Way out West (incorporating Way up North)

missing...

I'm having a bit of a worry; I've a friend who works at the Bloomsbury Theatre, lives in Hackney and hasn't responded to my text messages. For those not in the know, the number 30 bus travels through Hackney and Bloomsbury on its travels, the exploding bus on thursday morning was right in the zone.

I had many texts enquiring after my health, for which I am truly thankful, and which slightly startled me, but my efforts to contact my friend, whose workplace is adjacent to the bus explosion, have got nowhere.

There is a point where I guess you have to pick up the phone, her theatre has been out of action until this weekend, so I couldn't call them. I found a very sad and desperate website which lists those people who have not been found or identified, but are missing. I scanned it with dread, but there was no record of my friends name.

I was struck, however, by how cosmopolitan the list of names of the missing was, I love and hate London, I love the mixture and the muddle, the fantastic variety; I hate the pursuit of the dollar, nothing is sacred if there's enough money behind it, but the one thing you can't take away from London is that it's open to all. Not always welcoming, cheery or friendly, but open nonetheless.

I was heartened today, when I happened to be in the Sainsbury in West Ealing (close to Southall), to witness the very nice young man giving away free copies of the Daily Mail being ignored and rebuffed by evidently ethnic brits, hoorah for the red,white and blue! I love multi-ethnicity, I think I can claim to be reasonably multi-ethnic myself.

I'll let you know if there are any developements.

Post-script; All is well, she hadn't got my messages until this morning, although everything at the theatre is pretty chaotic it is still business as usual.

posted by Lampy @ 7/09/2005 10:06:00 pm