I try to keep Random a politics free zone. I write about books, Strictly Come Dancing, the English cricket team (but not too often as I wish to retain my sanity) and my grandchildren. I tell you about my cooking, my skidding across a newly washed kitchen floor and crashing into the sink, I write about subjects that I hope will bring a smile to the faces of my readers. But after watching the television into the early hours of the morning last night and seeing events unfold in Paris I feel I have to write something. Not sure what yet, I am just sitting here and seeing what comes out.
I lived in London in the seventies and remember so well the mainland bombing campaign of the IRA. Every time there was an atrocity I wanted to go out and do damage to somebody as this searing anger I felt seemed to demand I do something. Of course there was nothing I could do. I lived 100 yards away from a bomb detonated underneath a car in Colchester Barracks belonging to an army sergeant who lived there with his wife and family and going about his business. He was not killed but lost both legs. I was outside in the garden when I heard it go off and I knew immediately what it was. The moment of silence after the explosion was profound, there was nothing, even the birds were silent and then the screaming began.I have never forgotten it.
I remember the police stopping us in the street in the aftermath and asking where we lived and our names. When I responded McCarthy (my then married name) I felt a stillness come over the interviewing officer - an Irish name - and they came round to our house in force in the evening to interview us. After several cups of tea and slices of cake they realised that we were not bombers but it was not a comfortable experience.
Ten years ago I worked in an office round the corner from Aldgate scene of one of the bomb attacks in the City. A colleague of mine had a relative who was hurt in these attacks which brought it home even more. But what I remember well is two days later when outside Aldgate Tube there was a service. There were speakers and a priest urged us to forgive and to pray and we did. Then we sang hymns and as I looked around me all I could see were crowds everywhere, packing the streets, the traffic had stopped, and when we held a minute of silence there was not a movement or a sound. It was profoundly moving.
I have just read and reviewed The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson and he pays tribute to this bloody mindedness that the British possess.
"When things go wrong and they have a legitimate reason to bitch deeply, bitterly and at length, that is when they are happiest of all. A Briton standing in a minefield with a leg blown off who can say 'I told you this would happen' is actually a happy man. I like that in a people'
This may not sound as funny this morning as it was meant to be but the meaning is clear. We all know that the Parisians can be rude and as bloody minded as anybody (and those of us who have suffered at the hands of a Parisian waiter or taxi driver can attest to this), but this is what will keep them strong. There will be rallies all over Paris and France and people will come out in their hundreds of thousands to say the French equivalent of Fuck off (though I suppose that expression is pretty universal) and will carry on with their lives though those who have suffered a loss will not.
I feel quite heartsick this morning and the grey and dreary day seems to make it worse but one little anecdote I want to share with you which encapsulates what I have said above about the British spirit. I was on the Tube in the midst of the IRA campaign and a bloke was standing next to me smoking, you could in those days, and he went to get rid of his cigarette butt only to discover that the bottom of the litter bin on the wall had been taken out, as had all those on the London Underground, so that nobody could hide a bomb in the rubbish. He was furious 'Bloody IRA' he said 'because of those bastards I can't even get rid of my fag'.
That is a true story. Promise. IRA, ISIS, Al Qaeda whoever they are - they will never prevail just because of this attitude.
I am sorry to be so serious and normal mindless service will be back tomorrow when I review Strictly.
