And afterwards?
Jul. 12th, 2005 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madwitchEvery morning for the last few months I've taken the bus up into Russell Square, leapt off near the tube, dived into Tesco for breakfast and liquid and pegged it up the road to work, being far too idle to move quicker in leaving the house in the morning. I spent my days listening to the seagulls over the traffic noise, and playing 'dodge the traffic' at lunchtime and on the way home. And in a week or so, I'll be doing it all over again.
But right now, it's like working in some post apocalyptic movie. Only without the zombies or the apemen. Streets mostly deserted but for the police and a few locals and those who can get to work. No cars, unless they're police cars. And, except for the rush hour and lunchtime sound of the police helicopters, so damned quiet.
There are people around. The entire local BTP staff, for a start. The BMA staff (yes, they're working, crime scene or not. Though I can't imagine they'd stay home). The little local shops. People move around, get lunch, coffee, things. There should be noise.
There isn't. I don't think I've ever seen part of central London so damned quiet outside the hours of around 4 to 5 am on a weeknight. (The time when most of London is asleep). Some people talk, but so low the sound doesn't carry, but mostly there's just silence. Not an uncomfortable one, just...quiet. You can't even hear the rest of the city, like there's some great bubble around the area, blocking out the rest of the world. Even when the BMA gor evacuated earlier today, the quiet was verging on the uncanny. Which is the only way to describe it when the first time you realise there are a hundred or so people walking towards you is when you turn the corner and walk into them. It's eerie, especially first thing, but I don't think the place could be any other way. There's this little island of silence and calm in the heart of the city. Odd beyond oddness in a way, right and how it should be in another.
When you get out of the cordons, there's this wash of sound. It's almost painful in its intensity, as London and its cacophony rush back in on you, and the rest of the world is there again, wrapping you in sound and fury. For a while, at least.
Thoughts from silence.
But right now, it's like working in some post apocalyptic movie. Only without the zombies or the apemen. Streets mostly deserted but for the police and a few locals and those who can get to work. No cars, unless they're police cars. And, except for the rush hour and lunchtime sound of the police helicopters, so damned quiet.
There are people around. The entire local BTP staff, for a start. The BMA staff (yes, they're working, crime scene or not. Though I can't imagine they'd stay home). The little local shops. People move around, get lunch, coffee, things. There should be noise.
There isn't. I don't think I've ever seen part of central London so damned quiet outside the hours of around 4 to 5 am on a weeknight. (The time when most of London is asleep). Some people talk, but so low the sound doesn't carry, but mostly there's just silence. Not an uncomfortable one, just...quiet. You can't even hear the rest of the city, like there's some great bubble around the area, blocking out the rest of the world. Even when the BMA gor evacuated earlier today, the quiet was verging on the uncanny. Which is the only way to describe it when the first time you realise there are a hundred or so people walking towards you is when you turn the corner and walk into them. It's eerie, especially first thing, but I don't think the place could be any other way. There's this little island of silence and calm in the heart of the city. Odd beyond oddness in a way, right and how it should be in another.
When you get out of the cordons, there's this wash of sound. It's almost painful in its intensity, as London and its cacophony rush back in on you, and the rest of the world is there again, wrapping you in sound and fury. For a while, at least.
Thoughts from silence.
