Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 July 2005 21:12:21
I was due to be in London today... Originally I had planned to be in to go to St Paul's to research parts of book 2 and the choice came down to today or tomorrow. A late organised meeting for this afternoon near me meant friday was chosen for the London visit (although wil have to be delayed now of course, but that's the least of anyones worries).
And then this morning happened. I listened to Radio 5 with the same sort of horrid fascination and numb shock as I remember listening to the September 11th attacks all those years ago. When that happened I had been at work in Camberley and we all sat still, listening to a radio that could only get Talk Sport and doing no work. We must have listened to the radio for hours before all drifting off in the haze of a different world.
Today I was in the kitchen, making a coffee between two jobs being done and switched the radio on. Matthew Bannister was chatting about the power feedbacks at tube stations when, after a while of pointless and uninformed speculation, a student rang in to say that a friend of his had phoned him to say a bus had expoded in front of his eyes, and then the whole tone of the show, and the day, changed. It was the turning point of the coverage, supplied by someone who spoke in a bit of a mumble, not a trained and slick journalist or presenter or commentator, just an average guy who phoned in. It's the thing I'll remember the most of it all I think.
The publisher turned up for a brief meeting and hadn't heard a thing about it, we spoke for a while and prayed. The business was secondary to the horrible drama affecting people who had been unaware of the route their journeys would take.
Of course thoughts and prayers are there. My daughter has been up and down since watching the footage on TV (she insisted, we allowed a short burst of news) knowing that I could have been there, as could anyone really. Uttterly horrible, utterly senseless and tragic. Awful.