would you go to London?

[Viper]

Hi,

 

Just want to get a few peoples feelings about this. I have to take Ben on a train to Londons Guys hospital on the 21st for a DX. We desperatly want a DX but I am strugling with this, do you think it is safe?

 

I really don't know what to do.

 

Any opinions will be greatfully received.

 

Viper.

[Kathryn]

Hi Viper,

 

Your fears are understandable after what's happened: anyone travelling into London would find it hard to put it out of their mind.

 

This is only my personal opinion but I think London is no less safe now than it was say, a couple of weeks ago. It may even be safer in the immediate aftermath, given the increased security measures which will no doubt be in place since last Thursday.

 

If it were me, Viper, I would continue with the appointment, but then I am used to travelling in London as I do it quite often, and I know from your previous posts that you weren't looking forward to this trip anyway.

 

I don't know where you live: is it just a train into London Bridge (where Guys is) and out again, or do you have to cross London? If so you might find it easier to take a cab, if going on the tube bothers you, and the comfort may justify the extra expense.

 

I'd happily come with you if I could! I hate to think of you missing this.

 

K

[jenny1969]

hi if i was you i would go, it will be the safest time to go their will be police everywhere, go get the dx you need if you cancel you might have to wait a long time for another london will be very safe at the moment too many police about for anyone to try anything but only you can make that decision jenny

[Viper]

Hi Kathryn and Jenny.

 

I didn't think of it that way, it will be safer now with the security back up to full strength.

 

Kathryn, I live in the south east of kent, so I just have to travel to London Bridge the back home, no tubes involved, thank God.

 

Thanks girls for your input it helps a lot.

 

Viper.

[Lucas]

There are some things everyone needs to know about terrorism(from the self-declared expert on everything here).

 

The targets are not the people who were killed or injured, the targets are multiple and they are all ideas, not people or buildings. The second most important target is a nation's ideals and it's collective resolve. A terrorist website says "Britain is burning in panic and fear!". No, Britain is down the pub thinking quitely and talking with it's mates. We're angry and sad, but the one thing we're not as a collective is afraid. The terrorists have not realised that they have missed the point, or they have and they are just trying damage control because of their single most important target needs protecting: Alienating western Muslims whilst radicalising others in the Middle-East. That's about their own survival you see.

 

Britain's attitude is best demonstrated at a website which has become hugely popular in the few days it has been up:

 

http://www.werenotafraid.com/

 

A terror attack on Britain was inevitable, but it has failed miserably for who ever did it. They know very little of our history: Hitler was bigger than them and he lost, Napoleon was bigger than them and he lost, every would-be destroyer in the last thousand years has lost and the wannabes don't stop and think why.

 

The reason is because no matter how pathetic the maniac looks, we have always regarded them with a little seriousness behind the ridicule which throws them off. We know that one person can change everything, we know this because we often try it on ourselves.That incident with Guy Fawkes for example; do we celeberate bonfire night because he was stopped, or because he tried to do something a lot of us sometimes wish we could do?

 

But I don't think we're worried by a bunch of people pretending they work for a guy on dialysis somewhere in the Afghan mountains, meeting him once doesn't mean anything, I bet he runs things sort of like Santa's Grotto. The only reason we never found him was because he's so skinny he just turns sideways and disappears from view.

[smallworld]

Thanks for that Lucas

You're right, we are just talking in the pub metaphorically. This post made me feel better,

 

wac

[jools]

i hardly ever travel to london and when i do i hate using the tube system......its always so cramped and i just don't like the idea of being underground.

 

however.......thursday would not put me off. i may feel a bit more nervous, i don't know, but i wouldn't let it stop me doing something i know is important for me and my family

 

we are all more likely to get run over or be in an accident than be involved in a terrorist attack

 

it is understandable that you feel like you do but i hope you are still able to go

[littlenemo]

every would-be destroyer in the last thousand years has lost

Surely you're forgetting that little incident in 1066. But your point is still valid, it's very nearly a thousand years.

 

As for going to London, the bombs have made no impression on Com, but he still won't go to the Big Stink "It's too hot!" We went three summers ago and the weather was like it is now. It makes sense now, but he says the same thing in the middle of winter

 

stay cool

 

nemo

[mandyque]

Excellent reply Lucas, that makes a great deal of sense. Even friends I have spoken to in the States and Canada have commented that we as a nation reacted a lot differently to the Americans after 9/11. I know their tragedy was on a much greater scale but it has the same seriousness that our attacks did.

 

Viper, I can totally understand your concern but I think you should go for the appointment. It's going to be a long time before you get another and then you will have to battle with the same feelings when that one comes. Not having to go on the tube would be a huge bonus personally, but the tube always made me nervous anyway.

 

Good luck with the appointment, I hope they give you the diagnosis you need x

[sylvm]

Viper - I have to say if I was you I would feel exactly the same - it is only the past year I have felt happier going up to London since 9/11 anyway ironically but Lucas you have put it all in perspective. As you others have just said, it's probably safer there now with the increased security. I would go and get your diagnosis, rather than wait and then still have to deal with all the fear feelings when you do eventually go. If you think of all the numbers of people travelling in and out of London every single day, the odds are still tiny of anything happening. Go for it!

[lil_me]

Very good response there Lucas.

 

 

I would go if it was important for my son.

[hev]

hello

i am going to london to the old bailey tommorrow with my friend and im not looking foward to it,not because of the bombs but the crowded tubes,delays etc,i think its safer now than last week

[Lesley]

Hi

 

We are booked in at the Nuffield Speech and Language Centre on 4th Aug.

It has taken 12 months of battle to get the appointment - there is no way I'm going to miss it

I'll be nervous on the tube but still going.

The terrorists need to know their way of scaring people into submission to their own ideas will not work.

We all have our own lives to lead and if we let them disrupt that then they are winning.

Not going to let that happen!

 

Lesley

[Viper]

Thanks everyone, you have made my mind up. I am going to get that DX for my son.

 

If it had been just me going I would not have thought quite so hard but taking Ben is another matter. We all worry for our kids and have to think of their welfare. Weighing the good (DX) against the bad (risk) I think the risk is far less than the importance of a DX so thanks again and keep everything crossed for that all ellusive animal the shy and retiring "diagnosis"

 

Viper.

[~Jonathan~]

The way I look at it, it's probably safer now to travel in London than in say a year from now. Terrorists work on people's complacency and the best time to bomb somewhere is when people least expect it. That's my take on it anyway.

[Suze]

Good luck Viper, I think I,d still be going for the appointment if it was me.The DX is so important and another appt could take ages,there are risks everywhere the terrible incidents in London have just made us all feel more vunerable.Keep us posted about the appt and DX and all the best.

[Lucas]

I would not actually say that 9/11 was a 'greater' tradgedy, that's morality by numbers. One person dying is as terrible as many dying, but there is no measure for tradgedy. Many people can be traumatised by the death of a well loved public figure yet not have the same reaction to a stranger reported on TV, so people's reaction is not an accurate way of measuring tradgedy.

 

9/11 can't be said to be a bigger disaster because thousands died or because the scenes have a powerful effect on those watching. It could be called a bigger disaster because the reaction to it was wrong, but you don't say that to people in that state.

 

A tradgedy I think is worse when it is artificial and avoidable, done willingly by people. Natural disasters have the excuse that it's nothing personal.

 

Surely you're forgetting that little incident in 1066. But your point is still valid, it's very nearly a thousand years.[/quote[

 

I'll correct both myself and you; every would-be destroyer EVER has failed, every would-be conquerer since 1066 has failed. The French(Normans?) didn't really conquer us I think though; we made them think they did and then we booted them out after stealing castles from them so they couldn't do it again.

[Kathryn]

I'll correct both myself and you; every would-be destroyer EVER has failed, every would-be conquerer since 1066 has failed. The French(Normans?) didn't really conquer us I think though; we made them think they did and then we booted them out after stealing castles from them so they couldn't do it again.

....and we've got the Olympics, so we're still Top Nation

 

Good on you Viper. I'm sure your guardian angel will be working overtime on that day to make sure things go smoothly! I hope the appointment goes well, that it's all worth it and that you get that dx for your son.

 

I'll be thinking of you

 

K

[Gordie]

I'm going through London this Friday actually (so that'll be the 15th - 6 days earlier than you - ), to get to Cambridge to do some research as someone with Asperger's Syndrome for the Autism Research Centre (on Friday and Saturday).

 

I have to go through London to get there. The ideal route takes me through King's Cross though, which is obviously pretty awkward right now. But if I take the Northern Line from Waterloo to Euston, and then get a bus on to King's Cross, before getting the main-line train to Cambridge, I shouldn't have any real problems.

 

I'm not nervous about it at the moment - perhaps I will be a little edgy on the day, especially on the Tube, but I'm not going to let what happened last Thursday stop me from doing what I'd planned to do this coming Friday.

 

As for your situation, I remember you saying you already felt intimidated by this trip, and that was without last Thursday's events making matters worse. But I think you have to look at the big picture here. I know last Thursday is still quite raw in the minds of many, but will London really be safer in, say, 2 or 3 months than it will be on the 21st? Probably not. Okay - the public transport system there might not be fully restored by the 21st, but that'll probably be the only difference.

 

So, without having read any of the other 17 responses in this thread, I think that if you really need this diagnosis, you should just grit your teeth and take the plunge.

 

But of course the final decision can only be yours, based on how you feel when the day arrives.

 

James

[Gordie]

Okay - I've read all the posts here now ...

 

Good on ya, Viper, for making this decision, which for you is a pretty brave one, but if you ask any of us here, I think you'll find most are in agreement with it.

 

Good luck on the 21st! <'>

 

James

[BuntyB]

Hi,

we just got back from London today- we went down on Saturday. Until the day, we weren't sure if the train was going to get through to Kings Cross as on Friday they all stopped at Peterborough. However, I have to say we had no problem at all.

 

I went to put the case for children with autism at a conference about children with disability being in poverty, hosted by the DWP, and no scare was going to put me off making a case for our kids. I'm glad I went.

[Kathryn]

Good for you Shona, hope it went well. I will probably be heading off to the theatre next time I go into London, far less worthy a reason!

 

James, we took my daughter to the ARC in Cambridge for a one off appointment with the co director - he was great. (don't think I'm allowed to mention his name) I hope it goes well and you find it interesting, they do a lot of good stuff there.

[XxRosiexx]

I was suppoed to go up to London the day after the bombing but i canceled, i know they probably wont bomb so soon but i'm a very nervous person.

[admum]

We live in London. Im wary I have to admit. Hubbie has to take tube this week since bombing as not poss to walk and is concerned. I too am concerned. I have lived here for 14 plus years without much thought despite previous attacks, since 9/11 I knew it would come. Tonight watching the news I felt such despair. Suicide bombers possibly of Uk origin. I cant understand why they would want to reject the country that had possibly given them so much. I could accept an atatck from outwith but from those who are supposed to be our own. Where did it go so wrong?

[Gordie]

I cant understand why they would want to reject the country that had possibly given them so much.

It probably hasn't given them any more than it would give any other British citizen though, that's the thing. It's not like these people are immigrants or asylum seekers, otherwise you'd have a fair point. They're British-born though, and as such, have the same rights as anyone else born here.

 

James

[admum]

I disagree. I think you have misinterpreted what I have said.

[admum]

Sorry. I dont think ive suggested that they have any different rights to anyone else. Clearly they dont consider themselves british. And they are rejecting this country.

[Lucas]

It's kind of like a seperation anxiety.

 

If I am 100% British, is it possible for me to be 100% or any amount anything else? I know I'm 100% Autistic, can I still be 100% British? Personal identity is a human need that no one can do without and those who don't have a solid idea tend to have many personal dilemmas. When you think long and hard about it, can your identity be made up of many different things without diluting each element?

 

Then I remembered all this nonsense about how things can occupy the same space in the same time, just as long as it is also in a different dimension. Oh that makes it all perfectly clear!

 

So as soon as I am really rich(thereby able to justify this kind of pomp) I'll have this translated into Latin and have it as the family motto on our coat of arms(told you it was very pomp-like): "I Am All Things and One" .

 

It explains everything very clearly and in a very confusing way.

 

The solution isn't so easy to see for those who think that they can't be British and Muslim without prioritising one over the other.

[Guest flutter]

i wonder tho if nationalilty has anything to do with this?

have they just not been brainwashed into believing that this had to be done, for some greater good that i wonder if they even understood

C x

[elaine1]

yes, its unlikely it will happen again in the same place. they know ppl are watching like hawks now.

[littlenemo]

So as soon as I am really rich(thereby able to justify this kind of pomp) I'll have this translated into Latin and have it as the family motto on our coat of arms(told you it was very pomp-like): "I Am All Things and One" .

The poor man's version is 'omnia sum et unus'

The mathematician's version is i=oo+1 (sorry, there's no infinity symbol on this keyboard)

 

Both can be translated to mean other things as both latin and algebra are very simple languages.

 

I'm curious what your coat of arms will look like

 

nemo

Edited July 16, 2005 by littlenemo