‘The Starbucks is packed’

July 7, 2005

Slate’s David Plotz happened to be in London this morning, promoting a book and preparing for an interview on BBC Radio. He had an interesting report about what he saw and the reactions from Londoners.

The natural state of the English is a kind of gloomy diligence, which is why they do so well in hard times. In 1940, Londoners went dutifully on with their business while the Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of them. Today, most of them are doing the same. I was in Washington for 9/11, and the whole city went into a panic. Offices emptied, stores shut, downtown D.C. became a ghost town. But in London today, everyone still has a cell phone clutched to their ear. The delivery vans are still racing about, seeking shortcuts around all the street closures. The Starbucks is packed.

And when I walked by the Queen’s Larder Pub, not half a mile from the Tavistock Square wreckage, at 11 a.m., a half-dozen men were sitting together at a sidewalk table, hoisting their morning pints of ale. Civilization must go on, after all.

Gotta love the Brits.

Just like the Spanish, the British have much more experience with terrorism, albeit domestic (IRA, ETA), than we do. I was nowhere near NY, DC or PA on 9/11 but I was disappointed with how America reacted. Even here in central IL, business and schools closed early and people lined up for gas at gouged prices ($6.00+/gallon). I’ve always felt that we could use a little more of that British stiff-upper-lip attitude since that day.

  • I was 2 blocks from the WH on 9-11 and stuck around until lunchtime. There were some people around, but alot of got out of town right away. Anyone else notice how Blair went right back to London, and didn’t fly to different locations in the country?

  • That’s what anyone should do who is not directly affected by this abomination, go on about their business. I’ve never understood the panic mode we tend to fall into in this country. Apparently the Seattle Police Department spent the morning in major meetings to do … something. What can they do that they haven’t thought of since 9/11? And if there is something they haven’t already done, why not? I’m particularly offended by the 24/7 shriek which takes over all our media when something like this happens. Shutting down one’s own part of the world, half a world away from the tragedy, staying glued to CNN to catch every conceivable soundbite from the most irrelevant sources — to accomplish … what? I’m grateful CBC-FM continues to play classical music. Surprise! I just checked, and so do those un-American (i.e, not panicked) lefties at NPR.

  • at 11 a.m., a half-dozen men were sitting together at a sidewalk table, hoisting their morning pints of ale. Civilization must go on, after all.

    That is a beautiful image. Morning pints of ale–civilization indeed.

  • Bubba I am with you on that. I spent semester studying there my junior year of college and it was the best 4 months of my life. When I was younger I would have taken a job there in a heartbeat.

  • Amen. I lived in Earl’s Court and then in Romford, Essex for a year or so back in the day. Most civilized place on earth. But should could come as no surprise, it’s England!

  • I was in my Virginia office during 9/11 and could see the smoke from the Pentagon after the plane crashed into it. I don’t blame anyone for being panicked and ready to get out of DC (although I was ready to get back in since that’s where I live). I mean most everybody saw the Twin Towers fall, the Pentagon burning and another plane downed in Pennsylvania. Granted most people live outside DC anyway so they were going home. And no doubt Londoners have more experience with terrorism, but that’s no reason to criticize Americans on 9/11 for fearing what would happen next following the catastrophe. If anything I think the normal reaction is to flee and protect oneself. And honestly this is new to law enforcement officials too. They’re learning along with the rest of us what to do in this new environment. However the best thing I did on 9/11 was go back into DC meet up with a couple of friends and have some beers and talk about the attacks along with a bunch of other patrons at the bar.

  • It will be interesting to see whether Bush tries
    to exploit this tragic event into doing what his
    speech of last week failed to do – bolster support
    for the continued killing and wreckage in Iraq.

    Equally interesting will be the overall reaction
    of Americans. Will they thirst for blood again,
    anyone’s blood? Or will they put it in perspective,
    and understand that Bush’s retaliatory policies against false enemies have killed, maimed and destroyed the lives of far more innocent people than
    a dozen 9/11s could do?

  • Bless the English!

    I’m with several others here and miss London terribly. My ex-wife and I have friends in Surrey (husband works in The City bit was safe in his ofice when the bombs went off). We spent 4 Christmas/New Years and a couple of summers with them (my ex is godmother to their daughter)…spent a lot of time in London (one trip rented a flat accross from the V&A).

    The way Londoners reacvted to this tragedy should be a model for all of us.

  • I’m confused. You praise the British for getting on with their lives in this post but immediately before this you state it’s a day for contemplation (don’t have the direct quote and too lazy to open another window). I agree with you here but in the other post you seem to be repeating Dem mistakes over the past 10+ years. These idiots currently running the GOP will never give up, never relent in their nastiness and will never hesitate to do what they can to turn this attack to their advantage. It is a day just like any other; regret nothing in the action of going after these lowlife conservatives while documenting their atrocities. How many times have they used 9/11 for political purposes and how many times have we found ourselves playing catch up in the current environment of Yahooism? No, don’t stop to reflect, contemplate, reminisce, or engage in any other navel gazing until the other side, politically, has been reduced to the lint you want to stare at in your spare time.

  • My sincere condolences to all those who lost friends and relatives in this attack. The reaction of the American press is almost more than I can stomach. Great Britain, like most of the countries in Europe and the rest of the world has been dealing with terrorism for centuries. IRA bombings have been happening for years there and, of course, in countries like Israel and Palestine, terrorist attacks are almost a daily occurrence. So why don’t we see the press squawking about their “own ground zeros” like I read on MSN news today? Are their lives worth less?
    The “deadly 7/7 bombings” is a headline that makes me feel like I’ve just aged about 20 years when I think about the parallels to 9/11 and all the parallels to come as the B/B Goon squad, with their only anti-terrorist policy which is to bomb it like it’s some kind of stationary target, continues on their perilous mission.
    As more and more terrorists pop up like monsoon frogs, due to this vacuous strategy of the “coalition of the willing”, we will all feel the effects exponentially more and more.
    If people spent more time studying G# summits, the IMF, the WHO, and economic globalization instead of conditioning themselves in front of various brain-numbing electromagnetic devices, (feeling good about giving to a “poverty campaign” which in reality increases poverty and lines the pockets of those responsible), perhaps they would begin to scratch the surface of what terrorists are screaming about.
    Like bad children who scream louder when they are not listened to, terrorists became terrorists because their screams of oppression, slavery, and torture through economic sanctions are not being heard.
    Most people with nothing to lose just kill themselves, but when huge masses of people have nothing to lose, they organize unions, stage protests and, finally, when traditional methods don’t work, take hostages and perform suicide bombings.
    There is never a justification for violence. Violence always begets violence and should only be used when absolutely necessary from a seat of compassion as in the case of freeing the world from the grip of Nazi hatred. Not because of childish distortions of what it means to have power.
    Then-candidate GW who, The New York Times reported in November 2003, told the family biographer, Mickey Herskowitz: “One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief,” “My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade … I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”
    The guy is a nut bar.
    It will be interesting to see how creative they are in blaming this one on Iran in some weird convoluted mess of propaganda most Americans will not be able to find their way out of.
    I am truly sorry for the victims of the London bombings today, and for decent people across the globe, that this is happening. It is a tragic mark upon history.

  • I have generally felt alone (aside from John Kerry) in feeling that the response on 9/11 was overwrought. Certainly I do not mean to minimize the loss of life and the drama of the towers falling. But 9/11 was nothing new in logistics, only in scope. I can certainly empathize with a certain amount of panic on the east coast on 9/11 as people wondered “what’s next?” But otherwise, a more obdurate British response on the part of the public (especially public officials) was appropriate. That’s one reason why I immediately thought of Bush’s post-9/11 speeches as pandering. Bush sought only to hype the moment.

    I have had arguments with friends — who are otherwise in complete agreement with me — on whether “the world changed that day.” When I say I don’t think it did, I am castigated by all. But I think that we must simply mourn our losses, adapt to the new threats, and carry on. Terrorists don’t deserve the reward of seeing us frightened, belligerent, or impressed by their destruction.

    • Comments are closed.