Thursday, July 21, 2005
One Of Those Days
The warm, sticky weather is back and I'm already dreading trying to sleep in it tonight. I had an appointment at the doctors in the morning and by the time got there was soaked in sweat. That's the worst thing. You go to the trouble of getting shaved, showered and smelling half-decent only for this untypical Scottish weather to bring you back to earth with an open pore or two.
I got the bus outside the docs and headed into town, passing a new shop on Leith Walk I never noticed the other day. It looks like a mini Borders; soft wooden furnishings with a modern look, selling books and music. I'll need to go in and check it out sometime.
Thinking about music reminded me of something I'd been meaning to do for a few days, so I stayed on the bus along Princes Street and made a beeline for HMV. I walked into the shop and I almost jumped into the air with excitement when I walked through the doors into the shop - almost empty of shoppers. House of Fun by Madness was playing over the shop tanoy and all the staff were dancing about doing the 'nutty walk' and tapping their pens like drumsticks on the counter. What made it all the more surreal, was the fact I had gone in to reserve some copies of the 7" vinyl release of Madness' new single, Shame and Scandal, which is released on Monday. The CD single will be easy enough to buy, but the vinyl release is a limited edition so I had to be sure I got my hands on one or two.
With that done I headed to work and the day sort of fell away after that. Work was duff and when reports started to come through about more bombings in London, I just knew it was all going wrong.
As I write this, it appears the attack failed because there were no casualties; none of the bombs went off. Three more Tube stations were affected and another bus attacked; exactly the same pattern as two weeks ago this very day.
After the localised panic and disruption within London, the shock of the first attack seems to be getting replaced by real anger about this. It's not an anger related to the debate of whether being involved in Iraq is the cause of all this, but it's an anger towards the people and the organisations behind it. They are being viewed more as a disease; a cancer on the nations's Capital. If these people think that they are gong to win some kind of Holy War or other kind of 'cause' in the name of a God we all share, they are wrong. This is the United Kingdom, and we will not fold to a bunch of misinformed half-wits. If you want a war, you've picked the wrong nation.
I was shattered by the time 'writing time' came round but I got through a couple of non-fiction ideas that have spawned specific articles. Couldn;t keep my eyes open though, so went to bed. Just one of those days I'm afraid.
Colin 11:46 am