Would any British BD-ers like to check in?

[Amanaduial the archer]

....they knew this was coming? How so, Lalaith?

but most of us jump in our cars without a second thought....

Ohhh, no. Not if you're jumping into a car that my sister's driving you don't. Full scale Vatican blessings and flocks of doves appearing would be needed before I jumped into that car without a second thought...

[Lalaith]

The mayor, the chief of police, everyone in authority has been warning us "not if, but when" ever since the Madrid bombings. But as Lush says, this isn't really the venue for discussing it.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Aman

....they knew this was coming? How so, Lalaith?

Common sense really. After New York, Bali, Istanbul and Madrid it was really just a matter of time. It is impossible to prevent such a thing happening sooner or later, whatever measures are put in place. The possibility had certainly crossed my mind many a time as I walked through a busy rushhour Waterloo station.

But, as Mith rightly said, the chances of meeting one's end in a car accident, or even in one's own home, are far higher. So the possibility was not (and will not be) something that unduly concerns me.

[Bêthberry]

Further to what Sauce has said: A city that has weathered plague and pestilence, The Great Fire, innumerable other fires, regicide, revolt, uprisings, Guy Fawkes and other stormings of Parliament and authority, public executions as public entertainments, torture in the Tower, and the Blitz knows how to take things in its stride. I've been ever so impressed by the phlegmatic tone of the BBC news reports I've heard compared to the slightly hysterical tone of CNN, Fox, etc.

I was thinking the other day of one benefit of the monarchy as I saw a news clip of the Queen's public statement at one of the hospitals. She is a living witness to the Blitz on London during World War II and as such provides a personal testimony of the city's resilience. No short-term democratic leader can provide that.

Good to hear that all are safe. As I'm sure we are discovering, there were people of just about all nations on those trains and the bus. On the front page of my local newspaper today, there are mobile phone images of one of my countrymen as he escaped from the bowels of the Picadilly line at King's Cross and reports of others who survived.

I'm sure there's something here, about the stoicism of the response, that fits in with Tolkien's Sam and Frodo and Aragorn. And by that I don't mean to imply anything about those who planted the bombs.

[Evisse the Blue]

Sorry for going even more off topic, but I wanted to say that earlier today I was thinking exactly along the lines of Bethberry's most recent post on the subject. From what I saw on the news (though I admit this may not prove the most reliable of sources), the way that Londoners have been handling this tragedy gave me a new notion of how phlegmatic they can be. I mean, British people have made an art of 'under-reacting', (if that's even a word) and I discover this makes me even more moved by tragedies happening to them.

On topic: I sure am glad everyone who posted here is alright. I admit I too have been thinking of British BD-ers when I heard of this tragedy, and I was hoping there might be such a thread around (thanks to Lush for that).

[Mithalwen]

I think that there is a feeling that if we panic we increase what ever sense of triumph these people have. Ditto if we start to suspect our citizens who happen to have their origins in arabic countries. As the name suggests, terror is their weapon, if we aren't terrified they don't win.

The memories of the Blitz do live on even if second hand. I grew up on my grandmother's horrifice tales of nursing though the Coventry Blitz and my father saying how they would return to school after a raid to find more empty desks...
We are sometimes accused of being a cold people - we aren't - but I think there is a capacity to get on with practical things and save the tears for later.....

On a practical level - I would mention that we must assume that this kind of thing may happen again, and I for one will be making an effort to give blood at the earliest opportunity. Blood stocks are often dangerously low and so I would encourage anyone eligible to think about becoming a donor. I was a regular donor as a student but I am sorry to say I have let it lapse. It doesn't take long and really doesn't hurt. I hope there won't be another terrorist attack but giving an armful will definitely help someone.


Similarly, I plan to update my First Aid Cert....

[davem]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

We are sometimes accused of being a cold people - we aren't - but I think there is a capacity to get on with practical things and save the tears for later....

Can I just add that I'm glad that (so far) we haven't had the kind of embarrassing nonsense that followed in the wake of Diana's death - its not 'us' somehow to react in that way. I don't think its that we've grown 'used' to that kind of thing, just that we have our own way of dealing with such things - we feel things but don't have to shout our feeling sfrom the rooftops. Bb's point about the stoicism of Sam & Frodo is perhaps relevant. I'm also reminded of the difference between Theoden's reaction to the death of his son in the books as opposed to the movie. There seemed to be a need in the movie to have Theoden break down in tears in order to show his feelings. I think his grief was shown in the books much more subtly through his actions, which is the way we tend to do it..

(my attempt to keep this 'Tolkien'..... )

[Lalaith]

Davem, I agree with you totally about the film having a certain emotional incontinence which I felt was at odds with the phlegmatic tone of the books (although there are in fact a surprising amount of men weeping in Tolkien...)
but I don't think it's fair to call the reaction to Diana's death "embarrassing nonsense" ...the media reaction, yes, but from what I could see, the ordinary public were actually as restrained and dignified as they paid their respects, at the funeral and elsewhere, as they are being at the moment.

Oh, and I do want to say, with regard to the title of this thread (with the greatest respect to Lush who so kindly and thoughtfully started it) that British and Londoner are not the same thing. One of the most interesting things about this great city is that a very large proportion of people who live here are proud to call themselves Londoners without being British. A point that I wouldn't normally bother bringing up, but it's important right now.