[Closed] 7/7 bombings

Nope haven't a scooby where I was tbh.

I was in a local (to home) office rather than in London where I'd normally be. Remember that we heard about 'power surges' on the tube and immediately called that as BS. Then spent the rest of the day transfixed by the news and telling family that I wasn't in London.

The 'follow-up' attempted bombings that came a couple of weeks later, I'd gone to Aston Hill for a bit of solo bike time.

I must admit it didn't really impact on me that much even though I lived in London a few years before and used the number 30 bus quite a bit.

Working from home that day but the reason it stood out was that I'd thrown a minor strop and got a meeting re-arranged in the City from the 7/7 to the 6/7 and travelled on the Circle line between Euston Square and Monument, so dodged it all by exactly 24 hours.

I was travelling by car into Town, got turned around at Wandsworth on the A3. Fine by me but the radio was blatting out it's normal over reaction of "Londons under siege" headlines which meant a 3hr jam getting back out on the A3 back home. MrsBOuy was in Hampstead working on a huge renovation project and it took her 4hrs to get home from there back to Docklands.

It was (as mentioned) the after effects that caused more chaos, in Shiney Town we had repeated attempts at bombings and going from no security to an Army of security meant endless checks and controls and validation why you were there and pass/security swipes.
A lot of that is still in place believe it or not, this place is one of the most locked down areas in Europe.
Mental.

As is, my minor gripes pale into insignificance as I think about those that lost their lives or have been affected long term by it.

A sad day that's had a major impact on freedom.

Stranded in an office in Southwark after a near miss on the tube - if I hadn't had to drop my bags off at left luggage at Euston, there was a chance I'd have been on the Piccadilly line train that was bombed.
Most graphic memory I have is of a crew bus carrying rail workers along the strand as I was walking north - the look of terror and disbelief on the passengers' faces was haunting.
I walked back to Euston just as it was reopened and got the 1st train north.
Seems like yesterday.

Was on the 2nd day of a 3 day meeting in Wilmslow.

I came back from a 5 minute break to be asked by my boss if I had any relatives in London and when I said yes he then told me what he'd heard.

Spent a few frantic minutes trying to find out if they were OK, only to discover a couple of days later one of my colleagues had been killed on the bus.

It is also overlooked how fortunate the 2nd round of attempted bombings failed two weeks later, I would hate to have thought what the final toll would be if they had succeeded.

I was out of London at the time, followed it on the news all day. That's not the interesting bit...

My wife-to-be (at the time) was on the platform at Holborn waiting for the next train and heard the explosion of the bomb that went off between King's Cross and Russell Square. Fortunately for her the bomber hadn't waited another couple of stops until she was on board... still gives me the shivers thinking how close she came.

(I'm allowed to talk about this)

I was one of the IT bods who set up the network side of things for the G8 summit that year, and it involved lots of feverish work in and around Dundee etc to get things ready. Everything was good to go, and us bods were on standby on the days of the actual summit. We'd been briefed that we should stay out of the actual 'tactical' operations rooms while this was rolling, unless something went faulty of course.

The people I felt sorriest for, when it happened, were the police from the Met who'd come up to lend operational support. There they were, 450 miles from home, their city was under attack, and you could see how helpless they felt. Awful.

No idea where I was, can't really remember much about it other than pictures of millions walking home as the Tube was shut.

I was on a boat-bus in Venice with a group of friends. We had been off the grid in a villa just north of Venice and had no idea what had happened that morning, were all laughing and enjoying ourselves. Some German tourists figured out we were Brits(ish - Scots and Kiwis) and came over and told us. Sombre and surreal day.

i was in the office filling in paperwork. the paperwork i question was for an evaluation report for a trip to London the week before (29th June - 1st July). we had taken a group of 12 lads to London to visit a few skate/bmx parks. originally the date was set for the 6th - 8th July but we changed the date due to accommodation availability. our travel when we were there consisted of using the tube system and we used some of those stations that got hit.

i also remember where i was for 9/11...in the new house stripping the wallpaper off by myself. i wanted no distractions so the radio and mobile stayed switched off.

I was out and about visiting residential property in Derby. News began breaking of an I cident on 5Live as I went to my first call. As the day went, every tenant was at home - unusually - transfixed by the news that just got worse and worse as I went from house to house.

Grim day. None of the OMG of 9/11, just the grim reality that a few suicide bombers in a free country can wreak such carnage with such a simple plot.

Bit of mild panic that morning as my brother worked in Russel square, and often used the local buses/tubes. we tried calling his mobile repeatedly for 2-3 hours, getting more and more worried as he never answered.
Late morning he emerged from a meeting in a basement office in Russel square, where he had no phone reception, and no idea of what was going on.
Very surreal day, particularly in light of the celebrations on winning the Olympics (the day before??)

7/7 - Remember seeing it on the news on t'internet, early reports were suggestive of something sinister then it was reported that it was caused by a junction box explosion or something similar, I remember feeling an odd sense of relief, as though an electrical explosion is somehow a better way to be injured than through terrorism. That sensation didn't last long.

9/11 - Was on a course at work so completely oblivious, had a fag break and I recall seeing a bunch of workmen standing around van listening to the radio saying something about a fire but it wasn't until I went to leave at the end of the day that I saw a normally cheery chap I knew white-faced and miserable. I asked him what was up and he said "haven't you heard?" - rode my scooter home taking glances at the sky, checking for incomings.

7/7 sat in the rooftop pool of a hotel in Athens for a mates wedding, one of the guys got a call from a mate telling him, I think one of the bombs was on his route. We had all flown in just before. Was one of those where we all went back to our rooms to watch what was going on.

9/11 On top of the roof at Cadburys at Churk, getting patchy messages from guys back in the office till we got back the hotel.

Very surreal day, particularly in light of the celebrations on winning the Olympics (the day before??)

Was sent home from work in crowthorne that morning because I was unwell. Got home just after 8. Was sat on the sofa with the news on as it all unfolded. The most random day I've had in a long long time. I think it was the bus that upset me the most. Partly because it was literally laid bare on the screen. It was also the way it was deliberately timed to catch the people who were still trying to travel after the tube stopped.
Words genuinely fail me.

It was a weird day. In some ways easier being in London than not, from a fear point of view. I rang a friend of mine in the Lakes at the end of the day to let him know I was safe and he was more spooked than I was.

There definitely was a stoic reaction in London - we all stayed in work (Victoria) till we were told it was safe to go home, trains and tubes were all down so it was a combination of walking, buses and a lift from a friend. Next day, almost everyone was back in work. I cycled in so I was out of the public transport system but by the end of the week it was back to normal. We knew the terrorists would win if we changed our lives.

It was a relief in some ways, we all expected to be attacked at some point after 9/11 and the reality of it was far fewer people died than did in New York. Not that there was anything good about that, just that relatively speaking it wasn't as bad as we feared. Personally I was more spooked by the attempts two weeks later, after 7/7 we thought that was it... Jean Charles de Menezes being shot was shocking too, not least because he was innocent

7/7 I was off work that week as I was Best Man at a Wedding and was just pottering round the House when ITV went to live pictures of the Tube. Most poignant thing I remember was nipping my Mates and coming back along the M6 and the matrix signs said " Avoid London area closed " never forget that as it seemed so far away on the TV to me ( being up north ) but suddenly struck me " hang on, this is our country, our capital " that had been bombed, not some foreign country.

9/11 half day Tuesday at the garage I worked at as I'd worked Sunday. Garage was next door to my house and my neighbour came out and asked had I seen the news. I hadn't so went in and put Sky on and the second plane hit. Had to go out, went for petrol, and the car radio said the towers had collapsed.

9/11 was camping in St Davids. I had the radio on 5 live (Simon Mayo I think) with live commentary from NY. Didn't see the pictures until later in the day, on the TV in the Farmer's Arms. It was pre-24/7 (social) media and I remember the vividness of the newspaper front pages on the 12th. Sad sad times.

9/11 i had returned the previous day from a season in Les Gets. I was doing the rounds visiting friends I hadn't seen all summer. Called in to see my dad at work and the reception lady pointed to the TV. At this point only one tower had been hit. I stood in the reception area and watched the second plane hit. By the time I got to another mates house one had collapsed. I'd had an odd summer. Went a bit stir crazy to be fair. Returned to normality that turned out to be the day the world changed.

I was on Canvey visiting a client. Next call was due to be inside the M25. I had a call from the office that told me to go home after I was done. I saw all the East Anglian ambulances heading down the A12 to provide back-up to South Essex as their crews were in town. Surreal after the jubilation of the Olympics win the day before, when I was in Loughton. (It was a glamourous life in H&S consulting).

I live in Kent and rarely go into London. 6-7-05 I went to Southwark Bridge to help a mate for the day and went into the city later.
I count myself very lucky.

I was one of the emergency service responders to the bomb scene between Aldgate and Liverpool St. I remember everything about that day from the moment I heard the first calls coming in over the radio. I will remember it for the rest of my life and I'll take a moment tomorrow to think about all those who lost a loved one.

I was involved with several projects in central London and was there on the 6th July.

Not enjoying work at the time I was adamant that I wasn't going back on the 7th with it being a Friday, it would have to wait until the following week.

I wouldn't have been on any of the routes that were hit but it still brings it home to you having lived in London as a kid. When I went back the following Monday or Tuesday I was stood making a phone call on London bridge when the bridge was swamped with armed police who ordered everyone off the bridge. As I was walking off I remember them shouting at me to run as there was another alert.

I stood outside a bookshop for around 45 minutes and London was silent apart from the odd siren. Nobody spoke and eventually we all just moved on. My tube train back up to Brent Cross came to a sudden stop as it left Monument and entered the tunnel, again it was just silent for around 10 minutes.

***ing hell Nonsense. And thank you.

Yes. That. ^^

It'll happen again no doubts about it, here on UK soil.
Never mind though, it's a free country.

Isn't it?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dad-toddler-parade-isis-flags-085025687.html#mIOVAxz

I'm getting a train down to London/Paddington for a 9am meeting tomorrow ....didn't realise it was the 10th anniversary of 7/7 when it was all booked.

I don't feel particularly worried, but I'm guessing the atmosphere might be a bit sombre...

What was I doing 10 years ago ? Well, I was coordinating service engineers for the company I worked for at the time, some of which had ongoing electrical maintenance jobs in central London. The day after 7/7, one of the engineers who somehow didn't know much about the bombings was preparing to get on the tube. I can't remember why I asked, but it turned out he'd chosen to use a rucksack instead of a toolcase to carry electronic components, tools and wiring. I advised him not to get on a tube train with all those things stuffed into his rucksack 😉

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/9932214/Iraq-war-10-years-on-at-least-116000-civilians-killed.html

I was living in a backpackers hostel in London at the time... my Rickshaw was stored in an underground carpark about 200 metres from where the bus was bombed.

Always found this odd:

I was heading south on the Piccadilly Line that morning - got delayed just outside King's Cross with reports of an electrical fault.

When we eventually got to the platform the whole station was being evacuated. There was an odd smell in the air.

At street level there was mayhem but no one seemed to know what was going on. Couldn't get through to anyone on my mobile so I just walked the few miles to work.

Every other vehicle that passed me had a siren going. Was very strange.

News came filtering through that there'd been an explosion on a bus, then reports of some on the tube. My wife was having kittens as she knew I was on the same line as one of the bombs, travelling in the same direction at exactly the same time. And she couldn't get in touch with me for a good few hours.

We must have been the last Piccadilly train to pull into Kings Cross that day.

Was a very rememberable and very odd day.

Showing a load of sixth formers from London around our University Engineering facility when the news came in. Had to tell them all and what we knew at the time and sent any that were worried about parents and family in London to the office if they needed to call them on the office phones.

911 was at Cardiff museum at an aircraft exhibition. Got a text from a mate and headed into town. Watched the towers fall down on TV screens in Debenhams.

911 In was demonstrating a product a a projector manufacturer in Belgium, and one part if the demonstration was to show a live news feed onto one of their large screens (think cinema size) and we switched to this just after the first plane hit. We all forgot the demonstration for the next 2 hours as we watched the dreadful news unfold, all the while I was trying to contact freinds there as I had be based in NY only a couple of years before, and had even worked in Tower 1 for a while.
I still remember the feeling of dread we had as we then drove back to e UK via the channel tunnel, very strange feeling.

For a week after the Madrid bombings I could get a seat on the train/tube in London.

Our security services do a fantastic job. The lone idiots (I wont use 'Wolf') must cause the most worry for them.

There was a minutes silence about a week after 7/7. I like the majority went outside and stood on the pavement. I have never heard London so quiet. It was very moving. It truly felt that London was united as one

7\7 I was in Portland throwing radio control gliders off a cliff. Didn't find out until about 7 that evening. I'd not long come back from a couple of years out of the UK and it felt unreal. Not English at all.

9/11 walking back up the hill to the office after a lunchtime pint a mate drivebpast and shouts that a plane had hit the WTC. I nimble back to work expecting to see a little Cessna stuck in an office but instead saw devastation and the the second plane went in and we all knew life had changed. At that point I was travelling overseas with up to a ton of stuff maybe 15 times a year to a lot of strange places.
That stopped being fun. My MD was in Chicago on holiday. Took him a while to get back.

Missed 7/7 had been on a late one at work the night before it and got woken up by the mother-in-law, at about 11.00hrs, ringing up to tell me the mrs had gotten into work ok -bit confused why she felt the need to do that. in the afternoon I drove up to Stockwell to pick the mrs and a load of her colleagues and ferry them home - long lines of people trying to get back home that evening. Amazing how London picked up the pieces and got back to normality fairly quickly afterwards

9/11 I saw the first bit and spent the rest of the day sitting in the back of a Met Police gunship as they stood by to provide a very hard stop on some scum bag for us, I think we probably added to the general mess charging through central London in a loud three car convoy

I had a medical appointment in West London so was cycling to the City listening to 5 live on the radio. Reports of people being evacuated at Aldgate started coming through, initially blamed on an electrical fault. Then more evacuations and the closing down of lines. The generator fault line was still being put forward as the explanation, although I was starting to have my doubts as there were sirens absolutely everywhere, which suggested something more serious. Then reports of an incident on a bus started coming in and, with that the real picture gradually emerged and the real cause was known once I had showered and sat down at my desk.

One other memory was sitting down with our General Manager, who couldn't understood how everyone was so calm and phlegmatic.

If you want to understand what a diverse city London is, look at the names of the victims.

Mrsmidlife travelled to London Kings Cross to head to a course in a hotel off Russell Square. A/C bust on the train carriage so she was hot on arrival, about 8.40, but had plenty of time to walk down rather than take the tube, so got into the course and got on with oblivious to the lot. My dad rang me telling me about bombs in London about 9.45. At the time BBC were still on about power surges and the like, but having lived a long time in Northern Ireland picked up on what was going on earlier. The next couple of hours was a bit frantic, chasing up her secretary to chase up the hotel and get someone into the course to check she'd arrived ok, then a long day waiting for her train home.

9/11 I missed completely until it was all over, heard about it late that afternoon. Brother in law missed it too, despite it all happening in full view of the window behind him across the river in New Jersey. As a metals trader he went on to buy much of the metal from the towers for recycling and it sat in their yards upstate and by the dockside for years until all the personal possessions could be separated out.

At work in Manchester on a meeting when someone piped up from his Blackberry.

A friend overslept and missed the tube he normally caught. Which was lucky, as it was one of those that were bombed.

(I also remember 9/11 - first week in new job and was getting frantic texts and calls from Mrs North: her father was working in New York that day.)

RIP & thoughts to all those injured or who lost anyone.

One thought that occurred to me as I walked through Shepherd Bush to work while dwelling on 7/7: will we hold a minute's silence for Jean Charles de Menezes later this month? In many ways the 53rd fatality of 7/7 and the atmosphere it generated.

In many ways the 53rd fatality of 7/7 and the atmosphere it generated.

Agree.

Wife & I were on a bus in Sydney, coming home from a days sightseeing.
A chap overheard our Pommy accents & said how sorry he was... 😐
We hadn't heard up until that point.
Given the time difference it must have just happened.
Very sad day indeed.

Since people have mentioned 9/11 as well, I discovered this the other day - a lecture from the pilot of Air Force One on the day:

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Can I ask that people use the Report Post option on any inappropriate posts here please?

Sorry for the interruption, as you were.
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Passed a 'colored' guy this morning (not much good at identifying race) with a rucksack, between St Pauls and Cannon Street, with a police car stopped beside him and the officer questioning him.

He was showing his work pass.

At first I thought the copper might be pulling him for having too short trousers...

Racial profiling at its best - but in reality how would you handle it - pull an equal number of different 'profile' types to be PC, or target profile types that might be 'most' likely?

Should the 'colored' guy be annoyed that he was pulled because of what he looked like, or should he be glad that the copper was 'possibly' using some smarts in his quest to try to keep him safe ?

......and the officer questioning him.

Well that doesn't sound like the appropriate course of action to be taking.

Surely if he was a proper terrorist it's quite possible that he might be lying. Shouldn't the officer have been looking inside his rucksack or carting him away for some more intense "questioning" ?

I expect police officers to ensure that our streets are safe not to fanny around with political correctness.

TurnerGuy - Member

Racial profiling at its best - but in reality how would you handle it - pull an equal number of different 'profile' types to be PC, or target profile types that might be 'most' likely?

Neither, racial profiling's just useless unless you're dealing with small populations and strong correlations, and anything useless in policing is actually detrimental- wastes time, distracts, and causes confusion, worry and enmity. It's not a matter of PC or anything, just maths.

racial profiling at its best - but in reality how would you handle it - pull an equal number of different 'profile' types to be PC, or target profile types that might be 'most' likely?

What? The snapshot you saw as rode past was a racist one?

I was in London the 6th of July, clearly remember coppers...some of them armed.. running into a station and telling everyone to get out ASAP.

The next day the bombings occurred, felt a bit strange. Perhaps that video explains it, that they had been running drills around the same time. Always wondered if they'd got some intel and made a cock up of it.