The city of London is in many ways my 2nd home. I was born in Milwaukee; I have lived in Monmouth for forty years; but my creative heart lies in London and its glorious theatre. Luck and perseverence has placed me in that city fourteen times over the years and some of the visits have been for extended periods. I was a bit too young to experience the blitz, but my visits have coincided with IRA bombings on at least three occasions. I have never been harmed, but do know the feelings of helplessness and the tremors of fear that one feels when entering one of those long tube escalators or when a train is evacuated because of a bomb scare.
To think that there are animals so callous that they give "animal" a bad name gives one a pause. Animals do not kill wantonly; only humans do that.
My son, not me, was in England this time. He was on a train bound from Stanstead Airport to London's Liverpool Street Station on Thurs. morning. It was stopped and turned back. If you wish to read his entire experience go to http://www.HowWasTheShow.blogspot.com and read the whole story.
My little memory is that on three different occasions my wife and I have stayed at the Endsleigh Court Flats on Upper Woburn Place. This is just about where the bus was bombed and a friend of mine, who has an office on the other side of Russell Sq. has mailed me to say that there was blood staining the front of the British Medical Association Building, which is kitty corner across the street from the Endsleigh. I have walked the street from Russell Sq. to Euston countless times and often paused for a time in Tavistock Square, where the statue of Mahatma Ghandi makes a plea for non violent protest. As his life was taken by violence so shall this square now also be known for its nearness to carnage rather than peace and love.
These are sad times. The picture accompanying this report shows me in a happier state in 2004 when Jan and I stayed at the Russell Hotel just a few minutes away from Tavistock Sq.
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