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London’s New Normal: Resilient, Yes. But Not Entirely Intrepid. - The New York Times

posted onJune 16, 2017
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Article snippet: LONDON — For the fourth time in 12 weeks I marked myself safe on Facebook. In Britain. It was Wednesday morning, and Londoners had reason to be a bit optimistic. Borough Market, a lively bar and restaurant district near the Thames, was reopening, less than two weeks after terrorists dressed in fake suicide bombs went on a stabbing rampage. The attacks came a week after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a pop concert in Manchester, and two months after a terrorist rammed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a policeman outside Parliament. Altogether, 34 people died. London was ready for a break. Instead, the city awoke on Wednesday to black smoke spiraling into the morning sky as fire raged through Grenfell Tower, a 27-story apartment building, killing at least 17 and injuring dozens more. The fire was not an act of terrorism, though when images first appeared on social media, some people worried it was. The sight of a burning tower and accounts of people jumping from windows inevitably conjured reminders of the Sept. 11 attacks. Once again, my phone buzzed with frantic messages, not just from editors, but from anxious family and friends abroad: “Are you O.K.??” London is O.K. (just ask a Londoner) and mostly feels normal. Mostly. Police with machine guns patrol train stations. There are steel and concrete barriers lining major bridges now to protect pedestrians. When I bike to work, across Waterloo Bridge, I find myself planning my es... Link to the full article to read more

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