Our London Members....

[Tanuki Racoon]

... I hope you're all okay after today's horrific attack.

To hell with the terrorists....

First, and above all else, my thoughts are with those in London who are recovering from the terrorist attack today. It is truly a tragedy and I'm sorry anyone has to go through that sort of ordeal. The only remotely positive thing I can conceive of is that it could have been much, much worse. Those that have perpetrated this horrific crime are not humans and do not deserve to live. Show no more mercy to them than you would a bug. They are barbarians, the lot.

I go to London regularly, and I will continue to go regularly. I refuse to be scared of some cowardly pile of garbage that thinks this is going to beat anyone especially me into submission. If your fear gets the better of you, then the bastards have won.

I will not let some terrorist hiding under the cover of darkness deter me from my life. I will not cow to the will of some scum-sucking, bottom-dwelling sack of shit. They will not win and I will not let them win. I will ride the tube and the bus. I will be cautious, but I will not be afraid.

The terrorists' plan so far seems to be to keep everyone unbalanced and in fear. It's very impressive blowing up a bunch of innocent people to try and prove a point*. It only makes civilised people not have any sympathy for your cause. They will only win if you let them.

* sarcasm, duh.

[Graeme]

Hear, hear!

Can I also add that the people (using the word lightly) responsible are only a handful. Please don't victimise the innocent because they may share ONE characteristic (eg. a claim to belong to a particular religion) with those responsible.

I wish the UK members all the best.

Graeme

[Tanuki Racoon]

Can I also add that the people (using the word lightly) responsible are only a handful. Please don't victimise the innocent because they may share ONE characteristic (eg. a claim to belong to a particular religion) with those responsible.

I am friends with an Iranian, so I understand what you mean. Yes, true Islam abhors violence and taking someone else's life is not acceptable. A very small but very dangerous group of people have perverted a perfectly respectable religion to their own heinous designs.

[sumbloke]

Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, King of the universe, the Judge of the Truth.

(said on hearing of injury or less and of someone's death).

Sometimes only a Jewish blessing will do.

Yesterday I took the bus to work at my new summber job through Tavistock square at 9:35. I read the newspaper and the only thing that caught my attention outside the bus was the Gandhi memorial shrine - I always like to look to see if anyone has lit candles or brought flowers. At 9:47 I was in the office when a bus was destroyed in Tavistock Square.

All of us were shocked and frightened yesterday. Our mobile phone networks went down as anxious people tried to contact their relatives. I can walk to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital and when I heard they were setting up an emergency treatment room I walked over to ask if they needed interpreters but they didn't. They had everything under control and were executing a plan that had been prepared beforehand. The streets were calm - even around Russel Square. London on the whole didn't panic.

I went back to work and used my web based sms service to contact friends and family. Amost immediately e-mails started to pour in from all over the world and especially moving from friends in New York and Madrid sharing our grief.

I watched the TV reports from time to time and listened to our Mayor's very moving speech. I worried a little bit because we couldn't reach my little brother Noah who'd left home very early to go skating south of the river but I knew in my heart that he would have been no where near the danger and that his phone was probably sitting in his back pack while he was having fun.

I went out at lunch time after watching our Prime Minister's speech and some people were even then starting to walk across the city center where there was no transport trying to get to some place they could find a bus or train to get them home.

The TV news kept revising upwards the number of dead and wounded and we began to understand that this horror had been created by only four bombs - three strategically set off on underground trains and one on a bus. The suspicion that al-Qaeda were responsible started to grow very quickly. The horror that people trapped on underground trains had suffered became clear as the reports continued to come in, including video taken by people on their mobile phones.

I did what work I could and posted on a few boards where people were expressing concern about London. I decided that in the circumstances I would stay in town until the biggest crowds had gone. When there was just no point sitting around the office any longer two of the guys from work asked me to join them at a small local pub. I don't drink and usually don't much like pubs but yesterday I wanted to be sociable and show what solidarity I could with my fellow Londoners. It was a slightly strange thing to do but it was a way of passing the time.

We sat talking and watching the news on TV. A few people around us were dealing with the situation by drinking till drunk and I felt awkward when a couple of chaps who'd had too much booed and hissed Jacques Chirac during his speech to London offering his condolences and solidarity. But, it was drink talking and we were all suffering from shock and confusion.

I left the pub when it was clear that the streets were emptying and walked back home through north London. I spent the evening with the family. Noah got back before me having taken a ?30 taxi ride rather than walk back!

Today London is calm. We are all worried now about possible attacks on our Muslim community but I am convinced Londoners on the whole won't stoop to such viciousness.

Thank you everyone for your good wishes and I hope that we'll see you in happier times - perhaps in 2012 when we host the Olympics.

Peace and loving kindness.