Harry's Blog

This time last year I was sat at my PC starting work earlier than usual. We lived in a flat above a shop almost next to West Finchley tube station. My room overlooked the station platforms and that morning I was awoken by a tannoy announcement that said trains were currently cancelled.

That was quite unusual in itself. So as I started work that morning I listened to the announcements through the open window as information gradually emerged from other sources about what had happened that day.

As you can see in my posts from July 7th 2005, at first it sounded like there had been sort of electrical malfunction at one station. As the radio discussed the issue the prevailing opinion was that it was nothing very serious.

The tube announcements outside continued to make it sound like a technical malfunction and the whole event was interesting just because the whole line getting shut down was rather unusual.

Then the first reports of the explosion on the bus at Tavistock Square came in and everything changed. Looking back at my posts from last year they seem rather odd. As I was writing about the tube getting shut down rather than a terrorist attack, it only becomes clear later what had really happened. And I didn't write much about that - I was clearly too shocked by then and just linked to the BBC.

We all know what happened next, who was involved and the repercutions. Britain was attacked by several traitors, British men who were fed such a misguided and twisted version of their faith that they would attack their countrymen and women, including other Muslims.

My memories of that terrible day are combined somewhat with relief that L had recently got a local job and didn't use the tube to communte. Then there was the matter of checking in with friends. And of course letting my relatives in the north know we were okay. Finally piece by piece news trickled in of the true extend of the horror of that day.

Today the nation remembers. And at 12pm there is a national two minute silence.