7/7

I hope I am not bringing back unbearable memories to anybody here, but I find myself thinking back to that awful day. I was not there, I have no personal tale to tell, but 2 DDs live and work in London, and at the time, one was near Liverpool Street and the other was rehearsing a play somewhere near Russell Square. I was teaching but at break our admin assistant came in with the breaking news. Seeing the twisted metal of the Russell Square bus and the headline about Liverpool St on our dept staff room TV my first instinct was to ring the girls to see if they were OK but of course all networks were down. I didn't realise and assumed the fault lay with their phones. You know that phrase " your insides turn to water"? Mine did, I had to rush to the loo and I can honestly say I have never ever experience such a visceral feeling of fear. I managed to get their sister in Leeds and bless her she had the sense to try to email youngest's office and could after a while reassure me that she was OK. She also had the thought of trying the third's landline and heard from her that the director had told them not to come in until late as they had been late the night before!
A good friend was however caught in one of the tube blasts, but at the other end of the train and was able to walk through the tunnel to safety.
I remember the IRA bombs in the City when DH was working there but we grew quite blasé about those, just cursing the inconvenience.
7/7 took this to a whole new level and I am in awe of the many stories of extreme bravery by both the emergency services and the general public.
My heart goes out to anybody who lost a loved one, or whose life was forever changed on that day.