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Went into work for the first time today since lockdown ... Kings Cross area was pretty heaving at around 6pm, loads of people having after work drinks at The German Gymnasium (which is a gastro pub with lots of outside seating) ... very few masks being worn ...
It's changed a lot since you were 'shining shoes' there back in the 70s mate ... all chic and cafe culture now ...
It's changed a lot since you were 'shining shoes' there back in the 70s mate ... all chic and cafe culture now ...
Yeah same all over London now. Gentrification. Even ****holes like Deptford are full of hipster cafes.
Have to admit, they've done a smashing job all along the canal and the Coal Drops Yard area ... really nice now
I know Gentrification is a bit of dirty word. But loads of areas have been improved over the years. Kings Cross used to be a mix of prostitution and heroin dens. Deptford was sketchy as **** gangland area and full of guns. I guess it depends on the development and where it is. Developers want to tear down Brixton market and put posh upmarket retail units in there, that will kill the culture there.
joining the party late but it wouldn't surprise me.
I can imagine myself having gone to the theatre or watched an O2 concert with a big backpack. Might have been shopping earlier in the day before a show or concert, put in a raincoat for me and my wife and/or water and the back pack balloons out straight away. Or maybe it's got my gym kit and i meet her after work to watch a show so for me its nothing out of the ordinary. Also you must know how expensive it is to buy food in an arena, i know plenty of people who take a picnic or what not which i don't blame them.
I hear what you are saying Bobby, and yes you are right. I suppose the lesson that will have been learned from this is that ALL, backpacks need to be checked.
Maybe even have a checking label attached, which has to remain visible, that security can see at a glance or even via any cctv operations. Those without back packs can bypass the process. The same process that happens at airports everyday.
Even thinking back on what I've wrote there, when I go to a football, bearing in mind it's a lower league ground, I'm patted down and any and all bags are physical checked.
Not sure if anyone knows but am I right in thinking that places such has Old Trafford, don't allow back packs?
They tried to do a thing at Spurs where you weren’t allowed a bag bigger than A4 or something in the Wembley days which was fine until someone realised 96% of the fan base work as accountants for KPMG and therefore schlep laptops and gym bags with them for midweek games.
It seems so terrible seeing the cctv footage on the telly of that guy just calmly walking about, with a bomb on his back. It's my old brain understandably saying...if only!
My Mrs has her bag checked every time we go to the match - by the same steward. It’s a standing joke now.
I’m confident that bags will have been checked at this event for those attending. Only security seems to been forgotten as they’ve opened the doors ready for the exit of the crowd. Something the bombers obvs realised was a thing, hence their tactics.
I never thought of that, any potential bomber taking advantage as the event draws to an end. Probably a big lesson there then for security everywhere.
Yeah, probably like Tobes said, the bomber took advantage at the close of the concert, when exits are opened. Hadn't even crossed my mind that.
Bobby, I worked in Man Vic station several times. What isn't being emphasised is that the station concourse adjoins the concert foyer without any barrier. It seemed like a good idea when the MEN was opened, and really it is. Rather than people spilling out onto the street, they just step out onto the station, get trains and trams home, or walk across the concourse to get taxis.
Seeing people walking around stations with heavy rucksacks, even Asian people, is not unusual. That said, he was reported. But I remember the day after the bombing having this very conversation with family members (and some on here). My sister said 'Why would they allow him into the concert hall with a backpack like that?'. Well there's no evidence he ever went into the concert hall at all, or ever crossed any barrier whatsoever.
So let me tell you, as a transport worker, what the simple truth is: in 'normal times', say on a Friday afternoon when the concourse of most major stations are heaving, someone lugging around a bloody great rucksack is far from unusual. I used to do it myself when I was required in my old job to stay in Bolton for a week, doing training there. Had a 70ltr rucksack crammed with a weeks clothing, work and leisure, and my laptop and several books and files. I looked like Buzz Aldrin. And as I changed trains at a crowded Oxford Rd on Friday afternoons, more than once it crossed my mind 'If this was a bomb and I was a terrorist, there would hundreds dead here, maybe thousands'.
There is utterly nothing you can do except hope the authorities are carrying out intelligence, and hoping everyone is vigilant. And considering how few bombs have gone off in these circumstances, and that terrorists are seemingly 'reduced' to random knife and machete attacks, I don't think it's defeatist to say this is as good as it gets.
I went to go and pick my daughter and my sisters up from the pantomime at The Empire back in December. Do it every year. And last Christmas, for the first time I can remember, there is now a barrier check going out, stopping people getting in. Up till then, every year before they had simply opened all the doors at the end, leading to a heaving foyer. Think I mentioned this after the Manchester bombing - there is absolutely nothing to stop a bomber walking into that, or even dropping a bag off and walking out again and detonating it. The same applies at the end of football games, imo.
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