Living the Travel Chaos

My house to Finsbury Park - all Moorgate trains stopping at Drayton Park. We all decant. Moorgate has either a. a defective train or b. power failure. Jump on a train to Kings Cross in order to catch the Northern Line. As we walk along the platform some german bloke is saying into his phone, "they're practicing for the olympics, and I'm going to be late", I have an overwhelming urge to deck him. The whole of Kings Cross is being evacuated it transpires when I get to the front of the station. Fire engines, ambulances, police. Masses and masses of people, all on the phone to their workplaces, some hanging outside McDonalds watching the TV through the window, surging in different directions - some towards Thameslink, some towards Euston, confused tourists with luggage standing inbetween.

I call the boyfiend. He says theres been an explosion at Liverpool Street - according to the shopkeeper he is buying a newspaper from at the time.

Rumours abound: 2 trains collided at Liverpool Street causing a power surge that has knocked out the whole underground network; behind me a woman on the phone tells a colleague that someone in the crush outside Kings Cross told her they saw people covered in soot coming out of the station; the network won't be working by tonight even; another woman is being told that their friend was behind a bus which exploded, dead people all over the place.

Crowds of commuters watch breaking news on TV screens in a hotel behind Kings Cross. People everywhere. Walking. Telephone network is busy and I can't make any more calls. Our determination to get to work urges us on - I'm on a bus watching whats happening out the window below me. It flashes past my minds eye that crossing town everyday to work is not great for my personal safety. A cop car flashes past going towards Kings Cross. Shortly after that another one flashes past going the other way.

The man sitting next to me is letting his leg lean heavily against me - my awareness of this grows stronger and starts to upset me the more I think about the chaos playing out beneath me. I'm feeling trapped against the window in my seat. I excuse myself and sit somewhere else.

An emergency response unit is parked outside Cannon Street. Still the crowds continue.

At Elephant and Castle the sign outside the station says - underground network closed due to security situation.

When I get to work someone else tells me their friend said a bus exploded at Russell Square.

Its all chaos. Nobody really knows anything.

BBC news - several injured in London Blasts
The Guardian - many hurt as blasts rock London
Ananova - Explosions reported on three buses
My Ace Life
pictures
Viper Squad Ten
aprosexic - see 7 July 2005 (can't figure out how to trackback)
Little Red Boat
Londonist
Mad Musings
Bomb Blast Plunges London into Chaos - Guardian newsblog at G8
Met police advice
London Underground Blog (be patient can take some time to load)
More a way of life
aardvark
Sky News timeline
Pfff: a response to anything negative
My Thoughts Exactly
Cyber-Satan
Weaselbitch

Here's hoping that all those of you who live, work and travel through London are safe today. Harriet xx



NOTE: the comments are misbehaving - I can't see them in the box but I can read them in my haloscan account - I have raised it, but don't know when they will deal with it.