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Islander returns safely from London


Port Clements resident Nancy O'Higgins was in London last Thursday (July 7) when four bombs exploded downtown.
Ms O'Higgins had just completed a bike ride across Britain and was preparing to return to the islands. On Thursday morning, she told us, she was getting ready to go to St. Paul's for a last sightseeing expedition when she got a call from her hostess, saying there had been what sounded like an explosion in the underground near King's Cross and that she should delay going out on the tube.
Ms O'Higgins said she decided to pack instead, and spent the rest of the day watching television as non-stop sirens sounded outside.
She later went out to a hardware store to buy a spanner to take the pedals off her bike and when they didn't have the right size, a workman on the street loaned her one. With a grin he told her, "It's the French, you know. They didn't want us to get the Olympics."
Just 20 hours before the bombings, the atmosphere in London was completely different, Ms O'Higgins said - total strangers were hugging each other and spraying champagne in the air at Trafalgar Square after hearing that London had been chosen to host the 2012 Olympics.
Ms O'Higgins managed to get out London Friday morning and catch her flight to Canada. She arrived in Port Clements Friday afternoon and spent several days here, but by the time you read this she'll be off again on another bike trip, this time to the United States