Rollercoaster July

Yeah, Rollercoaster is putting things mildly! After finishing my exams in late June, enjoying some time off (yeah students need down time too) in Brighton and the joy of London winning the 2012, came the terrible events of the 7th.

The feeling of depression was magnified first by the fact that the city was on top of the world the very day before the bombs and then the next week we learn that the bombers were in fact British suicide bombers! The first suicide bombers in Europe.

However London shined through the nightmare. The emergency services were amazing seemed to know exactly what they were doing from the pictures on the TV. Londoner themselves were amazing not allowing fear and panic to engulf the city they kept orderly and calm. Indeed in some parts of London there were bars over flowing with people who could not get home, due to the transport lock down, determined to smile and have a good time. The moment that stuck out the most was when an Islamic website posted a statement along the lines that Britain was burning in fear and panic. You couldn't help but laugh. It was a load of bullshit! No where was there panic and fear was being kept under control by the resilient Londoner. A city that's been through 5 years of intense Blitz can handle 4 lousy bombs! Everywhere there was defiance, even on the news reporters were stating that the terrorists had failed, London was not burning in terror!

As for me well I was going to go into uni later on that day. For once my laziness saved me a lot of bother. Although it also gave me a mini heart attack. Picture this: your asleep, your phone rings( its the red alert sound in star trek, yes I'm a sad fucking monkey), you wake up instantly and answer the phone, Jo: "Are you ok Nirav?!!" I'm like, "errrm yeah why the hell wouldn't I be", "you haven't seen the news?". At this point alarm bells ring and I start to brick it. Running down the stairs to the TV and bang LONDON BOMBS plastered all over the TV! My exact words were something like "Shit, Fuck Fuckers! I'll call you back I need to call my parents". The mobile networks were all overloaded and the police had apparently shut them down for awhile so I had to use the old fashioned land line. My parents were fine they just got to work a bit late cause the tube was shut down for obvious reasons. Everyone else I had to use email or text to find out if they were ok.

Everyone knows I'm a lazy arse so they figure I'm fine. Classic example one of my friends, texts me around 3pm asking if I'm ok and if my family is. I reply instantly with a yes and within a minute I get a phone call from her office with a panicked voice. She's in Brighton and I'm in London? Go figure. Anyway back to the point (yes there is a point), turns out she didn't want to be the one to wake me up and thus have to tell me the bad news. Yeah that was a pretty shit story wasn't it. She's not afaird though and nor should you be!