Saturday, July 09, 2005

07/07/05 How Depressing

I wasn't shocked by the bombings in London. I'd been expecting this to happen at some point. I was convinced that something would happen during the last General Election campaign, but in the end they decided to sabotage Blair's hosting of the G8 summit instead.
Anyway, it wasn't a shock, but it was still numbing and altogether a depressing experience watching events unfold on TV.
So cruel coming the day after the euphoria generated by London's successful Olympic bid, and the guarded optimism that for once a G8 summit would result in some groundbreaking global agreements on Poverty, Debt & fair trade.
We British have our failings, but I was enormously moved by the classic "stiff upper lip" mentality displayed by Londoners who vowed to carry on and not be cowed into changing their day-to-day routines as a result of the actions of these vicious bastards.
In other contexts this classic British character trait can be repressive, but for this situation it's the ideal reply to the terrorists.
I had a gig scheduled for the same evening. I initially tried to get out of it as I felt it was the last thing I wanted to do.
However, I ended up doing it and had a really storming set. Fantastic reaction in a real bear pit. Very weird. Just before going on, I was so not up for it, but after a couple of minutes I was loving it and was glad I decided to perform. I guess that's just the human condition. Life goes on.

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