London, and what it means to me

This is nothing to do with Tesco, or anything. I like a lot of people have been feeling very odd the last few days, emotionally stunned, and somehow detached.

I just got an email from a friend of mine in the US - We went to school together, and keep in very periodic touch - I haven't heard from him for ages - And he hunted me down, and sent me an email just to send his thoughts.

For me, it has enabled me to express some of what I have been feeling, so, for what it's worth, here's what I sent back to him. If you want to text your thoughts in, so it, to 07900 435322, and it will appear on my other blog, http://notablogatallreally.blogspot.com:

Hey there - yes it is me, and thanks for the thought.

Cathy was stuck up in town - She never works on Thursday, ever, but had a meeting to go up to that day - In the end, she had to walk most of the way back, and I was so worried.

One of my aunts gets the tube into Liverpool Street, and we didn't hear from her until about 2pm - All the phones had been diverted for emergency use.

Everyone here is deeply affected - Wednesday, we were all celebrating, and on a massive high - The next day, it was a sense of collective loss and grieving. All of us who were brought up in London, or live or work here have always been fiercely proud of our city - You probably remember that from when you came over to visit that time, and we did the tour. Well I have to say that I for one have never been so proud to call myself a Londoner.

London is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse cities in the word - It is an ironic choice of target if you are trying to hit the "British" - There are 300 different groups live here, and all of them are proud to be British, because that's what we all are - At least one British Moslem is dead - These people are no more fighting for Islam than the IRA were fighting for Catholics - They represent a distillation of evil, and no matter what banner it fights under, evil will never win.

Thanks - You have helped me crystalise a lot of the anger and frustration I have been feeling.

My love to all of you

N

****** wrote:

> Hi Nigel,
>
> Just thinking of you and your family. Hope you're all
> safe and well. If you're not the Nigel Cannings who
> went states-side for a year at Milton, well, I hope
> you're all good anyway.
>
> Cheers,
> evan