7/7.

That Day The giant screen was removed from Clayton Square recently and now there's hole in the sky between Tesco and the Clas Ohlson shop that used to be a Virgin Megastore. Of all the memories I have of standing in front of it, other than watching Nosferatu one evening, it's joining the shocked crowd watching the unfolding events this day ten years ago. Here's what I wrote then:

"I stood with the crowd in Clayton Square Liverpool at lunchtime watching the events unfold on the big screen. Some people had their mouth open, others muttered about terrorism, a group of teenagers giggled and chatted until stopping stunned as confirmatory text appeared in the middle of the BBC News broadcast. Seven explosions in London. Six tube stations and one bus. Two confirmed dead. Possible terrorist connection. I heard the teens read the text outloud in disbelief.

"My eyes flickered across the ticker at the bottom of the screen, then I saw the words I really didn't want to see 'Prime Minister leaves G8'. I'm watching his helicopter leave Gleneagles tonight and as the gravel skips away from the undercarriage I can see that the terrorists succeeded in one of their aims. To stop life in its tracks momentarily, blur the expectation of what is to come.

"There I stood in the square watching television, eager to know what was happening, scared about what it meant for all of us, instead of doing all the things I'd planned to do at lunchtime. I won't be watching the film I'd planned to tonight. I'm not in the mood. My dvd rental company Screenselect have seen fit to send me Napoleon Dynamite, and although I know it's only a title, it doesn't feel appropriate."

Here's the rest of that week. Links to relevant articles, review of Sugababes performance, asking the BBC why whether they're showing a thing and I was just beginning to read the Eighth Doctor novels. Nothing much changes around here.  We always talk about how these events change us, but unless we're directly involved, do they really?

What I remember most is how quickly the country was forced to shift from the jubilation of winning the Olympics to coping with this tragedy and that's something which is perfectly captured by Darren LinkMachineGo in his collection of photographs of Evening Standard posters which he's written about and reproduced here.  Take care.