ASYLUM

* Not Dead Yet

A quick emergency update, done by hand as the Hive replacement has not arrived yet:

I'm sure you know by now my city has been attacked by terrorists. I am fine, as are my friends. The first inkling was when I got to the tube station and the sign saying the line was out of action was being corrected to read that the whole London Underground was halted. At that point, they were still talking about power surges. I made my way to work on foot; by the time I picked up coffee and a sandwich for breakfast, people were talking about bombs, and as I entered our foyer, the big wallscreen was showing the live newsfeed.

The most important thing from my point of view, is my Scary kitten is in France right now, which means I miss her dearly but am glad she is completely safe, facing nothing worse than potentially miffed Parisiens. My colleagues are also fine, Charlie made it to work although he came closest to my knowledge, passing through Liverpool Street and missing the blast by about five minutes. Emily is keeping a brave face at her workplace, and everyone else is out of London right now I think. Numerous emails and calls have confirmed they and I are still alive and twitching.

The streets are mostly quiet; sirens and police helicopters were the only real sounds, and occasional glimpses of conversation — rumours and speculation.

What now? It depends if there are any further 'incidents'. I could be wrong, but my feeling so far is that it's over. And London is a very, very old city — nearly two thousand years — and has been strengthened by fire on many occasions. It's going to take a lot more than this to bring us down.