London Explosion

V sms me this morning at 1045H. That was about the same time she finished reading my blog entry that was made at about 0245H. That's 8 hours apart. Sideways was brilliant!


V also sms me in the evening about some bombs going off in London.

I thought it might have been the real IRA. I thought it was something simple.

It was the same initial reaction I had when I was on duty on Boxing Day last year. The base ops centre called me up before noon telling me that there was some earthquake off Sumatra and then asked me to check with all the ships' coxswains on the leave status of the ship crew and to note if anybody was in Penang or Phuket.

I was smsing V the absurdity of the check. "huh? earthquake off Sumatra and they ask if anybody was in Penang or Phuket?!" In the long history of booboos made by the base ops centre, this has to top it all.

I was wrong.

As I would slowly, and with much horror, realise.

The same realisation may soon be happening.
I do have a few friends in UK. In London. And I am no entirely sure if they are alright. Yugin's safe in Brighton. His girlfriend in London is safe too. I hope Elaine's not in London and still in Tokyo like I last heard. I do want Kenny and gf (though I know them not too well) to be ok as well. They should be in London. I mean, Yugin's fine and he knows Kenny so Yugin didn't say nothing. Then there are friends of friends.

Nope, I never did live in London. In fact, I choose not to 6 years ago. It was deliberate. I couldn't get into London School of Economics and Political Science even if your points are perfect. I wasn't too keen after they decided that they have enough students and late applicants can just forget about it. University College London - Chris Martin et al aka Coldplay's alma mater, accepted me. But heck, York seemed to be bending over backwards for international students ie. me.

I must have visited London more than 5 times. And I never liked it much despite all the hoopla that my friends down the civilised south would tell me. (There is a running joke that anything north of Watford was considered north in UK.)

Underground smells of pee. If you stare hard enough at the maps, you'll see animals. Animals on the underground.

The first time I took the London Underground was a bad experience. It was nothing like our MRT. It has more "character". But one thing caught my eye on that first ride. I was feeling a whole new set of feelings I have never felt before. I can't even begin to describe them now.
The placard across my seat read:

Loving the rituals that keep men close,
Nature created means for friends apart:

Pen, paper, ink, the alphabet,
signs for the distant and disconsolate heart.

The Underground is a rich source of inspiration despite it's age. The poems featured in the Underground can be found in this website: Poem for the day

For me, the poem was like as if it was some divine intervention.

But it was bombed today. There are links to the event on Wikipedia already.
There are photos on Flickr available. All tagged "London Bomb Blast".

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Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
Ché la via diritta era smarrita.
[Inferno, Canto I:1-3, Dante Alighierei]

Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself with a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost
translated by Henry W. Longfellow

When I had journeyed half of our life´s way,
I found myself within a shawdowed forest,
For I had lost the path that doesn´t stray.
translated by Allen Mandelbaum

Midway in our life´s journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
Alone in a dark wood
translated by John Ciardi

Midway this way of life we´re bound upon,
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
Where the right road was wholly lost and gone
translated by Dorothy Sayers

In the middle of the journey of our life
I found myself astray in a dark wood
where the right road had been lost sight of - my favourite translation by Seamus Heaney

It takes into consideration that one was astray. It was not a sudden transition like waking up. The condition was found, as if deliberate. The dark wood was not the full cause for losing sight of the right road. It was not "wholly lost and gone". Just lost sight of. There is the suggestion of salvation. The road that one is looking for is not not because it is straight nor straightforward. It was the right road. No more no less.

Seamus Heaney gave a reading at my University around the time when he released Beowulf. The tickets disappeared real quick. Not before Yugin and I grabbed ourselves one. Many of the other English Lit students got theirs too I think. There's gonna be a movie version directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Castaway).

Since we are on the subject of London and movies, will this movie ever be shown in Singapore?

It's All Gone Pete Tong

East end London slang. Cockney rhymes. I already have gotten the soundtrack which totally rocks. there is this guy credited as lol hammond. it's actually fatboy slim aka norman cook aka former housemartins aka beats international aka freakpower aka mighty dub katz aka Pizzaman. laughing out loud hammonds indeed!

V will be leaving for HK in a few hours time. have fun.