First day back after the bombs

After a sunny weekend spent hacking back an overgrown Wisteria, it's my first day back at work since the bombings.

It was almost a normal journey in, dozing on the mainline train. As we sailled past Waterloo station I looked down, idly watching people scurrying about on their way to work. Something didn't look quite right though. It was the bicycles, there were a lot more than normal. Many of the riders looked like they hadn't been on a bike in years, wobbling along on brand new fold up bikes. I bet Halfords did a roaring trade this weekend from people too worried to use the tube or buses again.

When the train was nearing Charing Cross I started to think of my own journey on the tube and considered walking instead. This only lasted a minute though before I decided to get the tube as normal, after all this fear and disruption is part of what the bastards wanted wasn't it?

I've just heard a siren again, this is quite normal for Euston but just for a second I got a little tightening in my stomach.

It's fair to say that people are, largely, carrying on as normal through a sense of defiance and yet there is an edge to the day that wasn't there until Thursday 7th July 2005.