Texts in the church yard

Once upon a time, seeing crows in the church yard was an omen of bad luck. These days, it seems that bad news travels on the tide of text messages.

At the risk of being desperately cryptic, I can't tell you exactly where I was on the morning of 7 July. But let's just say I was in "a place". Also in that place was a man and his mobile phone. We were sitting, waiting together. I had never met this man before, and as I made clear to him when he initially tried to strike up a conversation, I was not particularly in the mood for distracting chitchat right then. So I was surprised when he leaned over to me and said, "I've just had a text message that London is under attack."

I turned to look at him.

"Really," I said, giving him my best "unamused" look. " Are you being serious?"

And, as I later recalled with a pang, he laughed. He waved a hand dismissively, saying,

"I'm sure it's a joke. My friend plays a lot of video games."

Of course, not being an expert on these things, I could not immediately identify which computer game in question might involve a simulated "attack of London", but I felt a distinct sense of unease. Indeed, something about the scenario had a very unpleasant resonance. Suddenly I remembered, in graphic detail, the events of several years ago. I had the day off from work and was walking back from shopping in town on a mild September afternoon, a similar text message from E. on my mobile phone.

"New York under attack," it said. "Go home, turn on TV."

And I did, watching in horror until the towers fell, at which point I had to go lie down on the bathroom floor and weep.

So while I hoped the man with the phone next to me was joking, in my heart, I suspected that he was not. Two minutes later, another text came in- bombs on a bus, bombs on the underground in London. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the place I was in (again with the cryptic, sorry), no more calls could be made or received. Nor could we leave, or talk to each other further, or go find out what the hell was going on. Several times the man and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised. I knew he was thinking as I was, "They will tell us if there is a problem here, right? They'll let us know if Scotland is on fire too, right? They won't just leave us sitting, surely. Right? Right?"

In short, I had to sit there for over an hour, wondering what was happening. Wondering if it was just London, or if other cities were affected. Wondering, when I finally emerged from the place I was in, what I would find. In actual fact, there was very much an attitude of "carry on as normal, as best you can". For me, though, maybe it was because of the odd limbo period I had just experienced, the whole day was extremely unsettling- not to mention sad.

However, if ever there was a class act as to how to behave in a crisis, London is it. Things were up and running the next day. That's not just a stiff upper lip, that's a backbone of steel- and mighty impressive, too.

For those who have suffered, or are waiting in desperation for news of lost loved ones, I am so very sorry.

Comments

[Reprogirl]

Thank you for a moving post on this. Sorry = me too.

[ovagirl]

I'm incredibly impressed with the courage, grace and strength of spirit that Londoners are showing.

[Julie]

Thank you for the beautiful post. I can't imagine what you had been going thought not having information. It must have been very difficult.

I, too, am very impressed at how well the Londoners have handled things. They have my prayers and utmost respect.

[-Blue]

Ditto. The 'people' who did this are sick cowards. My thoughts are with those who lost friends and family.

-Blue

[Emily]

My prayers for London. I love that city. I'm very familiar with the underground station hit the worst.

[Em]

We did well, didn't we? I was really proud of Londoners. I've added you to my blog as well.

[Mellie]

I agree completely. As a New Yorker who was here during 9/11, I am so proud and impressed with London's response.

[J]

I was in awe, Mare. All I could think as I sat here in Pennsylvania, watching the horrible coverage, was: there are the people who gave us the Magna Carta. There are the people who stood strong during the Blitz, there is the land of Winston Churchill.

I am thinking of you and the people of Britain at this terrible time. Never forget.

[Kristin]

I had hope no other city or country would have to go through what we did on 9/11. I am very disheartened that it has happened again and I'm very impressed with how its been handled.

[Menita]

Londoners showed in incredible courage. The only way to defeat terrorism is by carrying on, by showing that you simply refuse to be terrorized. But that takes mighty, mighty guts.

[Jill]

As I sat in the hospital waiting room in the U.S.A., waiting for my dad to come out of surgery, I saw news of the bombings in London and was so sad for everyone affected. Life is hard enough without people intentionally killing and maiming each other. Man's inhumanity to man is simply incomprehensible sometimes. I agree with you that the Londoner's response was impressive.

[patricia]

For us on the west coast of the US, it seems we wake up to the bad news each time. Coming so soon out of sleep to hear about senseless death and destruction always makes the situation feel that much more surreal.