Seven years ago
Posted: Thursday, 11 September 2008 | 7 comments |
Waiting around inside Edinburgh Waverly station for a train to take us back home following a few days away, I knew there was something wrong. People say that if you annoy a hive of bees the noise changes, the altered mood of so many individuals can be heard to the person rapidly about to either run away or get stung. If I said the hive noise in the station changed, maybe you will understand. The subtle presence of police officers suddenly became unsubtle but still I was in ignorant bliss. Boarding the train back south we find our seats and settle in to watch the countryside fly by at nearly 100mph.
Dragging the holdall into the hall and finding my parents silent in the living room, glued to the television screen witnessing the carnage taking place thousands of miles away. The twin towers had fallen after having hijacked aeroplanes flown into them. The television footage we all seemed to get to know so well looped over, the event having occurred as we window shopped around Edinburgh some hours previous. Instantly my mind ran to did I know anyone in NYC – yes I did, a guy I was at university with was out there, but as far as I knew he wasn’t in the trade centres.
Who and more importantly why seemed to filter into the broadcasts and somehow I knew the world had changed.
The days following were punctuated by military action in places I had vaguely been aware of, new words thundered into our vocabulary with all the subtlety of the bombs and feelings they described.
Seven years have passed and the UK has been on the receiving end of the rage of a group of people who feel they have every right to be angry enough to kill. Politics seem to get in the way a lot, people jumping on band wagons and riding them until the wheels fall off.
Who knows what the next seven years will bring?
Posted on Diary of a Deckhand at 23:56
Comments
I remember the day well. I stayed glued to the TV watching in unbelievable horror. It did not feel real. This could not be happening. Every year that goes by it still feels like a nightmare. How can people be so horrible.
nita from Georgia, USA
Peace would be wonderful but very unlikely with the people we have ruling this world.
A from Here
Let's hope the next seven years are better, DoD.
mjc from IN, USA
Very unlikely with people full stop. I don't think humans have cottoned on to this yet...
Flying Cat from bacteria rool
Harsh is the reality - we call 'life'. One cannot and should not forget such an horrific slaughter of innocence.
isle poet from Mull
7/9 was appalling but so has the US response been to the world around them, especially the world with that M***** word. Fundamentalism arises from igonrance - and a further source of misunderstanding is the difficulty for moderate Muslims to stand up and be counted, without risking harrssment or worse. But remember Allah is, in the first place, the Almighty, and then next in line, the Compassionate. This the fundamentalists ignore - or have forgotten.
Barney from Swithiod trying a balanced view
Never mind. Once the Wasilla Wonder has her finger on the button there'll be nothing left to worry about.
Flying Cat from no more innocent than the next cat
This blog is now closed and we are no longer accepting new posts.
After coming to Orkney in May 2006 for 8 months, somehow I am still here. Running the MV Valkyrie in the summer and helping on the farm in winter is now my life. 
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