A Year On

I look back on the events of a year ago and in some ways nothing in London changed and in other ways a lot did.

On the morning of 7 July, it was one of those rare days when I didn’t get the tube to work, so I have no story of how I could have been at one of the scenes or what a lucky escape I had. I was in Bromley when someone said to me that something had happened on the London Underground but they didn’t know if it was power surges or maybe something more serious than that.

I was in Bromley with someone else from work and when we realised it was something serious we then had to drive back into London because we had the work car with us. So as everyone else was trying to leave London, we were heading back in. As we drove in we were listening to BBC Radio London which was asking for people to call in and say what they had seen. They didn’t want any speculation, just for people to say what they knew. People were phoning in and given what they were saying it sounded as though this was going to be something really bad. Emergency vehicles kept going past at high speed with their sirens on and it was fairly obvious that something very serious has happened.

By the time we got to Central London the bus had blown up in Tavistock Square and all the buses had stopped running and we could see lots of buses pulled over at the side of the road and the disembarked passengers standing there not really sure what to do next as there was no public transport in London. We made really good time back to work because there were actually very few vehicles on the road and then we watched Sky News in the office and saw the events of the day unfold. Over the coming days we realised the scale of what had taken place, with perhaps some tinge of relief that, whilst any of the 52 people being killed by the bombers was an absolute tragedy, it wasn’t more people.

The impact on those caught up in those events whether because they were on one of the tube trains or the bus, or knew someone who was, is hard to imagine and I don’t suppose their lives will ever be the same again. I think there was far more wariness from people travelling on public transport in the short term and I know a couple of people who avoid travelling on the tube even now. But most people have probably returned to their normal commute to work - ignoring fellow commuters and not wanting to be troubled by anything other than listening to their iPod or reading their paper. Clearly illustrated by me journey home on the tube last week. In some ways it is good that people just carry on as normal but I hope that people have at least learnt to keep an eye out for other people a bit more and have a willingness to take action if they think there is something suspicious.

So at midday today I shall pay my own tribute by announcing the two minute silence over the voice address system across the building and will remember those who were killed, injured or otherwise caught up in those tragic events. We will remember.