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This is very exact. I was in London during 7/7 and more recently the London bridge attack: foreigners were a little ruffled. Locals could not care less, or mor

by bertil 9y ago

This is very exact. I was in London during 7/7 and more recently the London bridge attack: foreigners were a little ruffled. Locals could not care less, or more exactly, expected to deviate at little as humanly possible from their routine and knew exactly how to get there because they expected everyone to know how to make that happen. As soon as rumours of an incident on the public transport leaked on the morning of 7/7, there were lines in front of every tube station and major bus stop: one file, people patiently waiting their turn. I asked: “You are queuing for what? — (flabbergasted) The mechanic…” It took me a while to realise that: before there were severe disruptions, many people might not be able to take their usual route. London public transport is notoriously complicated and most humans can’t really process a journey. Now we have CityMaper but at the time, that was not imaginable. Experienced workers (I believe former tube and bus drivers) can, a feat not unlike the London taxicab “Knowledge” optimise a journey under disruption. So, the queue was for every traveller whose journey was presumably interrupted to announce his or her destination and have spouted out (with the most undecipherable Norrff-Lundun accent) a sequence of three to six bus numbers and the corresponding transfer station. No one asked if there would be mechanic available, or what they would do. It was just a normal day, with the Tube mostly not working and some buses disrupted. The sorriest I've heard was "I know… Get a round without me, I'll get the next one when I'm there." Check out the stories of what happened during the London Bridge attack, but… yeah, expect a combination of “I am not not finishing my beer for that.” and “Attack? Londoners!? Are you daft, mate?!”

gsnedders 9y ago
> I was in London during 7/7 and more recently the London bridge attack: foreigners were a little ruffled. Locals could not care less, or more exactly, expected to deviate at little as humanly possible from their routine and knew exactly how to get there because they expected everyone to know how to make that happen. It's worth remembering that, as with much of western Europe, terrorism had been a real threat for a significant part of second half of the 20th century. See, in London's case, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in... ; almost every year from 1970–97 had attacks (and most years had a fairly large number of attacks). Terrorism, to some degree, was a matter of ordinary life.
Brakenshire 9y ago
This is why the "London reeling from ..." headlines in the US were viewed with contempt in Britain. Most people just want to get on with their lives. Carrying on with as little disruption as possible is seen as part of the national character.

by bertil 9y ago

gsnedders 9y ago

> I was in London during 7/7 and more recently the London bridge attack: foreigners were a little ruffled. Locals could not care less, or more exactly, expected to deviate at little as humanly possible from their routine and knew exactly how to get there because they expected everyone to know how to make that happen. It's worth remembering that, as with much of western Europe, terrorism had been a real threat for a significant part of second half of the 20th century. See, in London's case, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in... ; almost every year from 1970–97 had attacks (and most years had a fairly large number of attacks). Terrorism, to some degree, was a matter of ordinary life.

Brakenshire 9y ago

This is why the "London reeling from ..." headlines in the US were viewed with contempt in Britain. Most people just want to get on with their lives. Carrying on with as little disruption as possible is seen as part of the national character.