Something to remember

As we are all aware, a year has passed since the incidents of the 7th of July. Indeed while this was a major incident, and I am in no means trying to belittle anyone involved with it, and certainly in no way intending to insult the dead, I too have my own story of sadness that took place one year ago. 450 Miles from London.

At precisely 00.00.40, the cousin of a friend of mine, who also happens to be a good friend, took his last mechanically induced breath. He had been in hospital in Inverness for 3 weeks, and for the last 48hrs had been on a ventilator in ICU. He was born with major deformities in his heart and lungs, and despite the best treatment by doctors all attempts to save him failed.

In the 17.9 years of his life, he had ignored opinions of how long he should live, the first being only 6 weeks, then 6 months then 6 years. After that the doctors just gave up, he was going to be one stubborn bastard.

During these years he had been selected for transplants, with eventually all of them being rejected by his body. The last attempt was to replace one lung when he was 16, this failed. He was then left with the inevitable thought that he wasn't going to live a full life, by this time he had learnt to accept this.
A week before he went into hospital his health took a threatening turn for the worse, he became housebound and the prognosis was not good.

He then took the slightly obscure idea of having a brief video conference with his friends as to the situation. We all tried to remain upbeat, as did he, however everyone knew what the outcome was going to be. For his closest friends the hardest part was a request by him to ensure that his funeral and his wake lost none of his character. Immediately suggestions of a piss up were given much to general amusement.

We decided on the creation of a CD to be played at the wake, with everyone choosing one or two songs that summed up our collective personalities.
Here are a few of my favourite suggestions that made the list.

See you later alligator
Who wants to live forever
Baba O'Riley
The show must go on
Jerusalem
Wake me up before you go go
Staying alive
You win again

As you can see we all have a very warped sense of humour.
The funeral was in a very picturesque town just north of Aviemore in Scotland, with the wake in Inverness. (don't ask)

So whats the reason behind this post? Its a reminder that life goes on (or not in this case) outside of what is on the news. For me 7/7 isn't just a moment of national unity, but also a moment of personal reflection outside of what everyone else may think. I received the news of my friends passing at 14:40 7/7/2005, by which time we all new of what was happening in London. However none of that seemed significant, and for a small time I didn't care either.

On reflection I realise that this is just one of many that died that day, not just in the UK, but around the world. But for me 7/7 will always mean more for me than a state of collective grief.


P.S apologies for the waffling, but this is the best way I could think of putting thoughts to text.