Bombs in London

The day of the Twin Towers bombing, knowing that my friend Mark spends the greater part of his working life in the air, in and out of New York, I emailed him to check that he and his family in Oregon were all ok (they were).

Yesterday we had the following email exchange:

“Paul,
I trust this will reach you. In the aftermath of today’s violence in London my thoughts are naturally with yourself and Nick and Adrienne and those close to you as I know you are all in and out of London on a regular basis. I hope you are all well and in good health even if the spirits are dampened somewhat. Odd, as I have been admonishing an old friend in Edinburgh to keep a lower profile as the G8 and the big concerts from the pretend politicians that wield guitars would seem certain to light the fuse of those unbalanced and those feeling disaffected. I have seen the carnage both in Seattle and Quebec City from such. Did not cross my mind that the obvious statement would be in London. The world does not get any less strange.
My very best to you.
Mark “

Hi Mark
I greatly appreciate you thoughts. We are all fine, but I had a very frantic morning , as Naomi had left home on a very early train to London, and was taking the underground from Liverpool Street to Paddington - the exact route of the bombed tubetrains - en route to Bath for a conference.
As it happened she was on train to Bath at eight am, so missing the blasts by minutes. But because the phone networks were all out, we couldn't contact each other until early afternoon. And of course, both the boys now live in London, so we were anxious to contact them, and eventually did. Altogether a frightening day, and how much worse it must be for those who have lost family and friends, or don't yet know.
As you say, a very strange world.