Dom has left the building

Off on holiday now.....very excited about it.....will think of you all.....see you soon.

xxxx

Bloomsbury Walk

Theresa and I have decided to explore the city we live in a bit more. So starting with an area in the centre of town this is a 4km tour of an area called Bloomsbury. Some photos and notes of what we discovered...


This is Bedford Square, completed in 1780, and the best surviving example of a Georgian Square in London. In keeping with the areas literary traditions it was home to many publishers until the 1980's.

The back of the British Museum - arguably more impressive then the front even and significantly less well known.

Russell Square and the Russell Hotel. A stunning building built from 1800, with such intricate carvings that it has to be seen up close to be believed.

Brunswick Square with it's traditional red telephone box. These are gradually being replaced by more modern items. The square was home to people such as Virgina Woolf, Leonard Woolf, Duncan Grant and John Maynard Keynes in the 1900's. All were members of the Bloomsbury Group - an association of writers, artists and intelectuals.

This is where Charles Dickens lived for several years in the 1830's and wrote Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. Note the beautifully intact railings and path.

Although now a very decorative house with some stunning blue tiles, this used to where the White Conduit was, which pumped water to the medieval monestary which is now St Pauls cathedral.

Great Ormond Street, location of the world famous childrens hospital.

This is a pub called the Queen's Larder, apparently named after the cellar where Queen Charlotte stored delicacies for her deranged husband George III while he was being treated in the local hospital. This whole area is considered one of the Italian quarters of London as well.

If anyone else would be interested in doing tours of your cities they are incredibly rewarding and maybe you could show the rest of us.

A tagged list from Paul

Thank you to Yossarian for tagging me ... and for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself some more. Lol!! Click on the title for Paul's list.

10 years ago
I was starting my second year of university in North Wales. Not overawed at all and determined to have some fun this year rather than just working. Moved in with some friends who I'm still mates with. Had just come back from a trans-European trip which took in 12 countries in 10 days with my friend Paul (who incidentally tagged me for this).

5 years ago
Moved to London and started my career in Publishing as a journalist covering motorsport. Was having a real struggle in my head trying to decide if that was what I wanted to do or not. Racing was my hobby and my job and I did not have a life outside of the sport. But I wanted one... Found the capital quite overwhelming. (Now consider it my home - how things change.)

1 Year Ago
Bought my second property in London and was hugely happy to be leaving my old flat. It served it's purpose, but it's a measure of how I never settled that I do not really even think about it now. Was travelling to Germany on a weekly basis and getting roundly sick of being anywhere near a plane or airport.

Yesterday
Flew back from Munich. Feltshit, but was upgraded to business class so had a good lunch and some nice champagne. Didn't get rid of my head cold, but made me feel special! Then went to B&Q to buy a coat hook and came back with plants, hooks, compost, fire alarm, food, picture frame, ...

Today
Am back in the prehistoric hell-hole that is my current office. It is 29 Celcius, I am sweating, snivelling and generally unhappy. Finished Harry Potter finally and thoroughly enjoyed it. Am looking forward to going home, sitting in the garden and having a Gin, Coke and Lime as the sun goes down.

Tomorrow
Friday thank goodness. Only one more week until I go to Barcelona and that thought is keeping me going. Have to start prepapring for the annual London to Brighton Smart car run which is this Sunday. Hopefully it will be even better than last year. Want to clean Lolita. Am so old ....

5 songs I know the words to:
1. Have a Nice Day – Bon Jovi
2. Boys of Summer – Don Henley
3. Like a Prayer – Madonna
4. YMCA - (can't remember group)
5. Hysteria - Def Leppard

5 snacks:
1. Apple
2. Belgian chocolate
3. Yoghurts
4. Pork Pie
5. Cheese

5 things I would do with $100 million:
1. Buy several cars
2. Design a house to put them (and me) in
3. Explore the world
4. Make sure my friends were comfortable
5. Launch a magazine company

5 places I would run away to:
1. Australia
2. Fiji
3. Spain
4. Mauritius
5. Masai Mara Game Reserve

5 things I would never wear:
1. Stilletos
2. Socks with sandals
3. Bling jewelery
4. Ties unless I have to
5. Football shirt

5 favourite tv shows (I don’t watch much TV, but . . .)
1. Battlestar Galactica
2. Lost
3. A place in the Sun
4. Have I Got News For you
5. V8 Supercar racing from Oz

5 joys:
1. Sunrise
2. Sunset
3. Dining with friends
4. Exploring with my girlfriend
5. Chilling on the sofa in the evenings

5 bad habits:
1. Being short tempered when I'm tired
2. Giving people silent treatment when I'm annoyed
3. Low bullshit tolerance
4. Like to keep things (too) neat
5. Sarcasm

5 things I like doing:
1. Walking in countryside
2. Playing on computer
3. Driving
4. Exploring
5. Sitting on beach listening to the sea

5 Movies I like:
1. Lord of the Rings trilogy
2. 10 Things I Hate About You
3. Taxi (French version)
4. Battlestar Galactica
5. Love Actually

5 famous people Id like to meet:
1. Ayrton Senna
2. Bill Hicks
3. Julia Stiles
4. Ludovico Einaudi
5. Jerry Bruckheimer

5 favourite toys
1. My car
2. My computer
3. Sky + satelite system
4. I-pod
5. Playstation

I tag Dale, C, Pep and Jerzee to pick this up and run with it.

I am now a landlord

My apologies for being away for a week. Totally unacceptable and I grovel mercifully. But it has been a pretty manic few days, and it's tough (still) not having the Internet at work. It means that any posting I do must be done at home, and I've been so whacked for the past few days that I just couldn't face it. But I figure I'd better get something down now.

The big news is that I now have a couple of people living with me which is very strange. I've lived alone for the best part of the last 5 years so having others around is going to be interesting I think. There will be a period of adjustment for all of us I guess. And we'll have our good days and bad days, but on the whole I'm very positive about them being there. Their names are Theresa and Dale, and you can see what they're about from links on the left of my blog. They moved up on Saturday and are both taking a few days to adjust to London and get over the shock of leaving the sea behind. It also gives them a chance to get themselves and the house organised while I'm at work. So far they've done a pretty cracking job and they've transformed the house from being a utalitarian bachelor pad (lots of gadgets, not too full cupboards, not too muh lying around to gather dust) to a homely environment (lots of pictures on walls, overflowing cupboards, washing hanging everywhere, garden furniture).

They are both very creative people and it's been lovely coming home and all sitting round the TV and chatting. This is probably very normal to everyone else, but I am finding it hugely stimulating. And we all look at things from different angles so we could be watching the same show, but reading three interpretations from it. Fascinating. I am also being exposed to new foods, and have been threatened with a curry night on an irregular basis (not a huge fan of food that hurts me).

So that's the latest from Chez Dom. We have dial-up internet access at work, but that is driving me more insane each time I use it. I think I might post about how we used to work without e-mail and internet. (How did we do it?).

England win The Ashes

For the first time in 20 years England have won the Ashes Test Cricket Series. The Ashes is one of the oldest Cricket competitions in the world and is a series of games between England and Australia. The Ashes name refers to the trophy which is an urn with something or someone’s ashes in it. (Have probably been told who/what they are in the past but have forgotten. And have too much of a life to look subject up.) The Test series was over 5 games and was incredibly hard fought, and the series wasn’t decided until very late in the day of the final game, last night. But England triumphed 2-1 with 2 draws as well.



Cricket is supposedly our national sport (or is it Football/Soccer?) and like many sports we invented, we’re not that good at them. In a very English way we wallow in being the defeated underdog, and get on with our lives reasonably happily. Whereas the Australians are very competitive and have that killer instinct in sport. And Cricket is probably more their national sport than ours. So beating them in this series was fantastic. Cricket has long been seen as a minor and fading sport in the UK, but the whole country has been getting behind the team over the last few weeks. And the country pretty much stopped yesterday to try and catch some of the final day of the series. Everyone is talking about the team at the moment and they did a parade through central London today, which drew crowds in the tens of thousands. National pride is running high and I think people are feeling good about themselves as well. I think this is great, particularly in London given recent events. It is very pertinent for me as half of my office are Australians and it’s nice to put one over them (in a nice way).



In recent times there has been a change in attitude towards sport in this country, probably directly linked to the fact that we are having some success internationally. At the end of 1993 England won the Rugby World Cup (again, rather pleasingly, beating the Australians) in an epic match. Then earlier this year London got the Olympics for 2012, and then yesterday England won the Ashes. On each occasion there have been huge celebrations in the centre of London and the city has really come together to celebrate. And a lot of the rest of the country has been joining in. Hopefully this will mean that resources will be put into developing future sports people. Whether you are into sport or not, I think it’s a good thing to have some success and everyone feels better when Britain wins. It lightens the mood across the country, and often brings groups and communities together.

But for the moment congratulations to the England Cricket players and lets build on this.

(I’ve realised this post contains some factual grey areas for which I apologise.)

9/11

It has been 4 years since the terrorist attacks that changed the world. Now that London has also been attacked by these nutters I feel an even greater empathy with New York and Washington DC. I hope as a world we will continue to stand firm and I believe this will end one day.

Office update - getting there

We have progress. Maybe. We now have phone lines. And I have hooked up 3 dial up modems to these lines, which means we have limited/slow internet access. Hoorah! Only about a month after we moved in. We should hear about the ADSL in a couple of weeks.

A big fat Greek wedding in Eastbourne

It's been a pretty hectic week. most of the week was spent in a coastal town in Southern england called Eastbourne, at the wedding of one of my best friends. She's called Matina, is Greek and a good mate, and decided to have her wedding in traditional Greek style. Due to various reasons which are beyond me she (we) ended up in Eastbourne.

Eastbourne is like a retirement town and has a distinctly grey and dying feel to it. Not in a morbid sense, but more like where people come to spend the remaining days of their lives. Everything moves slower (or on small motorised mobility scooters) and everyone seems to have grey or white hair. Despite this though it turned into three days of utter relaxation mixed in with a Greek Orthodox service and some dancing and partying. A lot of her family came over from Athens and much fun and consternation was had with the food and dancing in particular.

We were blessed with fantastic weather and a friend and I spent many happy hours walking round, eating and taking photos. Some of the results of the latter you can see on the photoblog linked on the right. Many of us at the wedding were pretty dog tired and for some reason the peace and slow pace of Eastbourne got us all completely chilled. Leaving to go to work on Friday was so so tough!!



I'm sorry if this post is a bit nothing to some of you, but I just want to post a couple of pics of the happy couple and to wish them all the best for the future.

Office update - joke continues ...

I thought British Gas were pretty dire, and there was no way any other company could sink as deep in terms of customer service. I was wrong. British Telecom plumb new depths!!

Two things happenend today to make me cringe and smile through gritted teeth. Followed by a bit bit of gnashing of said teeth and then that despairing smile you see on people who are losing the will to live. Did my daily call to BT to enquire where we were at with getting ADSL for the office. Was told that there was a problme and we couldn't have ADSL because the local telephone exchange is too full and there is no more room for anyone to get broadband. We have to wait for someone to give up their broadband before we can have it. which is insane and I'm sure not correct. Unless my particular part of London is the busiest broadband user district in the UK (unlikely). Added to the fact that the business park my office is built on is above the biggest telephone exchange in South East england (I've discovered). But BT were most insistent that we couldn't have ADSl and would have to wait in a queue for it. So I've started searching around other providers who do not use the BT cabling, and moght have found a couple of options. Both of which will take between two and four weeks to get sorted. But hopefully this is progress. And it will have meant that my company will have been operating without any connection to the outside world for up to eight weeks!!!

The other cringe worthy moment came when we received a letter from BT saying that unless we paid the set up fee immediately for ADSL they would disconnect us. Am thinking salt/rubbing/wounds/owwww!

Happy birthday blog

I have been blogging for one year now. How time flies when you are having fun. and as with all birthdays it is a good time for reflection. It has been quite a momentous year outside of the computer. I've moved house, a hugely destructive tsunami hit Asia, Pope died and was replaced, Michael Jackson inexplicably found not guilty, London winning the Olympics bid for 2012, one of the wierdest hot/cold Summers on record, London being attacked by suicide bombers, new girlfriend.

And in blog world it's been a ride as well. It all began when I bought a digital camera and I wanted a place online to store the photos. I was bored one day while sitting in my office in Germany and googled looking for something to use. Found Blogger. Went from there! It rapidly became a sort of online journal. Initially recording what I did and where I went, and then it became a means to air problems, thoughts and views. At around the same time I met a very varied group of individuals online who I'd like to think have become friends. At times you guys have lifted me when I've been down, made me laugh when I've been sad and made me question lots of different things. And I want to pay respect to that and thank you for it.
Blogging has also given me the impetus to learn some html and has brought me in contact with a wide range of sites and thoughts online. It has arguably also kind of been the catalyst for my current relationship (but more about that some other time).

I've no idea wher the blog is going to go in the next year(s), but I hope the ride gets bigger and better. I'm raising a virtual glass to you all and wishing myself a happy birthday!!

Update on office situation

And the good news as of this morning is that we still have no phones or ADSL. Which means we cannot have any contact with the world outside of our four office walls. According to the phone company (British Telecom - not some little tin-pot company), we will being connected on September 5. Only a month since we moved in. Initially they said it would be 5-10 working days. Then it became longer, but not sure how much longer. Then we were put at the top of the priority list, where we sat for a week with no progress at all. The irony is that the business park where we are now sits above the main telephone exchange for South London. All of the wires are 20ft below out office!!

Luckily I can work from home a bit so can still do some work, but I wonder how people managed before e-mail and the Net? I've never worked in an environment without e-mail, but has anyone else? what did people do to send data to each other? And did people just spend the whole day on the phone?

You just have to smile though (through gritted teeth!)...

Bank Holiday week-end

Here is the seafront on the south Coast of england. Typical of many seaside resorts in the UK. This is Portsmouth.


Last week-end was a public holiday in the UK. One of the few that we get each year. Far fewer than our European cousins (not that I'm bitter). Traditionally the weather is shocking, but this time it turned out alright. I spent some of the holiday at home with my folks, as you can see here.

Me, mum and dad in their front garden.

Realised it has been nearly 6 months since I was last home - how bad is that?! Guess time really does fly, and we have plenty of contact, but still. I love their house and village. It is so tranquil and energising. Each time I go there I promise myslf I will be back soon. Doesn't always happen soon enough unfortunately ...

Then it was off to the coast to enjoy a few rays with some friends and catch the festivities there celebrating the end of Summer. Abba tribute band/few drinks/firework show. Usual stuff....



And to close a couple of sunset pictures in Portsmouth showing the skyline and landmarks. A fitting end to a good few days.

Walking by the river

Or paddling in this case! Great friends of mine, Aaron and Liz, and I decided to go fro a stroll downriver along the banks of the Thames. From were they live to a particularly nice area calle Richmond-upon-Thames. Very posh, very expensive, and very full of life. The walk was great, looking at some wonderful houses and boats, enjoying a fine Summer afternoon. Unfortunately the tide was rising and the path flooded. As you can see. So the walk became a paddle. Not sure how healthy it was, and my feet did smell even worse than normal.

I couldn't help wondering what people did in Elizabethan times though, when they must have been in the same situation as we were. The men lying a cape on the ground for the women to walk over would not really have sorted this ...

Quiz time

It's Saturday morninf so it's quiz time (no, I don't really know why either!)

First instalment is from Theresa ....

When was the last time you said something nice to someone?
This morning
What was it you said?
I love you
How did you feel when/after you’d said it?
Was smiling inside
When was the last time you said something horrible to someone?
Yesterday, to a colleague
What was it you said?
Told them to stop whinging or I would sack them
How did you feel when/after you’d said it?
Indifferent. I meant it.
Do you regret saying it?
No, she'd been whinging all week. about time I did something about it.
When did you last feel really alone?
Not recently
Who/what pulled you out of feeling that way?
Sorted my head out
When did you last make a significant change to your life?
3 months ago
Why did you make that change?
Realised I was with the wrong person.
If you could go on holiday tomorrow, where would you go?
Barcelona, and happily find myself going there soon.
Who would you go with, if anyone?
Someone I care about very very much
If life wasn’t so complicated, what would be your ideal situation right now?
No money worries, living in a villa in Catalunya, doing a creative job.
What would make you happy right now?
A comfortable bed and someone to snuggle up to.
What would make you sad right now?
Realizing I had no purpose in life.
If you could do one special thing today, without complications, what would you do?
Head for the coast
If you knew you had just 24 hours left to live, describe your perfect day?
Spend the day with a special person, on a quiet and beautiful beach. Absorbing the company and the world around me.
If you could have anything to eat right now, describe what it would be?
Tapas
Which chef would you have cook it?
Gordon Ramsay
What is your worst personal habit?
Picking my nose
What is your best trait?
Caring
How would you describe your personality?
Complex, but caring
If you could see anyone in concert, of any era, who would you like to see that you haven't seen before?
Queen
If you could buy any painting…?
A Monet
If you could do one thing to improve the world, what would it be?
Remove the need for money.
If you weren’t here tomorrow, how do you think you would be remembered?
A complex person who is very loyal
How would you like to be remembered?
As above


second instalment is from Yossarian ....

Question 1: Who is you hero(s) and why?
I'm not sure I have heroes as such, but there are people who inspire me. Dan Millman started my off on my journey. My parents and partner give me support and encourage me to better myself.

Question 2: If you could have three wishes, what would they be?
I wish I could settle down and have a quiet and happy family life.
I wish to be able to travel to far-flung places in this worldand expore them with no time-pressure.
I wish to not need to work so many hours so that i can have more time for friends and family.


Question 3: If you could eat anything you want right now, what would you eat and who would cook it?
Tapas, Gordon Ramsay

Question 4: When you read this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news
/england/london/4163314.stm) how does it make you feel?
Link didn't work. what was it about?


Question 5: If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
I would have more free time so that I could pursue more interests of mine.

Time for a lie down now ....

Brightening things up

A friend and I have been doing quite a lot of work in the garden and the house recently, and here are some of the results of our efforts. For a while there has been a little something missing from the place. Nothing really big, or really bad, but just ... something not quite .... there. It took a while to get my head round what it was. And then I had an epiphany - life was missing from the house. Living alone it can be very easy to miss the obvious things. So my friend and I went searching and shopping and started to add the finishing touches.

It's incredible what a few plants can add to a place. I guess it's probably like a cat or something - there's a tranquility and vivacity that decends on the place. You enter a room and feel the power of living things in the room with you. as the wind gently blows through you can hear the swish of leaves. When it rains you can smell the grass and the flowers. And such a relatively small thing transforms your karma.

I hope the pics bring you some kind of sense of the peace they bring me.

Above is a Fern with some glass stones in water. When the sun shines through into the lounge in the evenings it makes the most fantastic moving light image on the walls.


Here is a collage of some of the flowers in the garden. It's great to come home from a tough day and see so much colour around. Some are Petunias, others I'm not so sure. I take the view that I don't need to name them to appreciate what they are. and for how they make me feel ...


The patio needed brightening up a bit. sitting outside in the evenings it's great having some colour in the garden, but it's also nice to have some smaller plants all around you. One of these is a herb pot which is regularly cultivated and added to my food. The otjers are a Bamboo which I'm going to enjoy watching growing. I love the sound Bamboo in the wind makes. And a mixture of Ivy and small patio plants. The colours work so well together.


I have no idea what these plants are, but they are pretty mad. Curly Love and Space Flowers I call them. Somehow I smile each time I see them. and they seem to fit together very well.

And finally here is the white Lilly. One of the most beautiful flowers.

Some sweet thoughts from an anonymous blogger...maybe

Sweet Song

This is the sweet song,
Song of all the sweets,
Caramel and butterscotch
Bullseyes, raspberry treats;

Treacle toffee, acid drops,
Pastilles, crystal fruits,
Bubble-gum and licorice-sticks
As black as new gum boots;

Peppermint creams and aniseed balls,
Tiny sweets and whoppers,
Dolly-mixtures, chocolate drops,
Gigantic gob-stoppers;

Lemon sherberts, jelly babies,
Chocolate cream and flake,
Nougat, fudge and such as give
You tooth and belly-ache.


Peut-être

Peut-être il me croit, peut-être pas.
Peut-être je peux l'épouser, peut-être pas.
Peut-être le vent sur la prairie, Le vent sur la mer, peut-être,
Quelqu'un, quelque part, peut-être peut dire.
Je poserai ma tête sur son épaule
Et quand il me demande je dirai oui,
.....Peut-être.

:)

Moving office part 2

As some of you may have read, last week was comedy week in my office. The boss decided to surprise us (me!) with a last-minute office move. The move duly happened on Monday amid much chaos and swearing. But we had a whole 13 person office, with associated crap moved and in the new place by 3pm that day. Which I think is pretty impressive actually.

We were right in the centre of London, but we are now near an area called Canary Wharf which is by the old docklands area. I think it’s really nice because it’s away from the hassle and hustle of the city centre. It’s also close enough to my house for me to drive. So no more public transport for Dom!!

There’s lots of unpacking still to do. And at the moment we have no phones, no internet, no e-mail. We are networked internally, but there’s only so much fun to be had by e-mailing colleagues across the office!! Hopefully it’ll all be up and running by next week.

And the best news is that we might be moving again in four weeks to a permanent office! But I’m not even thinking about that yet. Too depressing!!

I am a potter

Over the week-end a friend and I decided to set about decorating my house a bit more. It has been lacking a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’, and I came to the conclusion that it was life. Or plants in particular. So some bushes, vases, coloured stones and other things were acquired. The centerpiece is this glass vase that stands about 4ft tall, which I’ve put various coloured gravels in and some plastic flowers. It’s standing in the corner, but really adds to the chilled atmosphere in the place now. I’ve tried taking some photos (to show off basically!), but they do not do justice to the room. So I’ve settled for just this photo instead. It’s amazing how a few small details changes can make a huge impression.

And today's amusing story concerns ...

... me!

My boss walks into my office at 14.30 today, Friday.

Boss: We have to move offices (in chatty tone).
Dom: OK (thinking happy thoughts because I don't like our decor).
Dom: Where are we going?
Boss: Don't know yet.
Dom: OK, when are we moving (growing suspicious)?
Boss: We have to move on Monday.
Dom: Monday? Which Monday (thinking I'm sure we have a months notice)?
Dom: (surely we have at least a months notice.)
Boss: This Monday. Otherwise the bailiffs will come and change the locks on the doors.
Dom: (stunned)....this Monday?
Boss: Yes.
Dom: And we don't know where we're going yet?
Boss: No, I need you to sort that out asap.
Boss: And find a removal company that can come in on Monday morning and move us.
Boss: And speak to IT so that they can come in at the week-end and dismantle everything. We have to be out of here on Monday.

Unfortunately this isn't a joke. We are moving offices on Monday, having been informed by the management on Friday afternoon.

Update to follow if I survive this move and don't get jailed for beating ten bells of shit out of my boss. Who, incidentally, broke the good news and then buggered off to his boat shortly afterwards!

One month on ....

It has been one month since the terrorist attacks on London. as the picture above shows, the city is almost back to normal. One underground transport line is still out of commision, but it does not affect travel across town that much really. This line above, the Picadilly Line, was the final major artery to get back running. And as of this morning, 4 weeks on, it is.

I've been reflecting a lot on how I feel about things today, and trying to work out what the general mood is in London. I've done a lot of soul searching in the past few weeks. There's nothing like a bomb attack to focus the mind and to work out what is important and what is not. After the first bombings I just felt disgust for the people who had done this. In a way I felt bitter that they had killed themselves in the process of the attack becaue I would love to have seen them being made to pay for what they did. As I think I wrote on the day. Unfortunately they took the easy way out and all we can do now is hunt down those who helped them, and try and figure out what made these killers do it. I just hope there is a real and logical grievance and not just some twisted and false interpretaion of Islam or some such thing. If nothing else to help those who lost loved ones deal with this tragedy.
I feel relief in a way that no-one close to me was involved in the attack. I know people who know people who have lost friends and partners, but no-one directly connected to me. I really feel for those who are currently burrying their dead and remembering them (especially today I would think). But I do not feel guilty for knowing my friends and family are all still about.

After the first attacks I felt nothing about being back ont he London transport network. No fear, no determination, just carrying on as normal. It wasn't bravado, just a logical take on my situation. Maybe it was my way of dealing with it I don't know. But I got up on the Monday morning and followd my usual routine and went back into london as I do on most days. Same shit, different day, that kind of thing. I didn't even really notice much disruption which was heartening. I felt good about that becasue it signified that London would recover fast from something like this. and whatever was thrown at us we would bounce back stronger.

Then came the second attacks. Or attempts anyway. I was abroad during the first attack, but in my offcie during the second one. Luckily the idiots who tried this attack were so incompetent that they couldn't even set the bombs off. I'm relieved about that, but also feel even more contempt for the people who tried this time, than for the first lot. At least they have all been caught now and hopefully we can get some straight answers to why. Even the coward who ran abroad has been caught. I guess I just want to know why more than anything. What have the people of London done to make them hate us so much?

The morning after the second attack a man was shot dead by Police when he refused to stop when challenged and then tried to board a train. I have had people criticise the Police for allowing this to happen, but I personally would pat the officer on the back for doing probably the toughest thing he has ever done. He will have to live with his actions for the rst of his life. But he did what he thought was right and did it to protect the many innocent people on that train. It turns out the man was not a terrorist and that is a tragedy, but he was in this country illegally and refused to stop. Which in the current situation is ill-advised at best, and (as we have seen) deadly at worst. I've also noticed that the vast majority of peopl who have criticised the Police do not live in London. Many people who live in the capital I think agree it's a tragedy, but have no problem with the Police trying to protect us.

The second set of attacks were on a tran line that I use every day. And the guy who was shot was in a station that I pass through all of the time. The first time I went through the station I felt a bit strange. It was a momentary feeling and I have not had it since, but it did cross my mind that I could have been on that train. Or one of the trains the bombers were on. I think the second set of attacks made me realise that this could become a wave of terror in London. The randomness of the attacks is probably the most scary thing. Although the dumbness of the second group is heartening.

And how do I feel today? There are a lot of Police around which is comforting. I think people generally are looking out for each other, more than watching each other now. as was the case in the aftermath of the attacks. I think London as a city, and it's population have risen magneficently to the challenge of what has happened, and it shows that the spirit of stoicism is still strong here. I am a lot more aware of foreigners in the city now. But I am equally determined not to think of them differently and treat them differently to what I was before. I have no fear about being on the transport network, and even if I did have concerns I would still go on it anyway. I think attitudes and life changed dramatically in London on July 7. As it did in New York in 2001. I don't know what the future will bring, but we can never go back to how it was now. I hold out great hope for us as a race and I think seeing that London has recovered from this shows that we can exist as a multi-cultural population.

My final comment would be to all those who checked I was OK in the immediate aftermath of the attcks. To all of you I say 'thank you'. You have been true true friends and I am indebted to you for your concerns. I will never forget it ...