In such a short space of time this country was subject to two terrible acts of terrorism. I was in Manchester the day of the Arianna Grande concert but left in the afternoon. My friend that I saw the day before lives across the road from the arena where the concert was. My sister and her fiancé live in London. A lot of John’s family live in London. All of us could have been put in these awful situations because of the chance that we were in one place on a particular day. However, terrorism won’t stop me from enjoying my life and doing the things I love.
Over the course of the past 2 months I have heard and read about so many people who are now too scared or worried to visit larger cities. I understand that completely, especially for people with children. Everyone has the right to feel a certain way but that way of thinking is just not me and it never will be.
I remember when London was subjected to the bombings on the buses and tube. I remember reading about people who lived there and being amazed at their attitudes. People understood that their lives must go on and most went back to work the next day. How did they get there? By using public transport. They used the tube and buses. There wasn’t time to be worried or scared because people still had to get to work, school etc. Something absolutely awful happened on 7th July 2005 but it didn’t stop the people of London so why should it stop me?
I took a bit of that attitude on. Life does go on and while there are some really shitty things happening in the world right now I’m not prepared to give up my life. I’m not prepared to lay down and take it. This makes the bastards winners and gives them exactly what they want.
The thing is, terrorist attacks are happening everywhere, not just in the UK. It’s not even major cities that are being targeted. Holiday resorts have been hit hard as well. We have a holiday booked to Majorca next April. I sure as hell won’t be cancelling it. If I did, we’d be having a holiday in the back garden instead. This is what the terrorists want. Cancelling one trip might as well mean my life is over. Where else would I be able to go outside of Middle of Nowhere, Norfolk?! Norwich is a decent sized city. Okay, it’s probably less likely that anything happens there but it’s not impossible. Not even close to it.
I love travelling. I love going to London. I love going away with my family. I don’t want any of that to stop. Of course, there will always be a bit of worry in the back of my mind but something could happen anywhere. I was lucky to have some training at work recently in case I ever find myself in such a situation. I know it sounds obvious to run, hide and call the police if you can but in times of panic, you tend to forget things like this. It was nice to have a bit of a reminder.
Next month we’re heading to London again as a family and while we will certainly take caution, we will be focusing on having a good time and spending time together.
A good attitude to have! I’m not the biggest fan of travelling to London anyway and I’d be lying if I said the attacks hadn’t made me more nervous, but we should all not let them stop us!
I think it’s sensible to be cautious but not to cancel plans.
Great attitude to have. Although these terror attacks did seem to affect me way more than others have previously, maybe because they’re so close to home & my boyfriend has family in London, but I still maintain that we can’t let the terrorists terrorise us. We can’t come to a stand still and live in fear. I wouldn’t be nervous about travelling to or working in London and as we know, attacks are bad, but they’re also rare.
Of course, it’s normal to worry a bit isn’t it!
So glad you are thinking the way I am. We are in the process of booking a holiday and I’m determined not to let worrying about what might happen stop us enjoying it.
Don’t let them win the mind game. This is the second round of terrorism for me, when I grew up it was the IRA, bombscares were a part of our life. But we got on with it.
I live in a very rural area so the thought of visiting London is always scary to me. My niece is visiting London with her school soon and we are worried, but she will gain so much from it and she is not worried in the slightest!
Carrying on as normal is defiance to the evil that is terrorism. Together we are stronger than the malice that is directed at us by a few misguided and easily influence people who are groomed or brainwashed by others. I’m scared, I admit that, but for my children not myself.
I used to live in London. I still find it a comfortable place to be.
Great attitude to have and one that I hold myself. I’m in Glasgow and we faced an incident at Glasgow Airport a few years ago and although it is scary, the truth is it could happen anywhere. I live my life as I normally do but the only thing that has changed is that I am more vigilant and I would report any suspicious behaviour immediately. You can never be too safe.
Personally I don’t think we have any other choice than to have this attitude! My office is in central London, although I am not there everyday I am required to go into London frequently. Like you say be aware, don’t walk around with your head buried in your phone. But live life xx
I won’t stop either. When I was walking home with my daughter from school I heard a Grandad say to a child he didn’t want him going to London for a while because of the bad people. It made me so sad. Don’t let them win