I remember I was a little lad shopping with my dad, in JJB in the arndale, and my dad having an argument with the store manager, who was asking him to evacuate and wouldnt let him pay for a couple of T shirts, eventually we left and were guided out by the police, i remember the rumble of the explosion and things falling off of shelves in a a shop we went in further down the road, i remember turning round and seeing the big glass window wave like a sail in the wind, it must have been the only bit of glass in the street that didnt smash, and we were stood right by it, i remember the glass on the floor, people running, screaming, a look on my dads face that feared me to death, and I remember my instinct to run in the direction everyone else was running, and I remember my dad stopping me, telling me not to run, and to take a deep breath before we started walking. I also remember the cloud above the city as we drove out, one of the most frightening yet breathtaking things i think i have ever seen. I don't remember anyone ever say how close we were to being blown to pieces, what I have heard, correct me if im wrong, is that the store we were in was one of the ones obliterated by the blast. lucky me. I empathise with the OP, but took with me from the experience a lot of positives, i listen to people who are priveliged to more information than me, which i attribute to my daft dad arguing with a guy who said "evacuate", and im also the kind of person who will stand his ground and not panic, and generally try and manage a bad situation, which i attribute to my dad again, for making me walk slowly through the street, and not run like everyone else.
Im lucky that i was not injured, in fact, i didnt even drop my strawberry cornetto, and I'm lucky that my dad is the guy he is, he floored the car on the way home, i remember being excited at the speed, and i remember mum not knowing a thing about it when we got home! These were the days before mobiles were mainstream and dad had driven like a nutter to get home before mum saw anything on the news and have a chance to panic.
and to link to the OP again, i started this post remembering the general jist of what happened, but I'v been shocked at the level of detail i can remember, for example a quick exchange of verbals between my dad and a white van driver going toward town as we were buggin out! so I can only begin to imagine what someone like julian may have gone, and still be going through, and im lucky that i was young enough for my dads reactions to the situation to have sunken in and influenced how i will react tomorrow.
however, Im not too keen on a "memory eraser", can only be bad as any patient will only seek out what has been taken from his mind, which will lead to other problems.
post traumatic stress can be dealt with in so many other ways. any psychologists on here want to back me up?
anyway, enough baring of my psyche, wheres the bitchez at??
