I've been doing Open University courses over the last 10 years on and off and have hated every minute of it. I am not a studier/academic but have had to get this blasted degree for my job. My manager only took me on as long as I completed my degree. Unfortunately I have to do these courses whilst also travelling up to London every day for my job, which means getting up at 6.00 am and getting home at 7.30pm. I am always knackered and as my narcassistic colleague once said to me once "Don't know why your so tired all the time". Yeah, great thanks mate. This colleague only lives a 10 minute tube ride away from work and strolls in at 10.00 complaining of feeling a bit tired after getting up at 9.00am. Bitch!

Anyway I only have one more course to do next year until I get my degree without the honours. I need to do a further year to get my honours. Oh God!

The Open University is nasty way of getting your degree having to work full time and study all the rest of your free hours and taking anywhere from 6 years onwards to complete it. I did a year at normal university and this was a piece of piss compared to the Open University. Anyone doing an OU course will back me up on this. I think the OU had better not ask me to promote their courses as I think it would involve an advertisement of me tearing up a course text book with my teeth, whilst sawing through my own legs with a ruler, whilst also swallowing a whole load of antidepressants. Very Japanese horror!

Anyway, my revision starts as of tomorrow..hooray...NOT!
So I'm off now to plan my storyboard for my OU advertisement to send to them. Heh Heh!

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Anyway, the lady wants me to fill out a questionnaire and do a couple of blood tests to see if my blood has a specific gene that could be a contributory factor to getting the disease.Apparently I fit the profile as I already have the B27 gene which is the main gene which points to a person getting or having AS. They think this other gene may help with medication in the future.

I had a two day attack of pain last week after having a flu vaccination. So typical! Luckily it only a short time but I couldn't straighten up all day Thursday and was in a lot of pain when I tried. Today I couldn't be better, no pain or stiffness at all. I wish this disease would bugger of and leave me alone!

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Managed to get the early train home in no time and we were trundling home no problems on one of the new air conditioned trains that us commuters don't have the privalege to travel in very often, when all of a sudden just before Shoreham-by-sea railway station the train came to an abrupt halt. We had just passed a level crossing and I could see a very agitated lorry driver at the crossing on his phone stopping traffic and pointing at the train where I was sitting. We then got an announcement from the guard..."Uhmm, I have some bad news, this train has just knocked someone over on the level crossing and we are awaiting the emergency services to check out the scene. This train won't be moving for 30 mins." Oh my God!! What a nightmare. I looked at the lorry driver again and the police had turned up and the ambulance and after 30 mins they were all looking around under my window at the track below my feet. Looks like the person was directly under my carriage and a little bit further up the carriage indicating he had been dragged and killed. They placed a number of blankets around the carriage and I was worried I was going to see the body in bits being dragged out..yuck..

Luckily after an hour on the train they moved everyone from our carriage further up the train so the police could investigate what was underneath. It was sweltering as the air conditioning was turned off as well and no refreshments, not good for the hottest day of the year. My parents picked me up at Shoreham to my great relief. Made a couple of friends whilst waiting to be picked up, which was nice. No mention of the incident on the local or national news so they couldn't have been very important. Some local teenager probably who jumped the barriers thinking he could make it across in time. Silly bugger. Finally got home at 7.45, so I had a 3 and a half hour train journey home. Great!! For a day when I didn't get paid at work as I have done too many hours anyway. Brilliant(not).

hubby and I have finally finished the lounge and dining room and it looks really professional we are dead proud of it as we spent 5 solid days off last week doing this. We are dead chuffed with the result. Looks like a show home now.

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We got woken up again this morning at 4.00 am by the noisy seagulls who seemed to be doing a "Riverdance" on our flat bedroom roof again. Steve went outside in his P.J's and threw some more stones at them..never works...they just come back and taunt you!! New tactics today, have just ordered online a big plastic owl to try and scare them off:
Hope it works. We still haven't got round to asking the neighbours to stop feeding them. We are hoping they will say yes, although they have been feeding them for about 6 years now, so maybe unlikely and I don't want to fall out with them as they are a nice elderly couple, who are very pleasant. Maybe I could suggest buying them a budgie instead!! They're much sweeter.

Hooray..we have the next week off work, 10 whole days of no work and no long boring train journeys, it'll be great apart from the pulling wallpaper of the walls and re-decorating the lounge and dining room bit. Still it will look lovely when finished. We then only have the study and kitchen to decorate then.

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When we first moved in December 2004, we met our neighbours (elderly couple) who seemed really nice and friendly. A few days later we are talking to them and they say "I hope you don't mind the seagulls..we started to feed them 8 years ago and they have adopted us as their parents " Ahhhh..how sweet I thought at the time. It is now August and they are driving us mad, they had babies over 2 months ago and they are now flying, but are still whinging an whining to their parents to fed them all the time. Not only this, but they wake us up every morning at about 5.00am and start running around our flat roof and pecking at our felt roofing..dirty bastards!! We don't need an alarm clock anymore as we have them. Sounds like a poor tap dancing Gene Kelly on our roof!!

We have been contemplating what we can do about them. We have searched the local council website and apparently you can not kill them but you can feed them!! I was so shocked.. they are flying rats, vermin and need to be destroyed...exterminated...they need to decease to be!

Next time we see our neighbours we will have to ask them to stop feeding them as they are producing offspring every year and our rooftops in our area are full of their nephews and neices. You can probably map out a seagull family tree, starting from our neighbours seagulls.

We have tried throwing stones at them to get them off our rooftop..but that leads to a scene out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds" we get surrounded and swooped on by the whole mob.

Rat poison is the way to go, wrapped in mackrel. heh heh heh That'll sort the pesky so and so's out

Think I will have to throw my RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) membership card and pack away. I don't think I'm worthy anymore.

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When we first moved in December 2004, we met our neighbours (elderly couple) who seemed really nice and friendly. A few days later we are talking to them and they say "I hope you don't mind the seagulls..we started to feed them 8 years ago and they have adopted us as their parents " Ahhhh..how sweet I thought at the time. It is now August and they are driving us mad, they had babies over 2 months ago and they are now flying, but are still whinging an whining to their parents to fed them all the time. Not only this, but they wake us up every morning at about 5.00am and start running around our flat roof and pecking at our felt roofing..dirty bastards!! We don't need an alarm clock anymore as we have them. Sounds like a poor tap dancing Gene Kelly on our roof!!

We have been contemplating what we can do about them. We have searched the local council website and apparently you can not kill them but you can feed them!! I was so shocked.. they are flying rats, vermin and need to be destroyed...exterminated...they need to decease to be!

Next time we see our neighbours we will have to ask them to stop feeding them as they are producing offspring every year and our rooftops in our area are full of their nephews and neices. You can probably map out a seagull family tree, starting from our neighbours seagulls.

We have tried throwing stones at them to get them off our rooftop..but that leads to a scene out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds" we get surrounded and swooped on by the whole mob.

Rat poison is the way to go, wrapped in mackrel. heh heh heh That'll sort the pesky so and so's out

Think I will have to throw my RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) membership card and pack away. I don't think I'm worthy anymore.

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When we first moved in December 2004, we met our neighbours (elderly couple) who seemed really nice and friendly. A few days later we are talking to them and they say "I hope you don't mind the seagulls..we started to feed them 8 years ago and they have adopted us as their parents " Ahhhh..how sweet I thought at the time. It is now August and they are driving us mad, they had babies over 2 months ago and they are now flying, but are still whinging an whining to their parents to fed them all the time. Not only this, but they wake us up every morning at about 5.00am and start running around our flat roof and pecking at our felt roofing..dirty bastards!! We don't need an alarm clock anymore as we have them. Sounds like a poor tap dancing Gene Kelly on our roof!!

We have been contemplating what we can do about them. We have searched the local council website and apparently you can not kill them but you can feed them!! I was so shocked.. they are flying rats, vermin and need to be destroyed...exterminated...they need to decease to be!

Next time we see our neighbours we will have to ask them to stop feeding them as they are producing offspring every year and our rooftops in our area are full of their nephews and neices. You can probably map out a seagull family tree, starting from our neighbours seagulls.

We have tried throwing stones at them to get them off our rooftop..but that leads to a scene out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds" we get surrounded and swooped on by the whole mob.

Rat poison is the way to go, wrapped in mackrel. heh heh heh That'll sort the pesky so and so's out

Think I will have to throw my RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) membership card and pack away. I don't think I'm worthy anymore.

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When we first moved in December 2004, we met our neighbours (elderly couple) who seemed really nice and friendly. A few days later we are talking to them and they say "I hope you don't mind the seagulls..we started to feed them 8 years ago and they have adopted us as their parents " Ahhhh..how sweet I thought at the time. It is now August and they are driving us mad, they had babies over 2 months ago and they are now flying, but are still whinging an whining to their parents to fed them all the time. Not only this, but they wake us up every morning at about 5.00am and start running around our flat roof and pecking at our felt roofing..dirty bastards!! We don't need an alarm clock anymore as we have them. Sounds like a poor tap dancing Gene Kelly on our roof!!

We have been contemplating what we can do about them. We have searched the local council website and apparently you can not kill them but you can feed them!! I was so shocked.. they are flying rats, vermin and need to be destroyed...exterminated...they need to decease to be!

Next time we see our neighbours we will have to ask them to stop feeding them as they are producing offspring every year and our rooftops in our area are full of their nephews and neices. You can probably map out a seagull family tree, starting from our neighbours seagulls.

We have tried throwing stones at them to get them off our rooftop..but that leads to a scene out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds" we get surrounded and swooped on by the whole mob.

Rat poison is the way to go, wrapped in mackrel. heh heh heh That'll sort the pesky so and so's out

Think I will have to throw my RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) membership card and pack away. I don't think I'm worthy anymore.

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When we first moved in December 2004, we met our neighbours (elderly couple) who seemed really nice and friendly. A few days later we are talking to them and they say "I hope you don't mind the seagulls..we started to feed them 8 years ago and they have adopted us as their parents " Ahhhh..how sweet I thought at the time. It is now August and they are driving us mad, they had babies over 2 months ago and they are now flying, but are still whinging an whining to their parents to fed them all the time. Not only this, but they wake us up every morning at about 5.00am and start running around our flat roof and pecking at our felt roofing..dirty bastards!! We don't need an alarm clock anymore as we have them. Sounds like a poor tap dancing Gene Kelly on our roof!!

We have been contemplating what we can do about them. We have searched the local council website and apparently you can not kill them but you can feed them!! I was so shocked.. they are flying rats, vermin and need to be destroyed...exterminated...they need to decease to be!

Next time we see our neighbours we will have to ask them to stop feeding them as they are producing offspring every year and our rooftops in our area are full of their nephews and neices. You can probably map out a seagull family tree, starting from our neighbours seagulls.

We have tried throwing stones at them to get them off our rooftop..but that leads to a scene out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds" we get surrounded and swooped on by the whole mob.

Rat poison is the way to go, wrapped in mackrel. heh heh heh That'll sort the pesky so and so's out

Think I will have to throw my RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) membership card and pack away. I don't think I'm worthy anymore.

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We have not had a week off together since Christmas and have looked forward all year to this week and actually getting away from decorating the sodding house and looking around the area for a change. Still, always next year.

Beginning to think this house we moved into at Christmas is cursed. I just can not seem to settle into life down here. The 1 and half hour commute is driving me crazy with boredom and causing my Ankylosing Spondylitis pain to flare up in new and weird places everyday. I am in constant pain everyday at the moment, which started the very day we moved here..weird or what? I have pain going all up my spine now and I have real trouble getting up every morning and straightening up. The pain is unbearable and I always limp my way to work, all through work and all the way back home again. It just doesn't stop. The pain is intense.

Before I only used to get flareups of pain in my hips every 3 or so months. Now I have that as well as the other pains. Can you believe I am only 31 years old and have suffered from this condition for 10 years now, but it has only this year it got so bad that I feel like an 80 year old. People can't believe it when they see me in pain and I tell them I used to do loads of sport when I was younger. I was part of the local town athletics club and I was very good. I also used to play hockey and netball and badminton. I loved sport, I only enjoyed school because of the sports. All my other non athletic friends hated it. I gave it all up to go to university and then came down with this crappy Ankylosing Spondylitis (which was only diagnosed 3 years ago and had to give uni up as well (crap) I miss sport so much and can't do any of it anymore. My specialist has said that the most I can do is gentle swimming. Can you believe it I HATE SWIMMING!!!!!!!!!!!!! and am scared of the water.

As you can tell I am feeling very depressed and down at the moment. If I can just get out of this damn pain every day I may be able to feel happier and be happier about seeing my friends and family. I just feel whenever I am around them that I am just depressing them more as I talk about my pain.

I need to get to the AS meetings that have been set up by my specialist and confide in some other fellow sufferers. Let me know if anyone reading this is a sufferer or knows someone with this condition as I would love to speak to you.

Anyway, time to go. The new American programme "Crash" has just started again and I really want to watch it.

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Don't get me started on football. I used to love football and even went to some womens matches at Crystal Palace (wasn't brave enough for the mens matches, too many angry yobs shouting and hurling up their burgers along the road to the station.) When England (or Johnny boy)miraculously won the Rugby World cup a few years ago, I realised that football was a game with weedy overpaid and over ego'd players. I mean really...whilst a footballer "trips" over a blade of grass and cries in agony whilst spitting everywhere, a rugby player will fall over break a couple of legs and arms and still make it to the line for a touchdown...NOW THAT'S A SPORT!! Much better.. rugby players are certainly not wimps and I applause a sport and players that can get up after falling over hard on their asses and continue on without whinging.

Football...what a joke..overpaid nancy boys. I loved the football World cup so much last time that I even bought a video to remind me of it as I missed it when it had finished. I think I will use it to wipe my arse in future!

Now the athletics World championship starts tomorrow. Now that is MY KIND OF SPORT. I love athletics, maybe because I used to do athletics and was part of a club for a number of years. Damn shame I have to go to work all of next week and miss it all. I don't get home until 8.00 and coverage finishes then. BOO! I hate that. Football is on all the time and I hate it and athletics is on when we are at work. STUPID!! Still at least I will get the weekend to watch some of it.

Another of my sport passions is Tennis. I adore watching tennis, have never played before, spent too much time doing athletics. Rusedski went out last night of the ATP Washington Classic to Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic. Damn! Always feel sorry for him, he starts doing well in tournaments and then always loses it, like Tim. Still they have done well in their careers. Looking forward to Andy Murry taking over the crown from Tim in the future. He has great talent and always thought so when I heard he won the Juniors US Open title.

Anyway enough sport ramblings. Had a great week watching the police at London Victoria milling about with their big guns whilst smelling pretty coloured soaps from the shop "Lush". Great! I feel so much safer working in London under their protection from terrorists!! Actually managed my first 5 day week at work in months, great achievement for me and my back.

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Don't get me started on football. I used to love football and even went to some womens matches at Crystal Palace (wasn't brave enough for the mens matches, too many angry yobs shouting and hurling up their burgers along the road to the station.) When England (or Johnny boy)miraculously won the Rugby World cup a few years ago, I realised that football was a game with weedy overpaid and over ego'd players. I mean really...whilst a footballer "trips" over a blade of grass and cries in agony whilst spitting everywhere, a rugby player will fall over break a couple of legs and arms and still make it to the line for a touchdown...NOW THAT'S A SPORT!! Much better.. rugby players are certainly not wimps and I applause a sport and players that can get up after falling over hard on their asses and continue on without whinging.

Football...what a joke..overpaid nancy boys. I loved the football World cup so much last time that I even bought a video to remind me of it as I missed it when it had finished. I think I will use it to wipe my arse in future!

Now the athletics World championship starts tomorrow. Now that is MY KIND OF SPORT. I love athletics, maybe because I used to do athletics and was part of a club for a number of years. Damn shame I have to go to work all of next week and miss it all. I don't get home until 8.00 and coverage finishes then. BOO! I hate that. Football is on all the time and I hate it and athletics is on when we are at work. STUPID!! Still at least I will get the weekend to watch some of it.

Another of my sport passions is Tennis. I adore watching tennis, have never played before, spent too much time doing athletics. Rusedski went out last night of the ATP Washington Classic to Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic. Damn! Always feel sorry for him, he starts doing well in tournaments and then always loses it, like Tim. Still they have done well in their careers. Looking forward to Andy Murry taking over the crown from Tim in the future. He has great talent and always thought so when I heard he won the Juniors US Open title.

Anyway enough sport ramblings. Had a great week watching the police at London Victoria milling about with their big guns whilst smelling pretty coloured soaps from the shop "Lush". Great! I feel so much safer working in London under their protection from terrorists!! Actually managed my first 5 day week at work in months, great achievement for me and my back.

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Don't get me started on football. I used to love football and even went to some womens matches at Crystal Palace (wasn't brave enough for the mens matches, too many angry yobs shouting and hurling up their burgers along the road to the station.) When England (or Johnny boy)miraculously won the Rugby World cup a few years ago, I realised that football was a game with weedy overpaid and over ego'd players. I mean really...whilst a footballer "trips" over a blade of grass and cries in agony whilst spitting everywhere, a rugby player will fall over break a couple of legs and arms and still make it to the line for a touchdown...NOW THAT'S A SPORT!! Much better.. rugby players are certainly not wimps and I applause a sport and players that can get up after falling over hard on their asses and continue on without whinging.

Football...what a joke..overpaid nancy boys. I loved the football World cup so much last time that I even bought a video to remind me of it as I missed it when it had finished. I think I will use it to wipe my arse in future!

Now the athletics World championship starts tomorrow. Now that is MY KIND OF SPORT. I love athletics, maybe because I used to do athletics and was part of a club for a number of years. Damn shame I have to go to work all of next week and miss it all. I don't get home until 8.00 and coverage finishes then. BOO! I hate that. Football is on all the time and I hate it and athletics is on when we are at work. STUPID!! Still at least I will get the weekend to watch some of it.

Another of my sport passions is Tennis. I adore watching tennis, have never played before, spent too much time doing athletics. Rusedski went out last night of the ATP Washington Classic to Croatian giant Ivo Karlovic. Damn! Always feel sorry for him, he starts doing well in tournaments and then always loses it, like Tim. Still they have done well in their careers. Looking forward to Andy Murry taking over the crown from Tim in the future. He has great talent and always thought so when I heard he won the Juniors US Open title.

Anyway enough sport ramblings. Had a great week watching the police at London Victoria milling about with their big guns whilst smelling pretty coloured soaps from the shop "Lush". Great! I feel so much safer working in London under their protection from terrorists!! Actually managed my first 5 day week at work in months, great achievement for me and my back.

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At least they have got the 4 bastard incompetant would-be bombers. It was a relief to see two of them being gased out of their flat and arrested on the news yesterday, puking on film from the effects. Thank God they have been caught. The question is how many more terrorist rings are there in the UK waiting to attack, there could be more. It is difficult for us Commuters into London and for Londoners as we have to carry on with our lives, just hoping we get to work and back home again without incident. Seems like we get rid of one terrorist network (IRA) and then they get replaced with another.

Anyway, had a good morning today, my husband and I spent an hour in the local hydrotherapy pool to try and help strengthen my back after the last exhausting attack due to my Ankylosing Spondylitis condition. Am feeling very stiff and sore every morning now and yelp in pain when I wake up as I start to move. Took me ages to get out of bed today and straighten up and move around without the pain. Seems like it is getting harder and harder to cope with this condition week by week. Hopefully it will pass and I will have months of no pain and stiffness. Why I should get this condition and not people like serial killers, who deserve it, I will never know.

That's enough rambling for another week. Looking forward to a whole week of work without sick leave. Fingers crossed!

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The Tarantino episode of CSI-Las Vegas was fantastic as well. The best CSI episode ever and had a lot of Tarantino trademark shock factors and horrific events happening to characters such as the fire ants eating away at CSI's flesh. What was going on with the "Dukes of hazard" board game, very surreal!

Been a good TV week. Still has been ruined tonight by the showing of "Titanic". We always root for the Iceberg!! It's more fun that way. Still at least an old episode of CSI - Las Vegas is on instead. Much better.

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London was back to normal today when I went in to work. Everybody seems to be going about their daily business as if nothing ever happened. Which is great, don't show the bastards that they have won.

It's mine and hubby's 5th wedding anniversary today and it's been a fantastic day. Did half a day in the office and then we went to TGI Fridays in Leicester Square (one of our favorite haunts) for a couple of HUGE "FBI" cocktails. We both love London and it felt great to be wondering around the streets of London enjoying the "we're not going to let them ruin our lives" Londoners atmosphere.

We then went and bought ourselves a new mobile phone each. I've been after one for ages. My old one is 10 years old and always makes people chuckle when I get it out to use it. So what...it just makes calls... isn't that what they are supposed to be for?? Well, I have finally fallen for the shiny new toy and bought a new phone with all the new fancy gadgets, camera, video, MP3. They all seem to come as standard on phones these days. Wonder what advanced technology we will be using in 10 years time...glasses that display films and ring people up...??? Who knows. No doubt my lovely new phone in 10 years will again be out of date and making my friends chuckle once more!!

Got to wait 6 hours now for the fancy phone gadget to charge up. I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG...I WANT TO GET MY HANDS ON TETRIS THE GAME...!!! Never played that before and am missing our Playstation which is packed away still after our move.

Still, looking forward to restful weekend of washing, ironing, gardening, shopping and other tedious household chores. Oh the joys of only having a two day weekend!

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I was watching the events in London unfold on the BBC News 24 website in complete astonishment that this could happen again. Immediately I contacted hubby to let him and his colleagues know and then I contacted my work colleagues to let them know. I spent the day glued to the TV and my laptop for further news as it happened so I could relay it to everyone else. It is now rush hour time and hopefully my coleagues aren't having too many troubles trying to get home on London transport.

Luckily today's events were by a bunch of incompetant idiots who couldn't set off explosives properly. Looks like this sort of copycat bombing will be a regular occurance from now and we just have to get on with life.

Hopefully I will try and get into work tomorrow and just get on with life again, these idiots can not ruin our lives.

One thing is for sure, I am buying a new phone tomorrow, one that has travel info and news info. Oh and tomorrow is mine and hubby's 5th Wedding Anniversary. Yay us!! So I will look forward to this.

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Steve cheered me up the other day with a brilliant link to a fun interactive website, check out the "Whack your boss.com" http://www.doodie.com/boss_flash_animation.php Be warned don't watch it though when at work near your bosses. It had me in hysterics for hours. You have to have a sick sense of humour like Steve and I to appreciate it.

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Off work feeling very sorry for myself due to another Ankylosing Spondylitis flairup. Not letting it get me down and am looking forward to getting back to work again soon with my work colleagues. I have just watched on TV the 1 minute silence after last Thursdays atrocities in London and yet again cried for all the people who were affected by the horrific events.

I was lucky myself to not have been involved and lucky also that the insane bombers didn't venture further south of London to hit London Bridge and London Victoria. I was getting off the Circle and District line at 8.45ish at Embankment just either before, after or scarier during the time the bombs were being set off. The train coming into Victoria was late which made me later on the tube network, normally I get the tube at 8.30. So I was very lucky and managed to get into work without knowing anything about the events occurring at that moment. Steve was luckier, he was on a course in Teddington and away from the problems.

It wasn't until one of our colleagues rang work to say his train had been turned around and not allowed into Kings Cross due to a bomb alert that we realised that something was going on. We checked the BBC website and it mentioned the fact that there had been a "power surge" on the tube network between Aldgate, Kings Cross and Edgware Road. Seemed a bit odd that all these lines were affected by it and they were on different tube lines, but we continued with our work unaware of what Sky news had already reported on their website, which was a story quite different to say the least. Another colleague called in to work to say that her tube had stopped and gone black and that people were talking of bombs and we calmed her down by saying that it was just a power surge. She was adament this was not the case and our worse fears became evident when a member of staff suggested we check the SKY News website and the headlines shocked, scared and numbed us all.

We all spent the day trying to carry on as normal at work, but no one could concentrate. Images and updates were coming in all the time to us via the website and from the lecture theatre where they put the big screen on for the news. We were then concerned about our colleagues, friends, family and oh my God, how the hell were we going to get home! The phones started to ring and it was friends and family checking up on everyone, which we thought was very thoughtful and caring. We made arrangements that if need be we could stay at someones house, while my workplace spent the time doing nothing to help London staff but our other site staff instead....WHY...!!! Madness, we the staff in London were forgotten about yet again. I sent a mad email back to a facilities staff member in the other office in the UK basically saying "stuff you lot ... what about us down right by the bomb areas." Eventually an email came back at about 3.30 (a little too late for all of us) saying they are still trying to arrange for hotels.

In the end we all decided to close the library early and try the best we could to get ourselves home. We all took each others phone numbers and addresses just in case. I met up with my Mike, my brother at London Bridge and we started on our tiring and bewildering journey home. All in all it wasn't too bad, everyone was talking to one another and there was a feeling of comradeship between commuters. We got a train to East Croydon and then another train to Gatwick and then we were picked up by my sister-in-law Sharon, who was kind enough to pick us up. My parents were anxiously waiting for us at Mike and Sharons house and were exremely relieved to see us both again.

After getting home that night and watching the constant and intense news about the events of the day, Steve and I were just too stunned by the images to even get up and eat and decided to call on friends and family who had left messages on our answerphone over the day, to let them know we were safe. It seems it is not until an event like this so close to home occurs that you start realising that friends and family are more important than anything in the World and this is what I have taken from this day the 7th July 2005 - our 9/11.

Went to work the next day and London was like a Ghost town, empty seats..silence..only the russle of newspapers as people swallowed up the events of the day before. A customer decided it was a good idea to leave his ruckack in our libary whilst he left the building for an hour, we were not impressed and my manager asked him to take it with him and not to leave it around after the events the day before. Stupidly, he couldn't quite understand why we should be saying this to him, a library regular. But we can trust no one anymore, it seems and reminded him of this. To say the least he was very aggressive and we were prepared to suggest that we could get the bomb squad in to blow his bag up instead, if that is what he would have preferred. We bit our tongues though and allowed him to carry on ranting and raving. Silly man. Was very glad to get home early that night.

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