Yesterday. Today.

An eerie quiet and calm on the Northern Line this morning. At Camden Town I joined an almost empty Bank branch train that was sitting at the platform when I arrived at the station. There were, perhaps, three or four other people in my carriage, where normally there would be people standing in between the seats and I would be optimistically hoping to bag a seat at Euston. A few more people–predominantly men, for some reason–got on along the way, each brandishing his copy of Metro bearing the same grim scenes of destruction, but there were spare seats all the way. I don’t think I have ever caught a Northern Line train with so few people on it before.

Last night I walked home from the office. Google tells me this is 5.7 miles, but I made what I thought was surprisingly good time (1 hour and 20 minutes, if you’re interested). It was a strangely surreal experience, as I crossed the Thames and headed up through the city there were very few cars about but instead people walking everywhere around me. A few lucky souls carried A-Zs, but most were making do with their streetmap printouts held out before themselves as they negotiated unfamiliar streets.

The statement yesterday from those claiming responsibility for the attacks talked of the country being plunged into fear and chaos, but from what I saw this couldn’t be further from the truth. All the people I saw were remarkably calm. Some had obviously given up on (or decided to delay) the journey home and were ensconced in the city pubs. Others were just doing their best to get home however they could. The occasional siren could be heard in the distance, but mostly the city was strangely quiet.

A very sad day, but in many ways this changes nothing, and nor should it. I will still be catching the tube to work everyday, and so will the rest of London’s commuters, once the initial shock wears off. Anything else would be to give in. To let the terrorists win (to use a well-worn cliche). In fact, far from striking fear into the hearts of the city’s people, for the lucky majority not personally affected by the attacks, they almost have the opposite effect, as the stream of emails, phone calls and text messages from friends and family around the country and the world brings people closer together with the people they care about.

Walking over the river, across the city, around St Paul’s, and up towards Angel last night I was reminded why (whatever I might tell you if you asked me while squashed onto the Northern Line at 9am on a Monday morning) I love this city, love living in it, and intend to continue to do so for as long as Sal will let me.