Personal notes from a world away

Thursday, July 7, 2005

With today's instant communication and speedy transportation, a major event anywhere in the world is likely to be felt here at home as well.

The London blasts were no exception.

Former McCook resident Ellis Vaughn said his daughter, Erin, and her husband, Mark Sunday, had just arrived in London for a planned family vacation. From his home in Lincoln, Vaughn was waiting word this morning. He was due to leave for London on Monday.

Alison Hofer of McCook is in England and had planned to visit London today, but decided not to, for some reason.

Gazette sports editor John Mesh shared a few observation from e-mail acquaintances in London:

"The city is crazy today ... they have shut down all the mobile networks, no buses, no taxis, the entire underground system has closed down...no-one has taken responsibility for the explosions yet, but whoever's behind this couldn't have timed it better...with the G8 summit taking place in Scotland, a huge proportion of the country's security and police force have been deployed there for the duration of the summit, probably leaving London hanging at half-mast in terms of security.

"I am stuck all the way out in the sticks at Pinewood Studios ... I'm not certain how I'll make it back home this evening! The first explosion occurred just before 9am, and I leave for work at 7.30 a.m., going in the wrong direction, driving my merry way ... I can't believe what's happened.

More later,

-- Mona

(Mona is an actress from London.)

"Well I must admit (I was) quite stunned at the moment. When we first heard about a tube explosion it was said that it had something to do with power cables but as soon as we heard about the bus being blown up we knew straight away that this was a terrorist attack.

"We here at work are about 20 minutes outside London if travelling by train and our local train station and some roads at the moment have been closed due to security alerts.

"All we are doing is listening to the radio and checking the net to hear the latest news the phones are so quiet in here we hardly had any customers call up today as I am sure they are all doing the same.

"I have a couple of family members who work up in London and I am hoping that they are safe and unharmed."

-- Jediwarrior

"I'm not surprised the authorities weren't being definite about what was happening to start with - at first everyone thought it was an electrical surge on the Underground - and it's been harder to determine how many tube trains were hit because people have been evacuating through different stations. It looks like things are under control now.

"We've already had at least three groups claim responsibility.

-- Dafydd

"Hi John. Just a quick hello to say that myself and my family are, as far as we know, fine.

"As for info, I'm afraid you have as much as I do - all I have so far is what's on the news. Reaction wise, I guess I'm still in shock. I mean, we've lived with terrorism here for decades. But no one has ever attempted a coordinated strike of this scale. The chaos I'm seeing on the news is horrific - London is at a standstill. Nothing the IRA did ever matched the sheer chaos of this atrocity - yes, they usually killed more innocents (well, at the moment - the death toll could rise), but they never caused such a massive city-wide disruption.

"I'm really at a loss for words, but if you have any specific questions you want to ask, feel free to email them to me."

-- Carl

"Wendy reporting in.

"My son works in London near where the first bomb went off but he is safe. I shall have to drive up there later tonight to pick him up.

"The victims of this atrocity are being cared for. For everyone else we are carrying on with business as usual. We're Londoners and it's what we do.