Two quotes on the bombings

[andrewducker]

darklem: I'm confused...no-one is running around like a headless chicken!
annlarimer: It's hard to panic the British. They've dealt with the Blitz, the IRA, the Silurians, the Zarbi, the Daleks, the Cybermen...

and

Cultural differences

The responses by people today really highlight for me the differences between Americans and English people.

Americans: OMG! there's been a terroroist attack! My prayers are with you!!

English: London's been bombed. Shit. that means the tube is closed. I wonder if I can still make it into town tonite to see that play I have tickets for.Not to say this isn't upsetting or that people aren't worried. There's just a certain lack of melodrama.

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Comments

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Most of the investment companies that I deal with at work have offices around Liverpool Street, so for parts of the day I was on the phone to them, seeing if everyone there was okay and how this would affect the work they do.

It had pretty much no effect on their work, even for companies that had been evacuated for part of the morning, and most of the people I spoke to were just concerned about how they'd get home if the buses and tubes weren't running. There was a distinct lack of panic. They -were- more worried about what this was doing to the stock market than anything else, seemingly.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm glad things are returning to normal so quickly.

(The geek in me needs to point out the Zarbi never left Vortis, so weren't a threat to Britons, unless they travelled there. Now if you'd said "Yeti"....). ;-)

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Laughed out loud with those, thanks....

So I guess I won't be canceling the game, then. :P See you tomorrow.

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

:-) on the quotes.

I had real Londoner response from one friend - his first thought was about how it affected his current property deal....

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's pretty much my experience too.

I found myself sitting in the flat thinking,

'Will the bomb scares in Edinburgh affect tonight's property viewing?'.

I was chatting to some of my London friends on irc, who were saying things like,

'This is shit - I can't go anywhere'.

Meanwhile on livejournal, the Americans on my friends list were posting that they were 'numb', 'devastated' and 'couldn't function', which I found oddly irritating.

I mean, it's good that people care, right? And lets face it, I've got no more right to comment than them, since I'm not a Londoner. I still felt like telling them not to be so bloody dramatic though!

[broin.livejournal.com]

My flist was awfully similar.

[ibbs.livejournal.com]

I agree, i had to keep stopping myself from posting the 'get a grip its only a few small explosions, london is fine' comment...

[moniqueleigh]

*shuffles feet* Errr, I did post something like that to one of my email lists....

[moniqueleigh]

Yeah, & I'm somewhere in the middle:

"Another explosion in London? Ho-hum. Yeah, what else is new?"
vs.
"Waitaminute! It's been quite a while. Are any of my buds still there? Drat. Contact info is missing. Don't even have most of their last names. Can't check lists. Dammit! *hope*"