Sobering

It's our last night in Prague, and I was going to post something today with my usual flip attitude, talk about Prague being on the Vltava River and urging the people of the Czech Republic to buy a vowel or two (I hear the Dutch and the Scandinavians have some extras that they're not using); talk about our upcoming hop, skip and jump across western Europe and flight home, but the events this morning in London just sort of put things into a bit of a different perspective, and I don't think being flip and facetious is what's called for right now.

We came into King's Cross Station when we took the train down from Edinburgh back in early June (that seems like months ago now), so I was familiar with the area when we saw the footage on CNN this morning. I can't imagine what a scary and horrific event that must have been, and for there to have then been so many more subsequent explosions is just mind-boggling. The last headline I read said that at least 40 people have been killed, and 350 or more injured. My deepest sympathies go out to them, their families and their friends. Knowing that Mrs. G and I will be in London in just one week to board our flight back home is much less reassuring tonight than it was just a day or so ago. I have no doubt that our overnight stay there will be far less casual and relaxed than it would have been otherwise.

Before I saw the news this morning, I had written and sent out a new batch of postcards, virtually all of which were full of wisecracks and humor and jollity. Tonight I'm not feeling it so much. The vacation continues, one week to go here in Europe, but suddenly the perspective has changed. Tomorrow we take the train to Berlin, and I hope it's an uneventful ride.

This will very likely be my last post from Europe. I expect that the next time I post anything, it will be from the relative safety of California.