This post was originally published on August 3, 2005 in a now aborted blog. However, the thoughts are interesting and so I post it here.
Closeted in Oxford, surrounded by lovely, peaceful meadows, trees, churches and scenic colleges, I've been sheltered from the news of the outside world. The recent, tragic London bombings, though they only took place 1.5 hours by car away, could have been continents removed from Oxford. I didn't quite understand their impact.
Yesterday, MW and I took one more load of stuff back down to his flat in London as part of the process of moving out of my Oxford dorm. By chance, I bought a British newspaper - being a committed ex-Yalie I usually get my news from the NY Times and avoid, perhaps unfairly, the local broadsheets. The 'Times' blared out, on its front page, that the British police, for fear of yet another horrific bombing, were out in full force. And they were! Walking towards the Embankment tube station, we saw two groups of three fully armed special forces police with the most terrifying looking semi-automatic weapons (or I believe them to be such as I have no understanding of guns - perhaps explaining why they are so frightening to me). These men were all the more striking as British police are ordinarily never armed with anything more than a nightstick (a rudimentary cudgel, if you will). Once we entered the station, several transport police, donning garish, yellow vests could be found keeping a sharp eye out and whispering to each other.
According to the newspaper, the increased police presence in the city is costing £500,000 a day. Besides the tremendous financial costs, the physical toll on the police is obvious. Everyone has been ordered to cancel holidays and the exhaustion from daily patrolling is surely taking its toll. How long can this state of affairs continue? Hard to say.
MW and I are still taking the tube though. What else is there to do? We can't drive. The traffic is awful and we need to get around. I suppose that's what many others in this city are thinking too. Life goes on, just this time with masses of armed policemen floating around the city too.
Closeted in Oxford, surrounded by lovely, peaceful meadows, trees, churches and scenic colleges, I've been sheltered from the news of the outside world. The recent, tragic London bombings, though they only took place 1.5 hours by car away, could have been continents removed from Oxford. I didn't quite understand their impact.
Yesterday, MW and I took one more load of stuff back down to his flat in London as part of the process of moving out of my Oxford dorm. By chance, I bought a British newspaper - being a committed ex-Yalie I usually get my news from the NY Times and avoid, perhaps unfairly, the local broadsheets. The 'Times' blared out, on its front page, that the British police, for fear of yet another horrific bombing, were out in full force. And they were! Walking towards the Embankment tube station, we saw two groups of three fully armed special forces police with the most terrifying looking semi-automatic weapons (or I believe them to be such as I have no understanding of guns - perhaps explaining why they are so frightening to me). These men were all the more striking as British police are ordinarily never armed with anything more than a nightstick (a rudimentary cudgel, if you will). Once we entered the station, several transport police, donning garish, yellow vests could be found keeping a sharp eye out and whispering to each other.
According to the newspaper, the increased police presence in the city is costing £500,000 a day. Besides the tremendous financial costs, the physical toll on the police is obvious. Everyone has been ordered to cancel holidays and the exhaustion from daily patrolling is surely taking its toll. How long can this state of affairs continue? Hard to say.
MW and I are still taking the tube though. What else is there to do? We can't drive. The traffic is awful and we need to get around. I suppose that's what many others in this city are thinking too. Life goes on, just this time with masses of armed policemen floating around the city too.
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