London Bombings

So we've become the latest victim of terrorist attacks. I could write a bit about how terrible it is and I'm sure a lot of people certainly will but there's one thing that struck me as I watched the coverage on News 24. It's the reaction of the crowds.

Now here's a thing for you to watch out for. Look at the crowds and the victims. Compare that with the crowds, if you can remember, in the Madrid bombing or even New York twin towers where people were running around screaming and saying "Oh my God!" a lot.
The one thing I noticed was the calmness of the crowds. At one point on TV they were interviewing this girl who had blood pouring from her and she was saying "It's just a scratch there's others worse than me."Others saying stuff like "It was a bomb......whatever!"and "Yes it was scary, but hey that's life isn't it?"
Then the women who calmly told the interviewer that she had loads of tiny shards of glass stuck in her hair and all over her
You know it brings a lump to your throat. The British at their best in the face of adversity. No screaming or wailing no panicking. I sometimes wonder if that isn't our best national attribute as a people. We don't panic we don't run around like headless chickens, we get scared like everyone else, but it's what we do with that fear that's important. WE don't buckle under pressure, we just get stronger.
For years we've been accused of having a laisez faire attitude. Well maybe it's because our backs haven't been against the wall in a long time.

I noticed that for a long while the bombs were not mentioned it was refered to as blasts not explosions. Also for most of the day until about 3 o'clock there were only two fatalities. I wonder if that wasn't a ploy to maintain calm, to play it down while everything is sorted out.

I was waiting for someone to come on TV with no arms or legs and announce "It's just a flesh wound nothing to worry about....come back and fight I've still got my teeth."