This week's effort has been compiled in line with the new Londonist policy, decided last night at the beerier end of the evening, that we should never again use the word bl*g*sph*r*. So here are some choice cuts from the blogotetrahedron.
And it's a big one this week.
Regarding last week's tragic bombings, London bloggers have had a bit more time to reflect on, get their thoughts in order, and get them on the screen.
The wonderful London Weblog Directory and Britblog are the prime sources of research for these columns, and are both worth a browse. One of the nice things about the Directory is that rather than simply grouping blogs geographically, each chooses a particular station on the Underground map. So rather than take a scattershot approach, Londonist thought it would be interesting to see what people at the affected stations have to say.
Metrocentric is another London blogger who's extremely unhappy with Fox News's "works to our advantage" remarks:
"There was me thinking that yesterday's business was a bad thing, when all along it was a good thing! No, really, it was. Fox News says so, it must be true"
73 Urban Journeys (a blog well worth repeated visits, by the way) has a great post explaining how useful Flickr became to people like him, living in the bomb areas, as a source of information. And a sombre report from the station as it re-opened.
Fink (who commutes into KC from Luton) has a post and a photothread detailing how swiftly things got back to normal for his severely disrupted journey:
The only thing marking today out from any other (they even had the ticket barriers back on) is the huge number of Police everywhere (which does make me wonder where they all are normally)
At One Remove says this:
Not a religion, nor a culture, nor a people, nor a political aim did this - but twisted cynical vanity. You are unworthy of the life that sustains you, the sweet earth that bore you and you achieve nothing.
Child without an eye has words from the tunnel.
Lisybabe saw a hateful response to the tragedy:
Yesterday was a day when the worst and some slightly nice aspects of humanity came out. When I was pushing to work, I passed a (possibly drunk) middle-aged man shouting at some Asian kids kicking a ball around in a park that "I wanna blow the shit outta you! Fucking Al'Qaeida" etc, etc.
Because, clearly, Thursday's bombs were planted by two 8 year olds. Some people make you ashamed to be of the same species.
Seldo.com is making the best out of it - quite literally:
It has been my goal for as long as I can remember to create something, write something, design something, develop something, that people will remember and will last. But I need to remember that planning these things isn't going to get them done. I need to do them, now. No waiting around until conditions are right, or the timing is better, or I've got more time. You've got to make time for getting things done, or you will fritter away your time having an full, enjoyable, and inconsequential life.
The Urban Badger says:
We are most definitely not traumatised; some misguided individuals seem to be getting high on vicarious grief, this should not be condoned or normalised. London, zone one, is small enough that everyone can claim a tenuous “I could have been there” connection, but that doesn’t mean we should.
Marzipaned Janina issues a call to arms:
Most people my age who are born Londoners do not avert their eyes from others on the tube. They also freak out about the amount of McDonalds bags on the tube over the last five or six years. If you see someone look with distaste at rubbish on a tube train you can bet they grew up here. It isn't right to leave rubbish on the underground- it's threatening! But people who moved here in the 90s never knew that and neither do teenagers. So yeah, kids, it's time to learn the rules. I think to a degree I'm going to be less freaked out about public transport now.
Before Bed was caught in the thick of it and has a first-hand account.
Farting Through My Fingertips has an entertaining photo.
Marching On says: "Bombing London will never work, because London will always remain."
Not The London News Review is looking for the bright side:
Sometimes even explosions have a silver lining.
Like that time Anthea Turner's hair caught fire.
Restarted reported ingenuity from the suits:
There were loads of people in suits escaping from the City with internet print-outs of multimap, peering at street signs, trying to find their way home with no transit.
Scorched Tortoise (a fabulous name for a blog) reports another tale of City workers in extraordinary circumstances:
... one of our colleagues had been concentrating on reading his book and missed his stop at Liverpool Street. That he had been in the carriage behind the one with the bomb in it and that at that moment he was helping people along the tracks ...
That's all for this week. Enjoy your browse. Stand clear of the doors.
Update: Saltation has asked us to include this incredible piece.
