[willowbrook] Sarah Update in London

[Sheila Eisenzimmer]

We received word from Sarah at 4 AM that she is in downtown London between
King's Crossing & Russell Square in the Royal National Hotel. She is
directly down & across the street from the double-decker bus that blew up.
She is on the last day of her 5 week trip to England.  She has had a
glorious time, been in really spectacular spots, and was at Scotland for the
G-8 Summit time & protests, was in London when the 2012 Olympics were
announced, has had such a great time, until now. She was a little frightened
when I spoke with her early on. Much calmer at 8 AM but worried about how
they will get to the airport with no transportation running. 

 

UPDATE 8 AM:  She is in the Royal National Hotel, Room 2005 (!), and their
hotel is crime-scene taped off. No one goes in; no one out. It is the first
time that I have been infinitely glad that my precious daughter was a little
ditzy; a disorganized ADD poster-child!! They had eaten breakfast and this
was their last day in London. They had purchased an All Day Tube Pass to
tour London via use of the subway. After they ate, she was the only one who
was not packed up & ready (I am not surprised) and they all groused and
grumbled at her for not being ready.  She went back up to her room to get
her stuff & as she was getting ready, they heard the noise. Just like we
hear and feel things from the arsenal, she did not think much about it.
Later she went outside to get a paper, since she is doing a scrapbook &
wanted to save the headlines about the Olympics. She saw people evidently
exiting the tube area that were bleeding, etc. & still not knowing, she
began to take pictures. A man on the street chastised her, basically saying
'there are people without limbs', or something to that affect. (I found this
odd, since everyone exiting the tube said they sat there for 20-30 minutes
before being helped out, but then figured the noise they heard must have
been the bus bomb. They probably did not hear the tube explosions since it
is so deep underground.) She put her camera away, got her paper & went
inside the hotel. It was then you could begin to hear sirens, etc. & later
they saw people crying, etc., and found out what had happened down the
block.  She said all day people had been thanking her for being
disorganized, for if they had left on time, they could very well have been
in the King's Crossing tube at that time. God's hand for sure.

 

Thank you for your prayers and continue to pray for their safety, that they
can catch their flight on time tomorrow and there are no more incidents. 

 

Sheila E.