Nomad Online

I heard the awful news yesterday afternoon.

A simple text message came from my husband to let me know to stay away from London Bridge. Another one let me know he was safe.

“Be good to keep away from London Bridge on your way back. Shooting apparently” was all it said.

We were heading home from Stratford at the time.

My husband works near London Bridge and had just stepped out for lunch. Had he been ten minutes later returning, he would not have been able to get back in as the building where he worked shut down.

Now we know two people died and another three people were injured in a terror attack at London Bridge yesterday.

A man, armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest, started attacking people at Fishmongers’ Hall, on the north side of the bridge.

He was a 28 year old convicted terrorist half way through his 16 year prison sentence for plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

He was shot dead by police after a bunch of people jumped on him and restrained him.

And it is their extraordinary courage I will choose to remember.

Going against official police advice to “run, hide and tell”, these people went straight for him.

Amateur videos show almost a dozen members of the public putting themselves in harms way, defending others and their city.

One man had to be dragged off the assailant by police before the fatal shots were fired.

The day after the incident, we saw many Londoners carrying on with their lives. Unsettling and tragic it may be, they were not going to let a terrorist incident stop them from what they needed to do.

My son and I visited New Malden to see the Korean community that has settled there. We stopped by Wimbledon to have something to drink and rest. We saw people reading their books, playing with their children, going about their business.

They weren’t going to go to pieces.

It was impressive.

Featured image by Ed Robertson on Unsplash