please empty your brain below

Fooking amazing week and one which many people will never ever forget.

(BTW Seb Coe's getting knighted for leading London's Olympic bid and rumour has it that the other members of the committee are getting honoured too.)

As you said, it's a tragedy that for some people this was their last ever week, or their last week with their bodies intact.

Makes you realise you should live for the day and thank your lucky stars that you're alive and healthy

Couldn't have put it better DG & Annie - that week was intense. The "7 million Londoners" poster always reminds me of that week.

Intense and unforgettable… On the 6th I was giddy with joy along with everyone else in Trafalgar Sq when they announced that we’d won – partly because as you say DG, I never really thought we had a chance of actually winning. If you felt pride at [East] London winning, having lived here for a while, imagine how we life-long residents felt when the announcement was made… That was the first time in a long time (since 9/11 and Iraq anyway) I revelled in being British, a Londoner and an east-ender above all. Beating Paris might also have had something to do with it ; )

The 7th started for me as for many others with a tangible feeling of optimism that the East End would finally change for the better... the bubble burst soon enough. I’d eventually got to work after a 5 mile trek from Tower Gateway/Hill, uneasily aware that something very big was happening from the large number of emergency vehicles I witnessed racing in and out of the City. Safe and secure in a government building in a Whitehall still bearing much multicoloured evidence of the previous day’s party, I remember feeling physically sick when I eventually found out that Aldgate had been targeted. I was born at the Royal London and grew up in a house a few streets away behind the synagogue/mosque and have loads of school friends who still live in the area with their families, and use Aldgate/Aldgate East to get to work. I guess the fact that the bombs went off when they did meant that everyone I knew was already at work – that or pure luck. It was clear early on from the scenes on TV that many others would not be so lucky.

Sorry for the overlong comment DG, it’s hard to write briefly about something that affected me on so many levels and much more personally than I would have ever thought possible or liked – especially when the identity of the bombers was revealed as British-born Pakistani Muslims. One thing I will always remember is that on the 14th of July, whilst standing in Trafalgar Sq at noon, I spotted some of the people (strangers) I stood next to on the 6th and couldn’t escape the contrast between then and now. That Wednesday, the square was full of people standing under a grey sky threatening rain, surprised and overjoyed at winning the Olympic bid. A mere week later, under a fiercely brilliant blue sky and scorching sunshine, we stood in the same place in silence remembering those who had been affected by this senseless act. I don't think I will ever forget that contrast... or the positive atmosphere of both.

Oops completely missed out Live 8 – s’alright. Great intentions, shame about the mediocrity of the actual event, although it was easy to get carried away by the hype at the time. OK, that is harsh especially as something positive did happen as a result.

The Killers should have had more than one song though, as one of the few standout acts among the younger artists imho - they woz robbed as the BBC1 behind the scenes programme revealed last week. Changing the lyrics of their song to “When there's nowhere else to run/Is there room for one more son(g)?” was a nice touch.

Would have much preferred any one of the alternatives to Live 8 offered by fellow readers in a pre-event post (08/06/05) – Intoxic8 anyone?

[Note to DG - I think I have now (unintentionally) compensated for not commenting for nigh on two years. New Year’s resolution: will henceforth try to ration myself to the odd (reasonably succinct) comment every now and then.]

If we stretch the week a little, I'd also include the events to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (Sunday 10th July), which brought Londoners together:

http://www.mod.uk/aboutus/history/ww2/

I nearly included the WW2 commemorations, having written a lot about them at the time, but I thought I'd be chastised for attempting a 9-day week.

Well, thousands if not millions of little children in Iraq and Afghanistan will be scarred for life. Imagine that trauma, of falling asleep and waking up to bombs each day, dropped by the Americans and British. And with the lottery of death the world won't even shed a tear, because when it's an Arab life we call it "collateral damage".











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