look at london!

Tracy came with me to our important negotiation meeting.
She switched on the car radio and I immediately said:
"Can we turn it off? I am not focused enough for the meeting to hear breaking news .. after, ok?"
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I felt bad, because the meeting was frivolous in comparison to many human lives, which were taken today. Hammering down a large quote takes concentration and planning however -and we had already rescheduled this one. I have developed the capacity to just order a disruptive thought (i call them "weeds") to be shut out of my mind until I can let it back out of the cage. In this case, the technique was key in preparing for a three hour meeting of negotiations, which was to be hinged upon me due to the language difficulties.
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In our office, the news had all started with one comment. The comment interrupted any creativity I had mustered up for the report I was writing.

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"Oh my gosh, bombs have gone off all over London!" interupted wide-eyed Tracy as she re-read the abbreviated conversation on MSN with her close friend.

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Shortly after, Victoria blasted in the office to announce with an out of breath "London has been bombed!"

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Shortly afterwards, everyone who vaguely knew someone in London was on the phone trying to see if all was ok. I felt almost as if we were in London when I saw Andy raise his questionning eyes to the sky and take a seat pale-faced in one of our vistor's chair. We have a lot of Brits in the office, justifying the shock. But I think there is also a great sense of empathy because the terrorists have chosen a European country to carry out their attacks. Of course it shook us up.

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I sped home over lunchbreak and noticed a flashing yellow-orange light in one of the tunnels I know by heart. Though I knew it was only a sign of roadworks, I let my mind drift off to a potential-end-of-the-world-situation with chaos spreading from bomb to bomb and then nation to nation. What would I want to save? Where would I want to hide? Who would I call for help? What would it be too late for?

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Life is gone in a second.

Am I ready to leave now?

Sobering thoughts, which in part, delayed the "guessing game" answer on my blog. It just didn't seem right to talk about a random two franc competition when millions of people were mourning.

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Needless to say, the day at work was fully unproductive.