OT - Explosion down south

[lil_me]

Anyone else seen this on the News, looks rather scary!!!

[Kerre]

Yeah, my mum heard it. And we live 25 miles away.

[Hectorshouse]

Nope not seen it .. where down south? do you have a link?

 

HHxx

[lil_me]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4517962.stm

 

Hemel Hempstead

 

Kerre- from the reports some people in the Netherlands heard it, so 25 miles isn't really that far

Edited December 11, 2005 by lil_me

[loulou]

Hi,

 

It woke me up this morning (i was 10 miles away). I heard a loud explosion that sounded very similar to a bomb that went off in Oxford Street when i was there in 1981. Was quite scary.

 

I had to drive back to my mum's to pick up Kai and there was a traffic jam because there were loads of idiots panic buying petrol.

 

Kai has been watching it on the news and saying, "Cool. That fire is so cool".

 

I just can't make him understand how terrible it is. He finds this sort of thing exciting, so the news is definately staying off now.

 

Loulou x

[littlenemo]

sounds terrible

 

Kai's response is typical though - a couple of years ago there was a fire (made national news) in a recycling/incineration plant just below our school. My class overlooked the plant, which burned for 4 days and the kids were fascinated - had to do literacy and science about fires for a week or more, absolutely no point trying to do anything else. The kids just blanked the implications and the horror of it - they were only interested in the excitement.

 

that's the M1 blocked at both ends in the last week - they've only just cleared it up here after finding that body

 

Zemanski

[Kathryn]

We live 8 miles away and we are covered by a greyish yellow cloud : the light is pretty wierd right now. I think it would be a beautiful sunny day otherwise - it's pretty gloomy and oppressive right now.

 

I was woken up at 6 am and the noise was incredible - it kind of rolled towards us for a few seconds before all the windows shook. L woke up and screamed and I just told her it was thunder, as she doesn't mind that, although it was obvious it wasn't. At first I thought it was another attack in London - it seemed to come from that direction.

 

Thankfully and amazingly there are no deaths, given the incredible force of it. Hope other Krismites in the area are OK.

 

K

[Suze]

Well were a long way away, so we were,nt woken at 6.00, like some , but to all you krismites close by, take care, it looks terrible on the news, so glad no one appears to have been killed.

[jayjay]

Hi i live in bedfordshire which isnt far away, some people heard it but not me i was sound asleep hope everyone else is ok

jayne xx

[Strange girl]

After spending the night Christmas shopping on ebay I was getting into bed, 6am and heard what sounded like a loud rolling ball of rumbling thunder.. Minutes later came a louder blast which shook the windows and slammed the downstairs doors. I thought what the .. was that? I heard the bomb under hammersmith bridge go off and the bomb at bbc studios in shepards bush.. which were closer to me but this one was more forceful. I really didn't know what it was until I heard the news this morning. If I got this much being in SW London I can't imagine what it must have been like nearer the depot!

[LKS]

We are about 20 miles away and it woke me up just after 6. Had no idea what it was but I live quite close to a train station and thought something had happened there. It was a terrible way to wake up. I''ve felt like c**p all day. Hope everyone there is o.k

[Kathryn]

Heard a rumour that schools may be closed tomorrow because we're all supposed to stay indoors. Don't know if it will extend to us though - so I'm not getting my son's hopes up. I have had a rotten cold for days so can't tell if it's affecting us or not.

[lindy-lou]

it looks awful and frightening,amazing no ones been killed and so few injured,thankful at least that it happened at 6am on a sunday morning,hope everyone down theres ok and you havent had to be evacuated.

[Canopus]

The smoke is visible from weather satellites.

 

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/eurosat.htm

[annie]

It woke us up this morning, our dogs were going mad .

[pim]

hi, a bit late to this thread. I'm also about 8 miles away. I heard a loud bang and put it down to thunder even though it didn't sound like it. I just was trying to get back to sleep after the baby woke me up.

It has been so strange here today. The black cloud overhead, it just felt oppresive. It blocked the sun so it never warmed up at all today. It was icy and cold. I don't know if the school will be closed.

We cancelled our trip to London as we thought it would be madness to go out especially as the M1 was closed here.

 

pim

[Kathryn]

Hi pim-

 

It was pretty grotty wasn't it. My dh had to go to Bristol today - luckily by train.

Just had a call from a friend to say that her children's primary school and a secondary school near us is closed tomorrow - don't know if ours will be. I've tuned into 3 Counties radio - just waiting for the next bulletin. if I hear anything definite I'll pm you.

 

K x

[pim]

Hi Kathryn,

 

I didn't think schools would be closed here, only those in Hemel. I hope not I don't really want all my 3 home all day. I also doubt very much ds will have his visit from his autistic advisor tomorrow morning as she lives in Hemel. I know this is all minor. But it has felt so weird here today.

 

pim

[Kathryn]

Hi Pim,

 

Both your school and ours confirmed closed tomorrow.

 

http://www.herts.police.uk/crimedatabase/s...article_id=2043

 

K x

[BusyLizzie100]

Hi, we're in St Albans which is just up the road from Hemel. I though a plane had crashed, or a building in town had collapsed/exploded. The whole house shook, bed, windows, everything. It was really weird lying in bed not knowing what to do! I waited for the sound of sirens, but just heard loads of alarms going off everywhere.

 

Neighbours up the street whose windows face the other way said they could see the flames leaping into the sky. The plume of smoke has been over us all day, blocking out the sun. Totally weird and oppressive, although the sun has tried to get through occasionally.

 

My eldest (eight, AS) wandered into our room shortly after the blast, but didn't know what had woke him. The others (six, ASD; and three) both slept through - amazing!

 

I believe most of Herts schools are shut tomorrow. Check www.musicradio.com for info on local schools. My kids are delighted - so's my husband, he's in charge of them tomorrow!

[pim]

From looking at the link Kathryn gave, it looks like all the schools are closed here.

Hubby, did ask how did I go back to sleep after the bang and not worry about what the noise was.

 

pim

Edited December 18, 2005 by pim

[Kathryn]

Bang goes the Christmas shopping I was planning to do.

[Gordie]

Kai has been watching it on the news and saying, "Cool.  That fire is so cool". 

 

I just can't make him understand how terrible it is.  He finds this sort of thing exciting, so the news is definately staying off now.

Sounds like my typical reaction. Now the initial shock of the news has died down, I'm starting to think along those lines as well - like it's becoming a tourist attraction that I have to go and check out (seeing as I'll be taking my weekly Monday trip down that way anyway tomorrow, for another driving lesson).

 

Us weirdos just don't do empathy, I'm afraid!

 

'Twas a beautiful sunny day all day here (once the fog had cleared anyway)!

 

My driving instructor/best friend lives 10 miles south of there, and her house shook this morning, waking the whole house up, with her 6-year-old daughter in tears, she was so disoriented. And the schools her 3 kids attend (in Northwood and Rickmansworth) are to close tomorrow. She initially thought a bomb had gone off at the NATO base around the corner from her place ... but nope.

 

Oh, and panic-buying of petrol is soooooo selfish, and actually creates more problems than it solves, whether it's necessary or not (which it isn't, in this case).

 

By the way, I heard the M1 has re-opened now, about 24 hours earlier than expected.

 

James

[loulou]

Hi James,

 

I spent some time trying to explain to Kai (7) why the fire isn't cool. A bit later, he said to me,

 

"Mummy, I don't really seem to care much about people. Why is that?".

 

That's the first time he's actually vocalised this to me, so i think he's becoming more aware of his feelings, which i'm pleased about .

 

Loulou x

[Lucas]

Kai has been watching it on the news and saying, "Cool.  That fire is so cool". 

 

I just can't make him understand how terrible it is.  He finds this sort of thing exciting, so the news is definately staying off now.

 

There are people who would seize instances like this as evidence that us Autistics don't have empathy, but a little resolution is needed. This is an internal sensory thing. I was watching BBC News 24 when the very first reports and pictures of 9/11 came in and my thoughts were not at all dwelling on the people affected until much later. I have my own feelings and I've always believed contrary to every myth that Autistics are more emotional than NTs, what is a myth is that 'more emotional' should mean 'more sensitive' when it comes to thinking about others.

 

We have to deal with our own immediate feelings and first-person experiences first before we can even get round to other people. Seeing an extraordinary scene being depicted and knowing it is a real event produces a huge internal sensory spark. Anyone who watched my reaction on 9/11 could be mistaken for thinking I was excited or happy about the whole thing, but I was simply reacting in a way that allowed me to cope with what was happening.

 

My mum wanted the TV switching off, but whilst this would have prevented the behaviour she found disturbing, why should she be allowed to have this comfort and I not? If I couldn't see the emotive scenes I never would have taken them in and dealt with them and the numbers talked about afterwards would only be remembered as numbers, not people.

 

Panic-buying fuel certainly is selfish and any intelligent person can see it's follies. It seems NTs also have their disturbing quirks to deal with disaster.

[Lucas]

To elaborate some more on my post as you made a post while I was typing,

 

"You can't talk to a hungry man about anything beyond the next meal." - Sun Tzu.

 

Many have a vast need for sensory exploration and it is neccessary to do this to function. Most Autistic people(in my opinion) are mentally starving and for every non-Autistic demand made of them they will need to 'eat' more to cope with it.

 

I didn't see anyone die on 9/11. I saw the second plane crash and I saw both towers go down live on TV. What mattered to me at the time as an Autistic were the visuals, the noises, the dimensions of the buildings all being generalised into an internal calculation which made me 'feel' the impact of the physical things happening.

 

I did not literally see anyone die, I could only imagine that happening. I can only imagine something about an event once I have absorbed every bit of information about what physically happened. If I never see everything, I will simply not imagine and not have any emotional reaction. The steps taken towards that wouldn't have happened to begin with.

[Gordie]

I spent some time trying to explain to Kai (7) why the fire isn't cool.  A bit later, he said to me,

 

"Mummy, I don't really seem to care much about people.  Why is that?".

 

That's the first time he's actually vocalised this to me, so i think he's becoming more aware of his feelings, which i'm pleased about  .

Yeah - that's great, loulou. One bright spot to come out of such a nasty event.

 

James

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi All

Have seen it over here on the news

 

Shook me out of my bed over here in Australia only joking,

 

lucky no one was hurt. I have been in a gas explosion so I know how some of you feel when you here a sound like a bomb. Send shivers all the way over here

 

Hope you are all okay, how are you now Kathryn has the smoke gone yet

 

Regards

Hailey

[~Jonathan~]

We got the very large plume of black cloud yesterday afternoon, it blanketed the entire area of open sky for as far as we could see. It was heavier and more threatening than any dark cloud formation I'd seen to date.

[Kathryn]

Hi Hailey, good to see you back. The fire is just about out now and the smoke has not really affected us here in St Albans, it seems as pure as it has ever been - or maybe it's just because I have a cold . Thanks to a big team effort, (we all faced south and huffed and puffed as hard as we could) the cloud is now heading over to France, apparently.

 

Saw that your part of the world is making the news too right now - hope things are settling down in Sydney.

 

K x

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi Kathryn

 

You are right they are totally going awol over here I think it is the heat warping their minds. Cronulla beach is a beautiful family area I can't believe the things I have seen with the Australians versus middle east people.

 

I think what started it was a group of 5 middle eastern appearance Lebanese set upon two life guards at the beach who are volunteers, and were doing their job of guarding the people swimming between the flags. This group of five beat them up, so then came this huge protest and then it was on.

 

My son saw groups randomly going and beating up any one who appeared middle eastern appearance, my son said seeing this made him feel embarrassed to be called an Australian.

 

There are a lot of Lebanese gangs terrorising the Sutherland shire area, and apparently it was like a time bomb just waiting to happen.

 

My daughter even received and MSN advising her to come and help the confrontation.

 

I think the heat over here has warped their brains. Last night a Islam church was set on fire not sure if deliberate or not, but this will only escalate things.

 

You could see some of them running around with bottles of beer in their hands, it is alcohol talking, shameful

 

Hopefully things will settle down soon.

That plume over the city must be annoying, we have that problem here with the bushfires, it hot and you want to open your windows but if you do the house smells like smoke, that was last year, hopefully not this year.

 

Regards

Hailey

Edited December 14, 2005 by hallyscomet

[Kathryn]

Hi Hailey,

 

Sounds terrible and the pictures on the news looked pretty grim too. I've always thought of Australia as a peaceful place far removed from these kind of tensions. I hope it can be contained and some way can be found to calm the situation.

 

Take care of yourself

 

K x

[Guest hallyscomet]

Hi Kathryn,

 

We are on the Northern beaches this is south of the city the Southern beaches about 15 km south of Bondi beach. Hopefully it will be contained soon and not turn into something out of control.

 

Please god.

 

Hailey