Posted on Jul 28, 2005
Urm … we had a tornado here today.
This afternoon, here in Brum, a tornado touched down somewhere in the Moseley, Kings Heath, Balsall Heath area — which is a 10 minutes drive away — but I was oblivious to it. Unlike poor Bushra who had a few obstacles to contend with on her journey home. [The image on the left belongs to Bushra and is covered by a Creative Commons Deed]
Come to think of it, I was equally oblivious yesterday morning while the police were raiding houses in Hay Mills and Washwood Heath — which is a 10 minutes drive away — in connection with the 21 July bomb attacks in London. And I was blissfully unaware, earlier this week in London while I was staying in Streatham, of the terrorist activities in Tooting — which is a 10 minutes drive away.
Earlier today, the politically aspirant chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque — which isn’t a 10 minutes drive away … it’s just 5 minutes away — was bollocking Tony Blair for Britain’s involvement in the war in Iraq.
Well, I guess that means he won’t be getting a knighthood anytime soon. Hey! MI5 don’t have a tornado making machine do they? … nah!
You know, if I was of a paranoid or otherwise delusional nature I might start to think I’m being stalked by the zeitgeist.
It’s all just a coincidence right? … right??
Posted on Jul 27, 2005
Sometimes the universe has a habit of just letting you know that all is not as it seems. This is nowhere more evident than on the increasingly bizzare streets of Streatham.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Streatham has always been a location where weirdness readily manifests itself but I’ve only come to this hellmouth of South London recently so the bizzareness is all new to me. Demons beware! I shall be collecting evidence.
Anyway, I’ve decided that it deserves a tag all of it’s own.
Posted on Jul 9, 2005
I am in Birmingham … sirens are wailing … again!
[21.30] I finally made it back from London to Birmingham and the breaking news here (this time — as I finish watching Hellboy on DVD) is that the Broad Street area of the city has been closed off and thousands of people have been evacuated. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the alert has been triggered off by suspicious packages being left somewhere. I’ve just seen a car stop and park in front of the house, a man jumps out with a fairly professional looking camera in his hands, he heads off in the direction of Broad Street — just a 10 minute walk from here — I decide to head out to see for myself.
[22.45] Just got back. It’s being reported that over 30,000 people have been evacuated from Birmingham City Centre by the police. It’s also reported (by David Brooks of the Birmingham Sunday Mercury on a BBC News 24 interview) that a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect package found on a No.105 bus outside the Square Peg pub. What I saw was some groups of people just standing around, some with beer in their hands, others choosing to sit on grass verges. However, most people were moving away from town calmly if a little confusedly. A lot of them were obviously out-of-towners whose knowledge of the back streets of central Birmingham isn’t that great. Different conga lines of hen parties were bumping into each other on their way out. Chinatown and Hurst Street seem to have closed too, so crowds of Chinese tourists and patrons of the gay bars and clubs mingled together as they walked away from town. A man walked past me with tap shoes on which clicked loudly on the tarmac as he hurried by — I think he may have been a cast member of 42nd Street, which was (not) playing at the Hippodrome.
So, no panic really — just disappointed Saturday night revellers and disgruntled (but safe) Brummies.
[UPDATE: 10/07/05 - West Midlands Police release a statement explaining the evening's incidents, urging people to go home and stating:
... 12.15pm (sic) latest information. As part of the security alert no residential addresses have been evacuated. The number of displaced/stranded people, due to the security cordons, appears to be at a minimum. Ladywood Arts Centre is open as a rest centre and Aston University is on standby to perform the same function.
... good! I can go to sleep now.]
Posted on Jul 7, 2005
I am in London … sirens are wailing.
I was planning to get back to Brum this morning but ended up watching Collateral on DVD instead thinking that I’ll set off after I finish watching it.
Jaimie Foxx was about to save Jada Pinkett from the evil intentions of Tom Cruise when my girlfriend phoned up and asked me if I was okay. Huh! I thought, it’s not that she doesn’t do that anyway but it seemed a bit odd. She asked me if I’d heard about what was going on — no, I told her — she informed me that an explosion had occured on the Underground, that a bus had blown up and that there was some talk of a power surge being the cause.
The thought that this was a terrorist incident raced through my mind and was instantly surpressed by the more acceptable one that it could well have been an accident. After confirming my whereabouts to my concerened better half I reassured her that I would check the news to see what, if any, difference that would make to my travel plans and let her know. I added, trying to lighten the mood, that it was probably the French after the dissapointment about their unsuccessful Olympic bid.
So, I turned the TV on and watched the tragic news roll on before my eyes with growing numbness. I was now feeling pretty stupid for my earlier flippancy. As it became clear that this wasn’t a movie but a terrorist act, I contacted the girlfriend and let her know that I was staying put. Then I began contacting those people I know who work in or around Central London — as millions of others were probably doing too.
Everyone accounted for … a sort of relief … at least for me. But tragically, not for the 33 dead, 45 critically injured and over 300 other casualties so far, their families and their friends.
Dep Asst Comm. Brian Paddick of the (London) Metropolitan Police was asked at a press conference whether this was the act of an Islamic terrorist group. He first corrected the questioner by saying that in his opinion the word Islamic and terrorist were totally separate which demonstrated a sensitivity to the situation that does him great credit. He went on to say that they were keeping an open mind as to who was responsible for it. But semantics apart, the link is there to be made, in most people’s minds.
He might have an open mind but in the face of this mindless, heartless, inhuman and wholly ungodly act, how many others will?
Posted on Jul 5, 2005
You’ve got to hand it to the Americans, they know how to put on a show. Not only did they shoot a washing machine or something at a lump of rock hurtling around the solar system at 23,000 mph but they did it on the 4th of July.
(I love all that space malarkey, ever since Luke Spicewater first picked up his light sabre and destroyed Minger the Merciless.)
However, let’s not forget that the Europeans have got their own little comet sail going on and they’re going to land a fridge or something onto another lump of high-speed rock sometime in 2014.
So let me get this right, when the American’s have a comet mission they shoot the thing and when the European’s have a mission they end up occupying some of it’s territory … hmmmmm!
