My musings on today

[WolverineDG]

The first thing I heard this morning was Rachel Maddow reporting that there had been a series of explosions in London at 6 Tube stations & a bus. It wasn't until later in the morning that I discovered that 2 of the stations were stations my cousin & I used quite frequently during our stay there last month.

On the MSNBC site, there is a slide show & one of the first slides is the exterior of the Kings Cross station surrounded by emergency vehicles. I can see the blue sign of WHSmith, where my cousin & I bought books & magazines. I can make out Boots the Chemist where we bought water before venturing out each day on the first part of our trip. I can see the ticket vending machines (although they are covered up because the station is closed) where we would stand in line each morning, waiting until 9:30 so we could get our daily Travelcards. I know that the big entrance doesn't lead to the Tube, but to the main train station. To get to the Tube, you go off to the left side of the frame, around some construction & down some stairs. I see the newstands where we bought papers & I see the street we walked down to get to our hotel. I know that this particular photograph was taken from atop the pedestrian subway that goes under the street to the station itself. The last time I saw Kings Cross, it was filled with commuters on their way to work & tourists like my cousin & I heading out for a day of fun or off to the airports for adventures elsewhere.

(The same goes for Russell Square, although in the mornings before 9:30, we could be found at Starbucks sucking down coffee. ;) )

Now when I see the pictures of Kings Cross from both inside & outside, I can picture myself there with my cousin. What if that had happened when we were there? What would we have done? A whole lot of what ifs keep bugging my mind. I know it's horribly selfish to be thinking along these lines when there are people who really were injured & people who died, but I've been in a state of shock all day, praying for Londoners & everyone in London, and dealing with my conflicting thoughts of wonderful memories of my trip & thoughts of the destruction & chaos today.

dg

[RevCheesehead]

1. That's a normal reaction.

There is no shame in asking "what if..." because it makes it even more real for you. I'm grateful that you're safe. And, of course, my heart and prayers go out to all whose lives were so tragically affected by the events of today.

My first reaction to my first (and only) visit to London was "so it really is like it looks like on TV, but bigger." You're still feeling the bigness of being over there. That's a gift. Empathy is sadly lacking in our world. :hug:

[WolverineDG]

2. thanks rev

for a while there, i thought i was being melodramatic. :hug:

dg

[Gogi]

3. On my only trip to London (1974) I walked around an IRA car bomb

in front of Buckingham Palace. I suppose I should be grateful the Queen was'nt in residence otherwise the bastards might have put a detonator in the bomb. As it was they did'nt, electing instead to send a threat to the police (like ha ha, see what we could've done, get out of Northern Ireland), but people, that car was packed with explosives wrapped with razor blades, nails and screws. It would've vaporized me because I came within three feet of it and shredded people in the surrounding park for yards around.:grouphug: :grouphug: to the people of London.

[CBHagman]

4. Let it all out.

You need to talk, and you've come to the right place.

I've always felt a really strong sense of the close proximity of joy and tragedy, and how quickly laughter turns into tears and vice versa. This morning I found it almost unbearable to look at the joyous faces of the Londoners in today's papers (i.e., they were rejoicing at the outcome of the Olympic Committee decision) when I knew that today there was shock, fear, and grief.

We pass from joy into pain and back again, and sometimes it seems almost too much for the human heart to bear.