Terrorist attack in London

I'm so sick and tired of the terrorism. It makes me so angry. Why do those cowards have to attack innocent people just to get their political viewpoints across? It's disgusting. I know I'm not saying anything that everyone else hasn't already said, but I feel like I have to say it anyway.

Why? Why do they do it? How can we make it stop? If the troops are all pulled out of Iraq, will that help or will it just make things worse by reinforcing to Al-Qaeda that their tactics work? I don't know, but I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the threat of terrorism looming overhead. Most of the time I don't think about it that much, but it's always there. Living in Madrid, I would occasionally hear about bombs or bomb threats locally which the ETA (Euskadi Ta Ataskuna- a Basque separatist group) was usually responsible for. Just hearing about bomb threats reminds me of all of the attacks over the last few years and the possibility that another will occur.

I know there's no point in living in fear, though. All we can do is try to continue living our lives as usual.

Roughing it in Brit-land

It's my last night in London; tomorrow I bid farewell to good ol' Blighty. I have had one tough week- lying on the couch, watching TV, eating lots of good food (yes, folks, there is good food in England). Seriously, though, it was a much-needed break. On the way back from Morocco, I started getting sick. Being Sick + 8-Hour Bus = No Fun. I'm sure it was a result of a month of travelling- my body was just rebelling. I only felt really ill for the first day or two, now I just have a cold. At any rate, it was high time I took a break, and besides being a Whole Lot of Fun, I think I will enjoy Dublin now a lot more than I would have otherwise.

I had hoped that Lina, Matt 2, and Matt 3 would all be able to get together with Emily and I while I was here. Although we couldn't meet up all at the same time because of their individual schedules, we were able to meet Matt 3 for tea on Thursday, Lina for a curry on Saturday night, and Matt 2 for lunch today. It was a lot of fun to see all of them, but bittersweet as I won't be seeing any of them again for a long time.

So we spent the afternoon in London today - a bit ironic. I spent Independence Day in the capital of the country from which the US declared independence. My Brit friends enjoyed that, as you might imagine. We had a good time, though. After lunch we went to the National Art Gallery, then hung out in a coffee shop for a little while. We might have done more, but we were blessed with typical London weather: It rained.

Well, I'd love to write more, but as I said, this is my last night in London. I need to go lie on the couch and watch some more TV.