The
midday 2-minute silence was quite poignant - looking around and seeing crowds of bowed
heads everywhere. It didn't quite hit home how complete the silence was until the first car engine started and the echoes reverberated off all the silent buildings surrounding us. I think all the traffic nearby stopped, not just the buses. Now I can hear traffic buzzing in the background but at midday there was nothing but the sound of the bells in the distance.
For most of us life goes on as normal. The tube is still packed at rush hour, buses are as busy
and unreliable as ever. For anyone working in security services or with the police, it must be
a nightmare. Everywhere you go there are police officers or Community Support Officers standing around, just making their presence felt. I went to the cinema the other day and the security guard who is always there asked to have a look inside my bag. On the D7 bus that morning we were stopped as we pulled into Canary Wharf and a security guard got in the bus and checked both decks for abandoned bags. There have always been the "Report any suspicious packages to the driver" poster campaigns on the buses and tubes.
This particularly chilling one was launched in February 05 - I think we just notice them more these days.
I still feel that the best message we can send is to live our normal lives - go to work on the tube, celebrate our joys and mourn our sadnesses as usual. Refuse to be intimidated.
By saying "live our normal lives", I am assuming, of course that you are a reasonable,
rational human being. Not some fucking idiot who goes around
setting fire to mosques at the slightest speculation of possible muslim involvement.
I could fully believe this is genuine (but it's not. See http://www.snopes.com/photos/signs/tubesign.asp ), especially in light of this article in the Guardian: