On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 22:10:20 +0000 (UTC), [email hidden]
Quoted message said:I don't know the source for that quotation, but I don't doubt that it's
authentic. Terribly, horribly, unspeakably sad that the bombings
happened, but there might be tiny glimmer of silver lining if it leads to
a few more people on bikes.
It's just Londoners doing what they have always done: getting on with
life. Tubes down? No cabs to be had? No hotel rooms? Grab a bike.
Come winter (come next week, probably) those bikes will be back in
sheds. Remember, a lot of people working in the city are paid
six-figure salaries, the cost of a bike is nothing compared with the
inconvenience of being stuck in town.
Terrorism has been a threat at some level or other in London for all
my adult life. British railway stations do not have litter bins, and
there are periodic recorded announcements that any unattended packages
are liable to be removed without warning. When I was younger it was
the IRA; they gave warnings, but their bombs were technically
sophisticated and enormously powerful. This lot are more after
headlines and deaths, but at least the bombs are amateurish. Thank
God the IRA never managed to detonate a bomb in one of the deep tube
lines.
For what it's worth, in 1975 there was a train crash at Moorgate
station in which 29 people died and 70 were injured, and in 1987 a
smoker dropped a match at Kings Cross Station starting a fire which
killed 31 (again mostly commuters on the Underground). The pieces
were picked up and life moved on.
The last victim of the Kings Cross fire was only identified in January
2004.
Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
"Let’s have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."
- Earl Blumenauer