Calling London

Today I took the day off from work to take my friend and her daughter to Sesame Place, which is about 2.5 hours from here. I slept in later than usual and woke up to the news of the bombings in London. Immediately I thought of someone I've worked with in London for the past six years, and decided to try to get in touch with her to see if she is OK. Unfortunately, her phone number is safely scribbled in the back of the black dayplanner I've had for those six years, which is sitting on my desk. At work.

I called a friend of mine at work to get the number from him. Maybe he read it to me wrong. Maybe I wrote it down wrong. Maybe I'm supposed to include the "0" after the international calling prefix (011) and the London city code (44...or is that the country code?) In any event, I'm getting a "your call cannot be completed as dialed" message each time I try to get through. I suppose it's likely that the phone lines into London are currently jammed, or commandeered, or damaged in some way. I suppose I could try to get her e-mail address.

At least 37 people are dead, at least 700 injured. What are the odds that one of the half-dozen or so Londoners I've worked with are among their number? And is it selfish of me to hope that they are not - to hope that Jane, and Caitlin, and all the others whose names are scrawled in my black book are OK, and that the dead and injured are people I've never talked to, never e-mailed, never dealt with?