The day after the day before

[caddyman]

After the events of yesterday, there is a sort of eerie calm over London today. The place is very quiet. I noticed it first as I was walking down to the Tube station at Whetstone: very little traffic – less even, than on a Sunday. The journey in was quiet and a little slow – the train halted at Finchley Central for a few minutes as people are being bussed in from stations acting as temporary terminuses on the Piccadilly Line, either side of King’s Cross (The mainline station is open, but the underground station, a crime scene, remains resolutely shut while the police do their thing). Even then, when we went underground at Highgate, there was plenty of room; no-one had to stand.

At Euston, the change to the Victoria Line was equally easy and quiet. No queuing, a seat to sit on.

Despite the fact that the congestion charge has been suspended in central London, traffic is lower than normal. It is very quiet apart from the occasional police siren.

It reminds me of the day after the hurricane in 1987.

So much then, for the bulldog spirit, or the spirit of the blitz, that the media were banging on about yesterday. People have stayed at home, taken a long weekend. Hardly business as usual.

The terrorists may not have won, and they won’t, but the London of which I was so proud yesterday has stayed at home today. They may not have won, but it looks as though the game has gone to extra time, and we won on penalties.

Additional

I am not suggesting as some think, that London is a city in fear. I am suggesting that all things being equal, the much vaunted "defiant spirit" of the inhabitants is manifesting as a day off in front of the telly instead of getting on with business as usual.

Comments

[caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com]

So you would have allowed terrorism to change your values? Thr prospect of what a bunch of half baked nitwits thought of your actions would have dictated your actions? In direct violation of what the emergency services asked you to do?

For myself, I saw "the Blitz spirit" this morning, when people stayed at home when they could, came in if they had to, and didn't give a damn what anyone else interpreted that as.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

An interesting turn around of the argument.

But I don't think I agree; I often come into work when I'd rather be skiving. They hardly changed my behaviour. Staying at home would have been the change/easy option.

[caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that as of this morning there was still no Piccadilly line, no Circle line, restrictions on the Hammersmith and City and a lot of the out of town trains were running Sunday service - for a lot of people, attempting to come into work would have been a rather pointless exercise in jingoism.

Is it appropriate to make an emotional gesture in trying to drag oneself into work, inconveniencing those who _have_ to be in central London, or to accept the inevitable and quietly, without fuss, make other arrangements? I think we're in danger of drifting into Americanised gestures here...