I wasn't keen to write about the bombings in London at first, as the initial surreal disbelief gradually turned into shock, and disgust, and anger over the weekend. (I was also busy enjoying activities with Beth and JP, who rightly decided not to let the events crash their holiday). I should probably get something down though before the details fade. Weeks ago, the girls had booked a day-long coach tour through Evan & Evans to see Leeds Castle, Canterbury and Dover. This is the same trip SF and I had been on in 2002 and I knew would give them a taste of England outside the big city. As it was their first time traveling from Oxford to London, and as I had a business meeting scheduled down there at 10:30, I offered to ride on the bus in to London to show them where to meet the tour guide at Victoria Coach station. We were up around 5:30am to catch the 6:45am bus, which would normally have given us plenty of time to meet the guide at 8:45. Unfortunately, we ran into awful traffic just inside the M25 and we didn't get to Victoria Coach until 9:25 or so, well after the tour had left. I had let Beth know on the bus, when it seemed apparent we wouldn't make it in time, that when we arrived we could call and I'm sure either a refund or an offer to reschedule would be extended. This in fact turned out to be the case, and Beth and JP decided to reschedule the tour for Friday and spend Thursday sightseeing in London, which had been their original Friday plans. As I needed to return to Victoria tube station to make my way to my meeting by the Barbican, we three headed there around 9:40 or so. I thought the girls could either join me on the tube and see St. Paul's, the millennium Bridge and that area, or could break away and head in whatever direction they liked. The entrance to the Underground was gated and a queue was milling about in front of it, with a Transport Police officer barring the way. I knew I was going to be late for my meeting at this time, and after we bought a drink, a Krispy Kreme donut and a newspaper (commemorating London's win of the 2012 Summer Olympics) I rang work in Oxford to tell them so. I also asked LR if she could jump online and see what was going on at Victoria Tube. She rang back and said there was a report of a power surge at Kings Cross station, with some casualties (but no deaths) and that a few stations had been closed as a result. We decided to leave Victoria as I wanted to find an open tube station and perhaps get the girls on one of the Hop-on Hop-off London Tour buses. Outside Victoria, just as they were going to purchase their bus tour tickets, a tourist came up and said he'd heard that London bus services had been suspended too. The vendor checked with her HQ and confirmed that, indicating their tour service had been suspended as well. That made me uneasy. At this point we still didn't know what was going on. I think we may have overheard some conversations about bombs, but I didn't want Beth and JP to be concerned or worry about hearsay. I decided I wasn't going to make my meeting at all and that at least the girls could do some walking sight-seeing themselves, and started walking across the square toward Buckingham Palace with them in tow. Just then, at 10:30 (an hour and a half after the bombings), CM from work got through to me on my mobile to say they had the news on in the office and that the explosions (six? seven?) were indeed bombs and I was to get home as quickly as possible. We heard sirens and saw many police and ambulance vehicles. The streets and pavements were quite crowded but people generally seemed calm. We started walking north, towards Hyde Park--where I thought we would eventually catch our bus back to Oxford--while avoiding major landmarks and stations. I rang the Oxford bus company and they confirmed their service was suspended too, so we were stuck. We still didn't really know exactly what had happened so after walking to Sloane Street we stopped in a pub (The Gloucester) just after 11. They had a TV which of course had constant coverage which was still largely general and speculative. The pub filled up with more and more people, as it seemed to be the only place open (the stores had closed earlier in the day) and was a natural gathering point. It was pouring rain, too. We saw Tony Blair make his first speech alone from the G8. I got a text from my lady boss saying if necessary to get a hotel and I'd be reimbursed. I rang CM and asked her to call my mom, and I got through to my Dad a little after noon. Beth and JP used a pay phone across the street to get hold of their relations, too. We decided to eat lunch and were glued to the TV. After the rain stopped and the pub became too smoky, we continued walking along Knightsbridge to the NW corner of Green Park. We stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe so JP could purchase some souvenirs, then walked along Piccadilly before making a break into Green Park. We saw the memorial to the Canadians who fought with the British in the Wars, then took some pictures outside Buckingham Palace. The Palace itself was cordoned off with snipers on the roof and police every 20 yards or so. The area was in the midst of preparations for the weekend's commemorations of the end of World War II, and there was a Living Museum set up in tents and a marquis in St. James's Park. There were old aircraft and jeeps, servicemen in uniform, and musical entertainment. We stopped for an ice cream. Around 4pm my mom got through to me on my mobile, and we heard that the mainline rail stations were to be opened shortly. I suspected the buses would soon follow. We walked through to Trafalgar Square and took some more photos there. It seemed as if it was a relatively normal afternoon, with perhaps a few more business people on the pavement trying to get home. We visited Leicester Sq and the Planet Hollywood there, then Piccadilly and Regents St (which was strangely quiet; all stores were shut) and Oxford St towards Marble Arch. We didn't have to wait long for an Oxford bus there, and the queue wasn't very long, so we each had our own pair of seats for the ride back. I think we were all exhausted by this point, having been up for so long and having done so much marching. Traffic wasn't great and we got in to my place around half nine. We spent most of the rest of the evening on the phone with friends and family in the States, sending emails, and watching the news reports. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized just how close I would have been had I been on time to my meeting. I very well may have been on one of the trains:
11:58:00 AM