London Calling
Fellow Facade Follower JM in London emailed into Cracks Headquarters with this description of her day on 7/7 and the mood around London following the attacks:

I'm feeling rather shaken by this whole bombing issue...largely as I was on the last train out of Kings Cross that morning heading home from a conference in London. My train left Kings Cross at 8:25...and the bombs hit shortly before 9. I have never felt luckier as the news was broadcasted on the train. If I left a half hour later...I'd have been trapped on the tube. London has adopted a level headed "pick up the pieces" and get back to work mode that seems both healthy and sensible. London is so diverse ethnically, that there has been little Muslim backlash. Had the bombing happened elsewhere on the continent, I'm not sure the same would happen. I have never been more proud to have lived and worked in London for 15 years. Londoners are such a tough lot, nothing seems to stop them from going to work, drinking tea (the GNER train gave everyone on the train a calming cuppa after the news broke and everyone swapped mobile phones to get coverage) and begin oh so British. For the first time in my life I felt truly British...it was the best cup of tea I've ever tasted.

Here's to raising a cuppa of Earl Gray to JM and all Londoners (and maybe a jaffa cake or two).