Sirens

Sirens have taken on a whole new meaning here. You hear or see a bunch of police cars and ambulances speeding in a particular direction. Everybody notices. Everybody notices each other noticing. We know we're all thinking the same thing: what now? Yesterday I visited the Russell Square tube station (still shrouded in white plastic sheeting) and Tavistock Square (you'd never know except for the pile of flowers and book of condolences). Maybe I wasn't paying attention when the bombs went off, but the Tavistock Square gardens are dedicated to peace: the victims of Hiroshima; Gandhi; conscientious objectors; the "International Year of Peace" (1986). Every tree, rock, and statue is a monument to peace.