One Morning in London

Written at the time by Scotland NEC member Jane Carolan at UNISON HQ close by three of the bombings on 7 July 2005, we publish again as a 7/7 tribute.

Thursday 7th July started as another UNISON day. The weather had turned from summer to dreich overnight and few of us in London on union business were prepared for it. I was chairing the Service Group Liaison Committee and knew that it was going to be an all day affair. Colleagues from Scotland were attending that, and others were in London for the Women's Committee and for the Energy executive. There was the usual round of greetings, as we all appeared in the hotel that morning for breakfast and the gossip about what was going on in the union and how we had survived Conference.

Euston Road was as busy as usual with nose to tail traffic at nine when I crossed the road to Mabledon. As I went up in the lift a friend commented that the underground at King's Cross-was chaotic as there had been a power surge and the trains were going off. It was a bit of a regular occurrence and meant that some committee members might be late but not a cause for concern. Then someone else said that the trains were also halted and a sense that it wasn't just the usual London travel problems started to emerge.