The train got me in to Kings Cross Thameslink quite early today (despite being late to leave Redhill by a few minues), my ticket wouldn't work in the barrier for some strange reason, meaning I had to queue up to get it checked in the procession of people either being issued fines, charged extensions or holding/dragging massive suitcases which gave me a minute or two peering out the window in boredom...then it struck me...the road was empty...bit odd...got out and the flashing lights hit me like a brick, the road was closed (shades of 7/7 reared up in my mind, so I grabbed my phone, only camera with me, and took a few snaps as I followed the trail of police cars to the source of the emergency)...
I passed 5 or 6 police cars blocking the road and offices directing traffic away from the Pentonville road -
- which was startling in it's appearance, not crammed with rush hour traffic -
- as I got nearer (I could see 8 or 10 police vehicles and a load of police tape just up the hill) I started hearing people talking about helicopters, and just then a Virgin air ambulance shot up from behind a building to my right, the rotor sound was obviously baffled until it came into direct line of sight to me and headed at speed northwards...
My curious nature got me in trouble this time, and I saw something I really didn't want to, it was a battered, dusty ten wheeled truck, the kind used to move tons of hardcore around for building sites, behind it in the road a tangle of metal with a bent bike wheel sticking out of it at a strange angle (could have been one or two bikes, it was impossible to tell it was so crushed)...and just being covered with a silver sheet was the totally mangled body of a young girl (no more than 10 or 12)..."Rosie" I gathered from the wails of her school friends as they clung to each other in confusion, desperation, devastation and horror...
I staggered away, my sense of reality robbed from me just as a member of the family was jogging, still perhaps none the wiser, up the road towards the police yelling out "I'm here, I'm family, now what's happened?"...
Can't make any judgement, as I don't know all the facts (just what I saw) but regardless - Sleep tight little one... :(
3 comments:
That's terrible, lorries claim another life. Your office is in a pretty bad area for disasters mate.
Never seems to be much of a break between incidents up here...much quieter in rural Surrey...
Ah horrible!
Without knowing the facts one can still say that this is why speed limits are so important folks!
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