Natasha and July 7, 2005
Top item on all the end-of-year reviews on satellite TV a couple weeks so were the London bombings of July 7. Dramatic and tragic events in the middle of a city we know so well, and where so many loved-ones and friends live and travel. Our Natasha was there, and we worried about her.
We had Sky News on in the bar that morning, as we often do over the extended breakfast period. For a few hours, they maintained the fiction, released by the authorities, that there were "electrical problems" on the Underground, while we were watching helicopter shots of victims being brought out of Aldgate East station and tents being erected to care for them, and the first verbal reports of a bus with its roof blown off emerged. Clearly something terrible had happened.
Jacqui was the quick-thinking one who shot out of the kitchen with her cell-phone and managed to contact her sister to establish that she had got to work safely, along with all her cousins and friends who work in the City and travel through stations like Liverpool Street and Aldgate East. That was a relief and a comfort, as the horror deepened and the full scale of the tragedy emerged. We exchanged a few SMS messages as Natasha and Andy set off on a long walk home, not wishing to trust the public transport, or to be exposed to the presence of security and camera crews.
Ironically, the day before had been one of euphoria and celebration as the news came through from Singapore about London being awarded the 2012 Olympic Games, and Natasha had been in the middle of that, with joyful SMS and email messages. There were great celebrations among all the English people at Freddie's Bar that day, too.
On the day after the attacks, we received this reflective email from Natasha:
Fri, 08 July 2005 11:20
It's been such a strange week. I guess it's very true of life, that everything can change, just like that. I never thought that London would get the Olympics, I don't think most people did. The bus that I sometimes take into work circles Trafalgar Square before it makes its way down the Strand to Somerset House. I saw the stage and all the banners in Trafalgar on Wednesday, so I set off to watch the announcement at lunch time. Loads of suits were pouring out of their offices and legging it to Trafalgar Square, so exciting! We all jostled for space, the wind was cold and it threatened to rain. We couldn't really hear Kelly Holmes as we were right at the back and could barely see the screen, but we heard a little roar from the front and everyone was in disbelief. All the men behind me just said 'I can't believe it.' Then so much ticker tape showered down on us and the bells of St Martins in the Field started to chime and M People was playing 'What have you done for me today to make me feel proud' on the speakers. The sky was full of pigeons, ticker tape and balloons, and it was magic! I walked back to work and the streets were full of people celebrating. So odd to see the serious City so excited and so happy. The Red Arrows flew over us and everyone in the street cheered as the sky turned red, white and blue. Amazing!
And then came yesterday. Andy works 3 streets away from Tavistock Square and heard the explosion from the bus; all the windows in their building rattled from the impact. It was a very tense and upsetting day here, not really knowing what was going on during the hour between 10-11am, when the mobile phone networks and BT were overburdened and the news websites were not updated or difficult to access, but hearing the constant sound of sirens and helicopters and knowing that something terrible was happening. It was also tense hearing news about explosions going off all over town, but not getting concrete facts. I was shocked after I spoke to a weepy colleague whose sister had been having coffee in the hotel opposite where the bus exploded and had told her about the injured people being brought into the hotel. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading the reporters logs on the BBC and eye witness accounts, which were distressing. I've been stuck underground once in the Tube, when our train hit a person on the tracks, and I can't even to begin to imagine what it would be like with smoke and explosions and injured people.
So I was very relieved when Andy came over to meet me at 3pm and we joined the mass exodus out of the city - masses of people heading over Waterloo Bridge and along the South Bank, strangely reminiscent of New York. We took it slowly, and it was three hours before we reached Wandsworth, but we were relieved to be away from camera crews and other distractions. It was strangely beautiful, the sun was out and it all looked so pretty, but still lots of helicopters circling the skies and so many sirens.
The mood in London today is very strange and sombre. Our bedroom window overlooks the spire of Wandsworth Town Hall. We woke up to see the flag being flown at half-mast. The flag at work is also at half mast. My bus to work was virtually empty, when it is usually unpleasantly packed. I bought a Guardian from the newsagent at the top of East Hill. The paper stand was full of so many grim pictures, people being resuscitated, the blood-splattered walls of the British Medical Council where the bus exploded, just horrific. The tabloids are very graphic and even the more temperate Guardian made for difficult reading today. I got off the bus as traffic became heavy; Millbank was closed and police vans with sirens were charging down that stretch. I got off at Lambeth Bridge and walked along a very beautiful South Bank just as the sun was coming out of the clouds. So pretty, as the light was pale and everything looked bright and twinkly, the tide was down, colourful exhibition banners outside the Saatchi and Hayworth Galleries, the gold tipped spires of Westminster twinkled and Canary Wharf and the Gherkin Building in the distance stood black against a very yellow, slightly cloudy sky. And I thought as I always do when I walk along the South Bank, that it is one of the most fabulous cities in the world. Strange and sad to see all the flags flying at half-mast, the London Eye closed, river cruises operating with only a few people on board and a few camera crews milling about. Most people, however, were cycling or walking into work, and it felt so nice to be out and about with people. There is this feeling that everyone's just getting on with it, which is a very nice feeling.
I guess that has to be one of the defining events of 2005.
3:35:09 PM 
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