7/7 - where were you?

[CuppaTeaAndAJammieDodger]

Just realised it's the 7th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings tomorrow.

I haven't thought about that day for some time now, but for a long time after there wasn't much else I could think about. Here's my recollection of the day.

I was on my way to a primary school outside of London to do some user testing for a course my company had developed and was en route between Bethnal Green, where I lived, and Waterloo.

I walked in to Liverpool Street Station and down in to the ticket area of the tube and made my way on to the eastbound platform just as a circle line train was pulling in. I was running pretty early so decided to grab a can of coke to wake me up from the kiosk on the platform, and let that train go by without me. Not long after the train had fully left the station there was a whooshing sound, soon followed by (which really stayed with me) a smell of burning (plastic or something).

A kind of controlled panic ensued, nobody knew what had happened, we all started getting off the platform as quickly as possible and the staff were ushering everyone out of the station. by the time I managed to get outside the emergency services were arriving. I had no idea what to do so just started walking to Waterloo, desperately trying to get a news feed up on my phone to see what was going on (this was 2005 - no smart phones back then!) but couldn't. It wasn't until I arrived at Waterloo that I found out what had happened and was told that I could leave London, but I wouldn't be getting back in today, so I decided to cancel the testing, make my way home and work from there.

I started to make my way, again on foot (public transport had obviously completely shut down), but every street I walked down seem to be being cordoned off by the police and I found myself walking further and further trying to find a route, then it started raining. Finally I managed to get to Bethnal Green Road after walking for what felt like hours, my mum managed to get through to me on my mobile after hours of trying, as soon as I heard her voice I just sat down on the curb and started crying - the gravity of the situation just hit me.

Took me a while to realise that that decision to have a can of coke could have potentially saved my life (dependent on what carriage I'd got on of course) - the ironic thing is I don't drink the stuff any more as I can't have caffeine due to panic attacks/anxiety issues.

Wow - that was long, sorry if I've bored you to death! That was the first time I've written down in detail what happened that day, rather cathartic really.

Interested to hear your memories of the day.

By my husband's bedside as he recovered from an angiogram.

CuppaTeaAndAJammieDodger
I also was at Liverpool St and would have been on the Circle line train with the bomb, had I not popped into M&S to get a sandwich. By the time I got out of M&S the entrance to the tube was being closed, various alarms were going off and I then walked through a very confused City of London to work.

I still believe my fate was altered by a cup of coffee. I was living in Camden. Normally, I'd get up first and make my ex-DP a cup of coffee but that morning he didn't want one so I left around 5 mins earlier than usual and got on the northern line at Camden Station. By the time I'd got off at Tottenham Court and got to my office in Soho the bomb had gone off. If I'd made that coffee and been five minutes later I dread to think where I'd have been underground.

I remember walking home with a load of strangers about 3pm as we weren't allowed out of our building until the afternoon.

My neighbours DP worked at in the building next to the Aldgate station and she was trapped in there with no communication all day. Neighbour was sick with worry not knowing where she was. She eventually made it home though, thank God.

i live up north now but last time I was in London and on a tube train I had a panic attack.

looks like quite a few of us have food/drink to thank!

I was on holiday from uni staying at my ma's in suburban London. I woke when I heard her get up, and switched on my mobile to find a message from a friend on a Scottish island asking if I was ok, as "London's a big place, but sod's law...".

I didn't think anything of it but got up and went to say hi to my ma, and told her about the message. She got v upset that I'd got a text from this friend (male, 20 years older than me) and "does he always text first thing in the morning?".

By this point I'd woken up and decided to ignore her paranoia and see if there was more to the message than I'd first thought, so went downstairs and put the tv on.

Eventual answer to her: "No, only when London's been bombed".

Spent the rest of the day sat with an A - Z, directing friends by text who'd been working up town through the streets to the riverbus stops and places where I knew other people who'd put them out. It felt good to be doing something, however small.

For once I was glad my hair looked a mess that morning as I decided to wash it thereby making me late for work.

I can remember it was a drizzly day and as the train pulled outside Liverpool St station my mate texted me to ask if I was ok (I usually take the Metropolitan line after getting to LS).

It was then that a ripple of panic started to spread through the train. Passengers were getting texts right left and centre and then the driver announced we were going back to Ilford.

I spent the rest of the day in front of the TV chainsmoking! I'm sure I wouldn't have got caught up in the bomb but if I'd got the earlier train I would probably have been stranded in London unable to get home.

I was in hospital at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queens Square. I was in my bed and the doctors were in our ward doing rounds when I heard an almighty rumble which sounded like the loudest thunder I had ever heard. I looked up an caught the eye of one of the doctors on the other side of the room and we both gave each other the same WTF look. I remember looking out of the window and seeing a clear sunny day and thought it was weird to hear thunder and it wasn't stormy.

After rounds I went to the day/tv room to watch tv in my wheelchair and about 20 minutes later the son of one of the other patients in our ward came rushing in all panicked and sweaty to check on his Mum. He told us there had been bombs going off in London on the tube and a bus too. We then watched the rest on tv.

I remember feeling a bit scared at the time as we were on the second floor and the lift to our ward kept breaking down. I was just hoping we wouldn't need to be evacuated as I had no idea how it would be done as we were all wheelchair bound.

There was also a lot of activity in the ward with nurses rushing in and out taking blankets, pillows and medical supplies out to the street where the bus was.

I managed to call my Mum at our flat in East London and let her know everything was okay with me and was very relieved that she and DD 10 mo hadn't set out to visit me yet as DD had slept in that morning. My Mum had flown out from Australia to look after DD when I got sick and couldn't believe what she had just narrowly avoided on the tube. I then didn't have any visitors for a few days until things calmed down.

After the bombings Mum my started bringing DD to visit me on the bus until 2 weeks later when the bus she used to catch was involved in the second attempted bombings. Thankfully not long afterwards I was finally allowed to go home having made a full recovery.

I couldn't have a more different life these days. I now live in Australia and have had 3 more DC. I will never forget that sound though...

I heard the news from my parents who were on holiday in Devon and watching it all unfold on TV.

I had been on my usual DLR train into Bank. There was an announcement that it was diverting to Tower Gateway so I got off at Canary Wharf to pick up the Jubilee Line instead. When I got there it was closed due to a "power surge". So I went back and got the DLR to Tower anyway. I had just got off and was making my way across the City when my parents called to check I was ok and told me what was happening..

When I got to the office, work was cancelled and everyone was in one of the conference rooms watching the news. I had a work experience kid sitting with me so had to stick around until I could find a way to get him home.

The guy who sat in the next room to me was anxious because the parents of his closest childhood friend had contacted him to see if he had heard from their son. He hadn't. His route to work was on one of the bombed trains. He died. They never found his body. It was all such an incredible waste of life.

I live in London and was at home with ds aged 2. My phone rang at about 10.00 am and it was my Dad in a complete panic from the Midlands to see if we were ok. I was totally confused, he told me bombs had gone off in London and to put the tv on. My Mum, Ex H, my dsis and he had been trying to get hold of me to tell me and find out if we were ok but couldn't get through at all. I put the tv and then spent the rest of the day crying watching it.

Very weird thing though, the day before at around 9.00 am I went to the Baker Street TFL Lost Property Office with ds in his buggy, on the Hammersmith and City Line through Edgware Road, was there as it opened. We had never been on the tube that early before and have never been since, always avoid rush hour with buggies and babies, they don't mix. I went because ex H had left his bag with his passport in it on the tube and we were going away on holiday the following week so it seemed a matter of urgency to get it back asap so went out first thing in the morning to get it. If I had left it till the next day there is every chance ds and I would have been involved.

Ex mentioned it this morning actually and said he had been thinking about it and how it would have been his responsibility if anything had happened to us because he left his bag on the tube when pissed up.

Watched the BBC programme of 7/7 personal accounts last night and just cried and cried. Those poor, poor people.

At the gym.

I was at work in a govt department, and was 7 weeks pregnant. I'd gone through Kings Cross on the Victoria line about 15 mins before it happened. Our building went into lockdown and i spent most of the day trying to get information on what had happened and on the travel situation. Ended up staying on the floor of a 'friend' I knew from an internet forum. It was amazing - people would post saying "I live in X place and can put Y people up" and you'd reply and try and get a bed. The camaraderie and generosity was heartwarming. I was also in the Manchester bombing in the 90's. I was shopping in the Arndale centre beforehand and was in the Whittards on Deansgate when it blew. Spent two hours trying to walk the bus route home because I was so scared and didn't know what else to do.

I was doing a uni placement at a school near forestgate,got off ad liverpool street and saw the train arrive for algate ( the one that blew up) and decided to grab something to eat, a few mins alter flashing ligts and sutters closing in the station i got the overground to forestgate and never knew what happend.
Me wanting to eat probably saved me.
My brothers friend was on one train and saw the blast and ended up helping victims he still looks shocked when he talks about it

at work jsut round the corner from liverpool street station

we were locked in and told to move away from the windows desperately trying to contact people no mobile lines were working

I was evacuated off a northern line train at Goodge St when they shut the network down. I jumped on to a bus up to office at Euston, like most people did. Everyone just wanted to get to work. Devastatingly, my dear friend did the same at Kings X, but ended up on the bus destined for disaster.
Seven years on and many wonderful things are being done in her name. I would urge everyone to support all the charities set up in memory of those lives lost seven years ago if you can.

your stories are very moving

I was post exams so at home with my mum. I remember waking up to her tearfully watching the news, and saying how lucky we were that my dad no longer worked in London.

My uncle works for the London ambulance service and was required to go into the tunnels and help the injured.

Horrible horrible times.

I was living in Battersea at the time and I was on a day off because my MiL was over (she lives abroad). The day before we'd been up to Trafalgar square to see the Olympic announcement. My sister rang in me in hysterics. She works in news but was on sick leave after a mc, and really didn't want to go in but felt she had to. She was freaking out about the chance of it being CBN.. I told her they were all suiting up as a precaution but she was freaked out by it.

I arrived at London Liverpool street just after it happened and the were holding stopping everyone from heading down to the tubes because of an 'electrical fault' a large crowd waited about 15 minutes but I called my rather impatient boss who said just get a bus in (to chancery lane) it took a while to squeeze into a bus only for my step father to call me and scream and cry at me to get off the buses as one had been blown up (this was the first I knew if anything relating to terrorism) I jumped off the bus and sobbed as I continued the rest of the journey by foot.

We didn't work that day we didn't even bother to answer the phones. We were all shaken and glued to the news on the tv.

I tried all day to get through to my mum and let her know I was safe and sound and I managed to txt her late afternoon as I walked from chancery lane home to Edmonton north London.

I remember the walk home most and how sad everyone was just slowly walking thinking about earlier, people were sitting outside their homes watching us walk and I remember a girl who was complaining about her heels and thinking do you realise what happened to all those poor people and your worrying about your feet??!!

This year my friends are getting married on the anniversary and hoping this date will have a new meaning for me xx

Profanity I'm so sorry x

I was at work as I'd passed through Aldgate half an hour before, but someone in the office had sent a group email to the whole building saying it was a terrorist attack, and naming far more locations than were actually affected - everyone was panicking. I still believed the 'power surge' line at that point, so I was trying to calm everyone down. :(
Spent the whole morning tracking missing staff down, we luckily had a full head count by the end of the day, but a few staff had injured friends/family.
A small group of us walked home to the East End together, it took us two hours.

I was in New York (I'd been in London on 9/11). Woke up to the news of what had happened - I was devastated. I remember seeing that bus all blown apart on the TV and crying.

Overslept and decided not to get the edgeware road train. Scared my DH stupid by not answering my phone. He knew that was my train and when he couldn't get hold of me was scared. I now answer my phone always - I hated putting him in that position.

I remember it well because it was my first baby's due date. I was just finishing an ante-natal yoga class when one of the other mums-to-be got a text about it. My then DP was in London at the time, but I knew he wouldn't be near those stations. It was a horrible shocking time, though, and I thought it wasn't surprising that my unborn DS was reluctant to enter the world that day.

I was at work in London. Not a lot of ordinary work happened that day, as we all tried to make sense of what was happening. I found myself in charge of trying to account for staff whereabouts - not easy as the mobile network was down. But people either turned up late on foot or rang a colleague from landlines. Making a master list of whereabouts took a couple of hours, and there was one lady, who I knew travelled in on one of the affected routes who nobody had heard from. Fortunately, she rang in at about 1430 - still trying to walk in. I was so relieved, and surprisingly chuffed to be able to tell her to just go home.

I left early, allowing time to walk all the way to school pick ups. The elder two children had found out about the event during the day (and even let me hug them in public). DD at nursery wasn't aware at all.

I discovered in the next few days there were two people I knew on affected trains. Mercifully one was physically unharmed, and the other was minor injuries only. Both went through some very dark times in the following months, though.

My penultimate week at work before finishing for maternity leave, I was 8 months pregnant. Should have been on the tube going through Aldgate at the time of the bomb. BUT we had a breakfast meeting at work so I had to get in early - and moaned to DH about having to get up early as I was sleeping very badly. Got out to message from DH that he had been evacuated and then no phone signal from him for about 4 hours. When I did get through he told me to get home anyway I could. Tried to get to Fenchurch street and had to dodge the police stopping people going there so I could get on a train and out to Essex where DH collected me from a friends. First thing I did on getting home was call my mum cried when I called her. She thought that me and bump had been caught in the bomb esp as there was no phone coverage. Makes me emotional just thinking about it.