london

one day there is joyous celebrations, the next stunned condemnation. from rejoicing to mourning.

although i live close to where one of the bombs went off the worst that happened to me was it meant getting to and from work was a little harder than normal. though to hear one of my work colleagues talk he was lucky not to get caught in the the blasts as he drove into work that morning (the fact that his route into work is no where near where any of the bombs went off, nor does he use one of the lines that were affected didn't seem to enter into it - hell why let the truth spoil a great story...)

so some thoughts about the last few days.

brick lane (near one of the bombs) has been very subdued on the two occasions i have been into it.

the words surreal and reality have been very overused by broadcasters the last few days, they have become the equivalent of "innit", losing all meaning they have and just being put into sentances to fill up gaps.

for at least 24 hours radio 5 could talk about nothing else even though it had long since said all it could say about the event. (i am sure this is true of all the broadcasters - just that i tuned to r5).

although there was almost universal condemnation of the bombings (though it's not like anyone was going to broadcast people who were going to praise the bombers) there were awkward moments where people tied themselves up in knots over the question of muslims some would use the word in conjunction with al-qaida and then have to back pedal and say of course not all muslims are like this, while others would try to ignore the fact that al-qaida is muslim.

politicians telling us that the best way to defeat the terrorists was to continue to live our lives normally. like most of us have any other option. i still have to use public transport to get to and from work. i have to go to work each day. it's not like i can have an armed guard to protect me like tony b or queen e have. (though the queen must be very happy at the moment as it means that no more father's for justice skulking about her palaces and no fake bombs from the sun to worry about as it will be a shoot to kill policy for the next few months... on second thoughts lets get the sun to try out the fake bombs again and see if they can get shot).

experts talking about how much planning and organising has had to go into this attack.
i can tell you how much has gone into it - not a great deal. the hardest part would have been getting the bombs sorted out. after that it was just a case of finding the people to do it and deciding the times when to do it.
there would have been no need to do rehearsals, there would have been no need to have scoped out security cameras or anything like that.
just use the tube or the buses and you will see there are loads of people carrying packages, big and small. no one checks them, no one stops them. it is an open system.
if they really wanted to cause maximum damage, maximum outrage and stop the g8 they would have bombed live 8 - but that would have involved a lot of planning and it might have got them caught. (it may have also saved pete docherty's career).
the bombs coming the day after the olympic victory for london smacks of oppurtunism of the highest order, rather than cunning planning.
at least with the thought of them planning it there is a chance that the security services can stop the next one, the opportunism bomber not so easy...
(and no identity cards would not have stopped all from happening either).

hotels making extra money off of all of this.

financial advisers talking about the resiliance of the market, as if it had a soul and a conscience. it doesn't and we all know it.

more on this later - being kicked out of the coffee shop and home internet connection is down.