I had to think hard what to write as a title for this diary, mainly due to the rules against swearwords. And if l say "be nasty" l actually mean "spit in the fat fucker's face". Many will be critical, but really? I don't care. Yes, what l said l would do is disgusting BUT as a Londoner, expecially as a South Londoner l lose my capacity for civility as l look back on the day in 2005 when terrorists attacked London, and l get really mad when l remember the reaction of right wing Americans, expecially those at Fox News, and Brian Kilmeade in particular. Please bear with me as l explain.
More under the squiggle.
The 7th of July 2005 started off as a really good day. The reason was that the day before the decision as to which city would host the 2012 Olympics had been announced. London had won it ahead of other cities and to say that there was a major celebration in the capital was an understatement. At that time l used public transport to get to work. London has a free newspaper and we were lording it over Paris who had been seen as our main rivals. Ironically where l worked in Central Croydon there was a temporary French Market which had been set up to run til the weekend so people were going past the stall and more than slight ribbing was going on. To be honest, lots of people were engaging in the great British tradition of "Taking The Piss Out Of The French" which frankly was the national sport until the arrival of football.
By about 9.30am though things had changed. I may be a bit blurry about the exact time but l do remember one of my bosses coming up to me and saying "There's been a gas explosion in Central London". Working in an electrical retail establishment with News access l switched over from MTV to BBC News 24 to see the remains of a red London Double Decker Bus, which led me to say to him "what the fuck kind of gas explosion does THAT"?!?!? Normally this have me sent down to the office for yet another conversation about my use of language on the shopfloor but as we watched in horror more reports came in and we realised that this wasn't an accident, this was a co-ordinated terrorist attack.
The rest of the day was pretty blurry til about 6pm. The mobile networks were only for emergency service use so l couldn't get in contact with friends or family. The day went past but the usual smile l had was replaced by just a look of concern. I had to get home but was reluctant to get on a train or bus. In fact, what l really wanted was to see my mother. Someone (probably former London Mayor Ken Livingstone) had decided that all public transport for that evening would be free. I got to my mother's and found her at home. I think l spent a good half hour with my arms wrapped around her. I left her there and walked home listening to the radio. There was a phone in show with a right wing talking head and the comments coming through disturbed me, but l didn't lose it until l reached home and logged onto the internet.
In 2005 there were three main websites l logged onto for US political news: Daily Kos, Crooks And Liars and Media Matters For America all three l had discovered during the run up to the invasion of Iraq. I wanted to see what people were saying on your side of the pond. It was this diary along with another that l saw that day which left me openmouthed and disbelieving and to this day makes me think very dark thoughts about the person named in the headline.
You see, not only was this prick saying that we Londoners, a city that had survived not only the most famous historical fire in the world but also the 71 bombing raids over 267 days of The Blitz and terror attacks from the I.R.A since 1939 "that was the first time since 9-11 when they should know, and they do know now, that terrorism should be Number 1" .
I was shaking with fury. You see, there's a video of Kilmeade's remarks which l cannot find. In it you see Kilmeade smiling. Think about that. There has just been a terrorist attack on the capital city of the country you keep calling your greatest ally, people are dead and dying and there, right there on TV a fucking peabrained, mouthbreathing, ignorant, squareheaded, cuntfaced cockwallet of a chickenhawk IS FUCKING SITTING THERE SMILING ABOUT IT!!!!!
I thought about not only my (at the time) three decades living in London in fear of terrorist attacks but also the people of Spain who had to deal with the dangers of the Basque Seperatist group ETA and other terror organisations that we in Europe have had to deal with and here was some fucking coward, too chickenshit to sign up for a war he advocated while sitting on his increasingly fattening arse, here he was trying to lecture people living in coutries that had working public baths older than the US about what they should be focusing on when it came to terror and all the while doing it with a great big fucking smile on his face.
2005 was long before my anger management sessions which l was ordered to go on after yet another work incident. Nowadays l can keep things pretty calm (apart from sport and the rivalry between my beloved Manchester United and the former slaveport at the cesspit end of the East Lancs Road and their soon to be exiting racist, cannibalistic Uruguayan sociopath) but whenever l see Kilmeade a sort of Pavlovian reaction happens. I may never get to New York, and a prat like him would never come to London so there's not too much of a chance our paths will cross. We all like to think of ourselves as better than we sometimes are, but there are some times when you have to ignore that annoying little insect in the top hat sitting on your shoulder whistling and doing a crappy song about being your guide and do the nasty thing.
Sometimes, just sometimes, it would be worth it.