On the 7th July last year my two oldest were going on trips. Brendan left at 7.30am to go to some sort of careers exhibition in Docklands, he was getting the tube to Fulham Broadway and was going on a coach from there to the ExCel Centre in Canary Wharf.
I waved Dominic off at 9.15. He was in high spirits, London had won the Olympic bid the day before and there was still a bubbling euphoria in the air. Better still, he was going on the tube to the offices of The Guardian newspaper on the Farringdon Road to see how the news stories were put together. Oh happy day, the weather was fine and it felt so good to be a Londoner. The buzz of optimism was sweet and palpable, and the newspapers would be full of it.
My friend Catherine came round for coffee. Like Dominic, her son Benjamin was giddy with excitement. At about 9.45 I got a text from Noreen, it read " WHAT IS GOING ON???!!!" I showed it to Catherine. What did she mean? Was she offended that I hadn't contacted her for a while? I think I texted back something like "eh?" I later learned that she was on an overground train from Finsbury Park and it was stuck just outside Kings Cross. Then Pat phoned, he said that there was a problem on the tube, I checked the news online and it said there had been power surges, he was suspicious and thought it sounded odd.
A litttle concerned, we phoned the school. We couldn't get through. After what seemed like an eternity of pressing redial we were told that the children had been turned back at west Acton due to the line being closed down owing to "power surges".
It was impossible to get through to Brendans school in Fulham, however they did have a website which announced that all the children had arrived at school and were safe, that the boys on the coach trip to Docklands were in transit and parents were advised to keep checking the website for updates. we later learned that one of the Prime Ministers children ( who attends the school) had been picked up by a limo and" masses" of bodyguards ( "masses" could have been schoolboy hyperbole, but it caused a tremor of excited speculation nonetheless.)
The rest of the day was spent glued to the television, slack jawed, tearful and fervently praying. Before our eyes the scenes of carnage were shown on a loop, over and over. The wrecked bus at Tavistock Square, the flashing sirens, policemen and paramedics, commuters covered in soot looking blank and traumatised. All the familiar scenes, no longer dull and ordinary, but damaged and dear. I felt a tug of concern and distress for strangers, and a deeper, nauseating tug of fear for my own.
Memories of 9/11. The same gut wrenching concern for the ordinary, everyday commonplace person suddenly caught up in a cataclysm of evil. But this time the evil was visited on my doorstep, in my city and on my neighbours.
My sons came home. But many others did not. My heart ached for the grieving in many houses that night. Loved ones that never came home. Like 9/11, posters went up with smiling photos of the missing. It took agonising days for many to be identified.
We later learned that the younger sister of Brendans teacher had perished in the Russell Square bomb. Noreen, who normally travelled in the front carriage of the Russell Square train had been late to work that day, owing to a change in her schedule.A little admin alteration that probably saved her life. She is Colmcilles Godmother. I've known her longer than I've known my husband ( who I met through her) How banal, the details that can preserve us, or send us, in an instant, into eternity.
A few days later a website was set up, it was inundated with masses of images, of Londoners, and others around the world. People holding up bits of paper announcing that they were not afraid. Spirited words. Since the Fall we have been vulnerable to fear. Adam hid because he was afraid. When I feel the cold hand of fear clutching my guts I take Gods word like medicine. Psalm 91 is my crisis medicine "You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.".
My family and I are alive. I refuse to allow that our peace today and our hope for tomorrow be destroyed by fear.
Reflecting on the power of faith, John Donne wrote this " He that fears God fears nothing else" and I couldn't put it more succinctly than that.
Comments
Jul. 9, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by barbieheart
Just like our 9/11, the terrorists did not destroy us(or you), but indeed made us(you) stronger. I love that you included Psalm 91 in your post.
And the John Donne quote is great. Praise the Lord that your family was safe.
Jul. 9, 2006 - Thanks for the comment
Posted by deedeeuk
And welcome back to blog land!!! I had wondered what happened to you! It is hard to think about these things one year on, but thanks for sharing your perspective on it. Living quite a long way from London and having no one close to us living there, we seemed a bit detached from this event. 9/11 I had a brother, uncle and Grandfather in NY at the time, plus many friends I knew growing up so that one actually hit closer to home even though it was actually further away! Crazy I know!!
Anyway, the Ambleside online looks great, I'm still finding out more about it. We decided not to totally stop what we were doing and change everything, but to move towards CM/Classical slowing a little at a time. We have always had a good relationship with the local LEA, and our inspector is like a friend coming to visit. The children were so excited and are already talking about what they want to show Miss P----- when she comes to visit next year!! It is a big event in our house. Besides how much problem could they possibly have with CM after all she was English and reformed British education! They can't exactly say it's some crazy american curriculum that won't work here now can they?
How old are your kids? and how many do you have again? I can't remember! You'll have to let me know how you like the AO. Maybe you could do a review of it on the UK blog when you have used it for awhile? Have you seen the book,'A Charlotte Mason Companion' by Karen Adreola? I bought it while I was back home and am still trying to digest it, but it is a great book! I would highly recommend it if you can get it.
Jul. 11, 2006 - Such memories
Posted by mamasmurf
It is so hard to think that a whole year has passed by since the bombings. I remember being in a similar situation when the IRA bomb went off in Manchester - ds was only a babe still and we were trying to decide what to do with the rest of our day. I suggested going into Manchester, hubby said, "No, I don't think we could cope with it today." and suggested going somewhere else. How prophetic was that? When we got home, we couldn't believe how we'd been kept from going into the city! Manchester has been totally changed by that day - apart from one postbox that stayed standing - but nothing could change the people!
~Chrissy
Jul. 23, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ReneeM
its good to see you back... not sure how I missed this post... thank you for allowing me to read about it, me who almost never reads the news. Its nice to know someone else who reads John Dunne :)