London Bombings, July 07, 2005, by Sylvia Cohn
From MemoryArchive
Who: Sylvia Cohn What: London Bombings When: July 07, 2005 Where: London
I was travelling four days a week, three hours a day in London transport from Brighton to central London where I was interning over the summer. One morning as my train was getting into Victoria station, someone got a call on their mobile and at the same time our train was held up outside the station. My cousin called me from North London "just to check if you are alright" because there was rail work and some disturbances. More people received calls but no one knew what was going on. One woman refused to tell the person sitting next to me and myself what the call was about. As soon as we arrived at Victoria, I felt uneasy and claustrophobic: my first instinct was to find the nearest exit. As I walked outside, there was both panic and calm, a strange uneasiness. I asked people around me for information: security officers did not know yet for sure and evaded the question. I asked American tourists who said there had been several explosions. I was panicked and alone. All transport was down, everyone was walking, some running. As I walked away from Victoria towards Oxford Street where I worked, chaos became apparent. Sirens, ambulances, security forces- there was noise and commotion everywhere. Like myself, everyone around me was trying to get ahold of their loved ones, but the mobile networks were down. A group of people and I queued at a telephone booth for half an hour. One particularly striking memory is a woman running out of a nursery school with her child in her arms. I was given directions on how to get to work, but decided to avoid Westminster and the direct route as I believed they were dangerous. I walked for approximately one hour and a half, alone surrounded by loud sirens and fear. When I finally arrived at work, everyone was gathered in one room. We plugged in the radio, signed on to news websites and waited for information. Everyone sent out mass emails to their friends and families. No one worked that day. When the failed bombings happened a few weeks later, I was having lunch with my colleagues in a park. We heard sirens and received phone calls. Travelling in London was never the same again.
