Matts Meanderings

Go read: "A Letter To The Terrorists, From London".

This post was supposed to go out about March this year, but for various reasons, it didn't. So here it is:

A friend of mine from Infosys Australia (Andrew, also known as Hatchy) just finished 3 months in Pune, India, as part of the outsourcing of the project I used to work on at Telstra. His wife, Sophie, went along as well, with the aim of doing some aid work there.

In his last email update, he wrote the following, which I wanted to share, as its a very good description of Indian poverty, but also a touching account of Sophie's time there:

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When she first graced the streets of Pune it was (and will no doubt always be for any foreigner) an assault on the senses. India is a huge cultural shock for any Australian, the poverty and desperation that greet you will be forever implanted in your mind.

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A couple of times Sophie worked in one of the poorest slums in the world, Bibewali, here she found children with missing eyes, limbs, most of their teeth missing or rotted and many people suffering the paralysing affects of Polio and other diseases.

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At times it would affect her very deeply because some of the children are HIV+ To see a child so young with a disease that is going to cut their life tragically short is not something many people can cope with but Sophie never let it get her down or affect the way she in which she went about her work. Despite Bibewali Sophie spent many hours with the children from the slums at Tadawali Road too, some as young as 1 years old, teaching them basic things like colors, shapes, numbers and other simple things. Most of these children in reality may never go to school yet it was amasing how much they picked up and learnt by the time Sophie left.

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In all Sophie's time here has been life changing and rewarding on a level that only comes with the experience of doing nothing more than trying to make a small difference in the world. As sad as many of the people in Pune were to see her go she also was equally sad and even commented many times that she wished she could stay here for longer.

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My kudos to you, Sophie, for getting out there, and making a difference.

Well, I've been sitting on this one for quite a while (mainly cos I was threatened with serious bodily harm if I said anything), but its now official, and the news has been set free to galavant round the paddock, like a... well, like a bit of news galvanting round the paddock, really (hey, just work with me here, alright?).

Anyway, Andrew (aka Biscuit) and Cath are officially engaged. She's even got a nice rock on her finger (okay, yes, its 2 rocks, but you know what I mean).

For those that don't know who Cath is (whether it be due to the fact that you've been slack and haven't been reading my blog, temporary (or even permanent) memory loss, alien abduction (with or without *those* experiements being performed), or if I just haven't actually said who she is), well, she's my housemate.

They even had a big fandangled partay / bbq thingy at my place the other weekend, which was a bit of a giggle.

So, the long and short of it is: Congratulations, guys .

Okay. Now that I've had a bit of time to settle down, thought it might be a good idea to write about today...

I think that it would've been easier to write this earlier, and just point at it in the emails I've sent today. I've had quite a few emails and txt messages today checking that everything's okay. So, here's the story as it happened to me:

I slept in accidentally this morning - I'd forgotten to set my alarm last night, so I got up a lot later than I intended. I headed down to the tube, and heard that the northern line was closed due to a broken down train at Balham (the next station up). I walked up to Balham, and was planning on catching the overland from there. Turned out the tube had reopened by this point, so i jumped on the tube to head in. Managed to go one whole station, before getting kicked off - which i think was about the time that the first bomb went off. I overheard the drivers radio saying there was an “amber alert', but didn't think much of it.

From Clapham South, I walked up a few stations, and managed to catch the overland into London Bridge. About this point I started hearing things about accidents on the tube, power surges, or even bombs. I got to London Bridge, and found out that the entire tube was closed, and buses in central london were suspended. Asking the station staff, the official answer was to give up and go home.

Heading home, I started listening to the radio - just to hear what was happening. Very scary to hear what was going on.

What made it hit home was the fact that there was reports of bombs at Moorgate and Liverpool street stations; I catch the tube to Moorgate every morning, then walk through Liverpool Street station on my way to work. Very scary.

So getting home - definitely needed a hug (thanks Cath!) and a cuppa. Then a few scotches before I was back to “normal”.

It was good (in a way) to get txt's from people who were worried. Not good the reasons why they had to send the txt, but still.

My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by these bombs, both first hand and families and friends.

Just a quick note to say that I'm okay, and nearly everyone I know is safe. Just got to get over the serverly-freaked-out bit, then I'll be fine.

Will try and post a bit more about it later.