Bombs

[juliet]

Attack on London 'inevitable'. Well, duh. It's a major city, therefore a target. And it is simply not possible to defend entirely against attacks by people who are prepared to blow themselves up as well.

I just find it very hard to be *worried* about this. I mean, sure, I'll keep an eye open for dodgy-looking bags or whatever, but... I really can't be bothered to fuss. I don't know whether this is partly because I grew up in London, while IRA bomb scares were still a regular occurrence. But - really, what's the *point* in worrying?

Comments

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. If it happens there's very little I can do about it, and eg curtailing my use of public transport in case of bomb planting thereon hardly seems worth the while.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Yeah but you could easily switch to buses for a while - that's been my main area. Except it takes so SODDING LONG to crawl down Walworth/Camberwell Road that I can't bear it. One can certainly feel paranoid when commuting through large stations, London Bridge and Waterloo for me, Kings X and Euston for others, I'd much rather avoid them at the moment.

Actually I want to avoid them all the time, grr. Fed Up Of No Tube.

[juliet]

There was that bus that accidentally got blown up on Aldwych about 8 or 9 years ago, though (IRA bloke carrying bomb to where he was supposed to put it, & it went off in 'is 'and, guv. As I recall he died, but no one else did).

I can't even feel nervous in large stations, though. I've tried, even, as an experiment - just didn't work. I think my attitude is: there's nothing I can *do* about it (beyond keeping an eye for dodgy-looking parcels, say, which has been an automatic reaction for as long as I've been using public transport), so there's no point in causing myself extra distress.

The more I think about it, the more I think that this probably does arise from being brought up here when the IRA were active. Because I recall feeling similar whenever I ran into a bomb scare as a teenager, as well.

Mind you, I'd rather avoid Kings X *all* the sodding time, because it's crowded & unpleasant.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

I can get nervous when I hear emergency announcements, or when a station is evacuated. (And when it is evacuated and I have to use the *escalator* to get out? Argh!) No, I'm nervous on the tube all the time, because it Scares Me. But not because there might be bombs - because there are lifts and automatic doors and platforms to fall from and loads of people and *escalators* everywhere. I don't think that I have any nervousness left for bombs.

This may be the wrong way to go about things, a'course.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Although Juliet's point still stands, as it's the attitude I end up taking when going on other routes. I should stop listening to LBC and getting paranoid of a morning.

[vigornian.livejournal.com]

Odd you should think this: Simon Jenkins is with you on this one.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Attack on London inevitable, but:
1) Nobody's going to blow up Bermondsey, because there's nothing in it.
2) Most injuries in a bomb scare are caused from falling/flying glass, and you instinctively (I hope anyway) look away from a blast of hot air.
3) May as well die having been where you wanted to go first.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. You can't avoid all the places a bomb might be because that would basically mean staying at home all the time, and if you stop doing the things you want to do just because of the fear of terrorist attacks then the terrorists have already won blah blah blah.

And even if you stay at home all the time you could still die of something. Like, I dunno, boredom.

[lovelybug.livejournal.com]

When I was living in Chester and visiting London every 3 weeks or so I worried very much about this. Within about a week of moving here I found that I just couldn't sustain it when actually living in London. The closest I come these days to worrying about this is brief moments of concern over loved ones who work nearer the centre of town. Especially since ciphergoth was at work nearby to the big IRA bomb, and heard it go off - that fueled my imagination a bit too much.

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I kind of think that the IRA did us Londoners an unintended service by making us more prepared for terrorist attack.

And I too manage to not worry about things I can't do anything about.

[the23.livejournal.com]

the only thing you can do about it is to leave london which seems a lot of effort for such a vague threat.

otoh from my perspective it is one of the many reasons why i won't move to london if i come back to the uk (which the chancellor is desperately trying to persuade me not to do!).