day, indeed.

No, I can't tell you who the yacht belonged to.

I'm currently writing this from the South of France. I find the last 24 hours too surreal to really write about the politics of terrorism in Europe in any meaningful way. Terrorist incident + 63 metre yacht= Way too much information for my tiny little brain to absorb in 24 hours.

This morning I phoned some friends of mine in London. Life seems to be returning to normal, as best as can be expected. I find how the Brits are reacting to it more reassuring, than I find Al Queda's actions not reassuring, if that makes any sense.

I'm back in London on Monday. See you then.

Posted by hugh macleod at July 8, 2005 7:53 AM | TrackBack