It’s been an odd past few days. Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of my father’s death. That was sad and I’d been dreading the day for about a week – until it finally arrived and it wasn’t too bad as something at work reminded me of one of my favourite father stories.
He was the best man at a pal’s wedding and he and the groom were stood outside the church having a cigarette after greeting all the guests. The bride’s car drew up and her father got out, followed by the bridesmaids and finally the bride. The groom and my dad walked into the church and took up their positions before the altar and a few minutes later the Here Comes The Bride music started. The groom turned round to see the full church and the bride and her dad and the bridesmaids walking down the aisle. It was at this point that my father turned to the groom and said: ‘It’s still not too late to back out, you know…’
The day then got much better when we won the Olympics. That was a really fabulous feeling as, even though I am a professional Yorkshireman by birth, I can claim dual nationality and call myself a Londoner after living here for the past five and a bit years. I may not quite be at the Pearly King regalia stage but I do feel I belong.
But I actually felt more pride in my adopted cock-er-nee status yesterday.
The terrorist bombs went off and the place ground to a standstill but there was just a stoical acceptance and a total lack of panic or surprise from most of the people I saw around Edgware Road at 9.30am. There was something very civilised and very British about it. Nil desperandum and spirit of the Blitz and all that. It was almost a collective sigh of ‘Terrorists. Balls to the lot of you!’
As the death toll started to rise a visibly shaken Blair gave a speech on TV and was good value, although Bush talking about human rights was pretty rich. But Livingstone hit the nail on the head for me when he basically said that this was an attack on normal people of every race and religion and not the power-brokers or war-mongers.
Myself and the missus got out of Edgware Road pretty quickly as the emergency services started doing their thing and going about their business with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of effectiveness.
And today the city is starting to get back to normal. Tube trains are getting full again and the people are moving about freely. Shame the people who planned and executed this still are, though...
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