Matt Richardson

London Terrorist Attacks - Part II

July 08, 2005 | 2 Minute Read

Okay. Now that I've had a bit of time to settle down, thought it might be a good idea to write about today...

I think that it would've been easier to write this earlier, and just point at it in the emails I've sent today. I've had quite a few emails and txt messages today checking that everything's okay. So, here's the story as it happened to me:

I slept in accidentally this morning - I'd forgotten to set my alarm last night, so I got up a lot later than I intended. I headed down to the tube, and heard that the northern line was closed due to a broken down train at Balham (the next station up). I walked up to Balham, and was planning on catching the overland from there. Turned out the tube had reopened by this point, so i jumped on the tube to head in. Managed to go one whole station, before getting kicked off - which i think was about the time that the first bomb went off. I overheard the drivers radio saying there was an “amber alert', but didn't think much of it.

From Clapham South, I walked up a few stations, and managed to catch the overland into London Bridge. About this point I started hearing things about accidents on the tube, power surges, or even bombs. I got to London Bridge, and found out that the entire tube was closed, and buses in central london were suspended. Asking the station staff, the official answer was to give up and go home.

Heading home, I started listening to the radio - just to hear what was happening. Very scary to hear what was going on.

What made it hit home was the fact that there was reports of bombs at Moorgate and Liverpool street stations; I catch the tube to Moorgate every morning, then walk through Liverpool Street station on my way to work. Very scary.

So getting home - definitely needed a hug (thanks Cath!) and a cuppa. Then a few scotches before I was back to “normal”.

It was good (in a way) to get txt's from people who were worried. Not good the reasons why they had to send the txt, but still.

My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by these bombs, both first hand and families and friends.

Go check out the BBC coverage of it for further info.

Tagged: On Travels  On Generalities