big BIG bang

It's been a crazy few days, starting with the vigil in Trafalgar Square and ending with a black eye. I shall go through it all in chronological order.

big - Thursday 14th July
So I went to the Trafalgar Squar vigil. It was a good turnout although not as many people as for the Make Poverty History demo a few months back. The speakers were on the whol very good although a few bizarre poem choices were made. Following on from my we're not afraid post there was an incident just before the vigil started that served to reinforce my views.

From just behind me I heard this horrendous scream. I turned round to see an African woman in loose fitting robes. As she stopped screaming she started muttering under her breath. Now both of these things were worrying. The first because the bus bomber had apparently let out an unearthly scream before dying, and the second because Israeli guidance on how to spot suicide bombers includes that they mutter prayers under their breath before dying. Being So terribly terribly British we all edged away from her until there was about 2 metres of clearance around her, but bizarrely no-one ran or panicked. I think we were all too spooked. Then she started saying "Don't take my picture to make money from. Don't you dare make money from my picture". Again, very worrying. At that point a policeman came onto the scene and asked if she felt hot (ie have you got sunstroke or are you drunk). She replied "no but I will be soon". Again another comment that could have indicated a bomber.

At that point I decided to move on, no panic but my heart was pounding faster and faster and my legs were getting wobbly. I decided that she probably was either a particularly sick individual drawing attention to herself or was perhaps mentally ill rather than being a suicide bomber. But I did not want to push my luck. Of course as we know there was no bomb in Trafalgar Square and after over 2 hours it was over.

For some reason I made my way by tube to Euston. Coming out of Euston I could see Russell Square still sealed off. As I made my way down the Euston Road to Kings X, heartbreaking posters lined the walls from desperate families clinging to the hope that their missing loved ones might have survived.

I popped into the Kings X branch of WHSmiths to get a magazine for the journey home and noticed that outside there was a book of condolence. The queue was not too long and as I wasn't in a rush I thought I'd pay my respects. I got talking to a couple of lads in front of me. They were friends of Richard Ellery who whilst missing, they accepted had died. These were lads in the truest sense of the word and they did not know why they had travelled from Ipswich except they knew they had to do something. Richard had only come to London for a one-day course and it cost him his life. A week after the event they couldn't get their heads around it.

So I signed the book and as I headed to Pentonville Road I spotted the small garden of remembrance, chock full of flowers and tributes. It moved me to tears, and I think I needed to cry because afterwards I felt much more comfortable. Very sad still, but perhaps it just helped me deal with a few things.

BIG Friday 15th July
And I was back in London on Friday with my g/f to see Queen in Hyde Park. What a show! I won't bore readers with a blow by blow account, but 85,000 people singing Imagine in tribute to the victims of the bombings was mindblowing. To cap it all, during the finale the band played We Are The Champions and on the big screens they showed pictures of members of the emergency services, 5000 of whom had been given free tickets to the concert. Wonderful. Queen aren't the same without Freddie, but Paul Rodgers proved himself to be a great showman in his own right.

Bang Sunday 17th July
So there I was playing cricket. I was keeping wicket and halfway through the innings my friend Subash was bowling his spin and I was right up to the stumps. The next thing I know the ball has lept from a good length and smacked me on my right cheekbone just below the eye. Quick as a flash I was on the ground clutching my face as my teammates clustered around me. Cuts below my eye, swelling and a nice shiner are what I have to show as a result. At least my eye went black or people would have thought I was some sort of freak with a deformed swollen face.

To cap it all we lost ending a record 4 game winning streak. Still at least the weather was nice eh?