it’s The Morning After, and we all seem to be feeling, predictably, a lot better. yesterday pretty much hit me like a truck – i felt like i was walking around in sort of a venn-diagram-style intersection of the present and 4 years back, and was accordingly all confused and emotional and generally glad to not be in the office where i would have had to at least pretend to cope.
but i seem to have slept that off, and am fully back to the present (my fingers started typing ‘back to the future’ there all on their own – do you think that’s cause for concern?), and have decided to leave the tv off and the tunes on this morning as i work from home. those who are watching tell me the news keeps talking about the resilience of the london people. about which another friend of mine said, yesterday:
“who would you *not* say that about?
“the icelanders are a rigid, not very resilient people. this terror attack will destroy their society. put a fork in them.
“there’s much talk in the news today about what will happen to all the icelanders, now that their society has been destroyed. many plan to join a more resilient nation, like the british. or, really, anyone but iceland.”
[it should be noted that neither of us have anything against iceland or the icelandic people, and that both of us are really rather fond of reykjavik and think icelandic is a lovely, if fiendishly difficult, language.]
this morning, though, the resilience of the british people was once again brought home to me, through the following IM conversation:
me: mmmmm……caffelicious.
si: it may have a bomb in it. be caffareful
me: don’t worry, i’m following the instructions of my friend phin in chicago who says that no amount of me being blown up will be tolerated.
si: not even a limb or two?
me: he says no. demanding.
si: goodness
me: i know.
si: what about if your reflection got blown up?
me: he still might be pissed. pissed off as in angry
si: I know. am able to translate your quaint colonial tongue
me: see, i’m such a walkover i just do whatever they say.
can’t even get blown up if i want to
[sigh]si: I think we should organise a pan BBC ‘no blowing up’ day
‘No blowing up at the BBC’
and picket the tubeme: lol
si: “hell no, we won’t blow’
up
I refuse to be blown up.me: a good attitude.
si: let them just try and make me blown up
I’ll sit down on the street and refuse to be blown up.me: oh yeah? i’ll LIE DOWN in the street and refuse to be blown up.
i was saying to a friend yesterday that you know, i go through liverpool street every morning, and sometimes i take the hammersmith + city line, and the bus that was blown up was a #30 from hackneysi: I’m going to start a leaflet campaign
me: i was thinking it could just as easily have been one of my more psychotic exes.
si: hmm Where was [name of most recent insane ex] yesterday morning?
Was he blowing anyone up?
I refuse to blown up by [name] also.[…]
si: I refuse to [be] blown up.
blown out – can’t really do much about. blown down – well that’s just bad weather. Blown around – I should be decisive.
This is all ok. Blown up – no.me: i see your point
very solid.si: well you’ve gotta stand up for what you stand for I think.
me: or lie down for it, whichever.
si: you can’t take it sitting down when it comes to what you stand for.
me: i have a perverse desire to post large portions of this conversation on my blog
si: I think you should. It’s an important message for the world.
so there you have it. hell no, we won’t blow. up.