[Mb-civic] Facing Terror on the Tube - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Facing Terror on the Tube

By Eugene Robinson
Friday, July 8, 2005; Page A23

If you're even slightly claustrophobic, a ride in the London Underground 
can be unnerving. It's the oldest subway in the world; some of the 
stations on the venerable Circle Line were opened in 1863, when Queen 
Victoria was still deep in mourning over the recent death of her beloved 
Prince Albert. The trains are cramped and stifling, and the pitch-black 
walls of the ancient tunnels seem to close in on you, almost like a tomb.

When I lived in London in the early 1990s, sometimes a train I was on 
would suddenly stop. There we would sit, trapped in one of those dark 
tunnels, for 10 or 15 or even 20 minutes. Usually the reason was a bomb 
scare -- London in those years had to be vigilant because of the Irish 
Republican Army. It always turned out to be something like an innocent 
gym bag left on a platform. The train would creak back to life, and you 
could feel the anxiety subsiding in the crowded car as shallow breathing 
gave way to a deep, collective sigh of relief.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/07/AR2005070701901.html?nav=hcmodule
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