I know you'll see the news reports about the two minute silence in London today, but I felt compelled to write about it too.
I can genuinely say I have never felt more proud to be a Londoner than I did today. As some of you know I work on a very busy shopping street in the middle of London, one bus passes our front door every 5 seconds. It's a hub of noise, speed and general activity. Today it was utterly silent. There were hundreds of people on the street, including myself and my work colleagues. The buses had their engines turned off; the noise from the dozens of London buses that line our street is normally deafening, and today for two minutes it was gone. It was amazing, and I'm honoured to have been part of it. The pride that emanated from the crowds was palbable; many of us were in tears. And the end we all clapped and this feeling of pride and defiance was united. I'll never share another moment like that I'm sure, and to be honest I don't want to have to.
The reason I share this with you all is that last Thursday it was London. But it could be anywhere, at anytime. These people are not interested in targeting people who were solely connected to the Iraq War - if that were the case why would they murder French journalists? They are murderers who will not stop. Everyone says the world changed after 9/11, and it did, but the act that was commited that day was utterly outlandish. Who could ever imagine that could happen? It was tangible and it was easy to see where mistakes had happened and it was clear to see where you could at least try to stop it happening again. But when you have people who are born and bred in your country, who are happy to get on a tube or a bus and blow themselves up then the world has really changed for good, and there is no way it is ever going to change back. Every single one of us is now a target for these murderers and unlike the Londoners who have been writing into websites and newspapers I AM afraid. I really am.
Thanks for listening. x
I can genuinely say I have never felt more proud to be a Londoner than I did today. As some of you know I work on a very busy shopping street in the middle of London, one bus passes our front door every 5 seconds. It's a hub of noise, speed and general activity. Today it was utterly silent. There were hundreds of people on the street, including myself and my work colleagues. The buses had their engines turned off; the noise from the dozens of London buses that line our street is normally deafening, and today for two minutes it was gone. It was amazing, and I'm honoured to have been part of it. The pride that emanated from the crowds was palbable; many of us were in tears. And the end we all clapped and this feeling of pride and defiance was united. I'll never share another moment like that I'm sure, and to be honest I don't want to have to.
The reason I share this with you all is that last Thursday it was London. But it could be anywhere, at anytime. These people are not interested in targeting people who were solely connected to the Iraq War - if that were the case why would they murder French journalists? They are murderers who will not stop. Everyone says the world changed after 9/11, and it did, but the act that was commited that day was utterly outlandish. Who could ever imagine that could happen? It was tangible and it was easy to see where mistakes had happened and it was clear to see where you could at least try to stop it happening again. But when you have people who are born and bred in your country, who are happy to get on a tube or a bus and blow themselves up then the world has really changed for good, and there is no way it is ever going to change back. Every single one of us is now a target for these murderers and unlike the Londoners who have been writing into websites and newspapers I AM afraid. I really am.
Thanks for listening. x
