... did nothing but listen to the continuous news on all channels - so I've come out, partly not to let the event stop my bit of life, at least.
In the train. My neighbour was up a ladder painting his wall. We talked briefly about the event. 'Seems like the shape of things to come' he said, and I thought about that as I walked here.
No one is talking in the train, except via mobile phones. All seems as usual. The event is not enough to break down our traditional silence when travelling.
19:24: Seat under a tree.
...listened all afternoon to the continuous news of three passenger jets flying into public buildings in New York and Washington (almost too terrible to think about)...
And now I look at the trees. No change...
I saw a policeman with a dog. I asked if he was looking for something - he said he was looking for a man (of a certain description).
It's getting dark.
I'm still struggling to write the paper. After several attempts I think I've found how to write it - address it 'to everyone' - not (only to) the people who are invited to take part in the conference. (How easy it seems to decide that - but how difficult to arrive at the idea of it.)
Now to return. Not to continue listening to more news, I hope, but to rewrite the paper. A new way for me to relate to my colleagues (who are I fear confused or put off by how I do things). But now I want to address myself to everyone. To all of us.
The following is an extract from what I was writing:
...(discontinuity in the text, what is happening?)
(...we are typing this, write the fingers, during the aftermath of the hijacked aircraft attack on buildings in New York and Washington - and which my neighbour is already speaking of as a sign of things to come...
(And as they continue typing, with the radio switched off, the fingers, and even the mind, are becoming alarmed at the audacity, and perhaps the naivety or social danger of these imaginings... but nevertheless they continue - for the mind is curious to see what will emerge... and perhaps it will be relevant to the frightening news of hijacking, and suicide attacks, and mass killing at the most centralised of workplaces, as a protest against something? ...What is the something?)