Be Excellent To Each Other

Jesus. Glad your Mum is OK, Meems. If she knew the victims well, she might need some kind of counselling but might not recognise that she does from shock etc. so try and nudge her in that direction if you feel she might need it!

I thought you were describing a gas explosion at first. When I was about 7 the house two doors down from mine was partially destroyed when a gas canister in their camper van out front exploded, everyone had to be evacuated within a certain radius just in case anything else went up. That was shocking enough, and no-one was injured in that one, can't even begin to imagine how this would feel

I thought it was a gas explosion too. I think because of the presence of the Cadent vans.

And thank you Gaz. Yeah, I check in with her 2-3 times a day usually, so I’ll see how she’s doing and suggest some support if she’s not ok. I think right now she’s in shock and a bit upset at the reporters.

Edit: Yeah, she’s not great. She’s upset with the crowds, I think she feels a bit trapped in the house. She knew the family and it’s all very close to home, plus just knowing how quickly the houses went up (they are all identical in the terrace row) has scared her. Then whilst I was on the phone her M-I-L appeared on her TV screen being interviewed, and that just seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back (the houses that went up were between my mum’s and her MIL’s, and if there was ever someone that was going to immediately insert herself into something it was going to be her.

My Pa and brother are both bus drivers, and my brother thinks that the man from the house (which he assumes to be the person arrested) is one of the bus drivers from the depot, so it all just feels very shocking.

Oh God that's horrible Meems. My thoughts with your mum and with you too. I hope the news people stop bothering her shortly. It's horrifying to have such violence near to home. My close friends Rachel and Ian in Pennsylvania were freaked out by the attempted assassination in their small town of Butler PA, and my parents by the Jo Cox murder down the road from them. Hope the shock wears off soon and it's good that you're there for her.

Every time I click on this thread I hope it's just something like, "Bah - I have a cold," or, "My soufflé is sub-optimal." But this one is particularly shocking.

Thank you, Pete.

I know a lot of people ask ‘why do people get upset about X when the same situation is happening to/in X as well’ but it is true that things just hit harder when they are closer to home, people you know, buildings you recognise, towns you’ve visited, countries you have lived in, etc,

I think this feels big to me because all those houses are identical. Some have roofings that slope one way and some slope the other way, and honestly those pictures could be the house I grew up in, if I didn’t 100% know that it isn’t because I’ve spoken to my mum.

That's horrible. I hope your mum isn't too shaken up.

She’s coping, doesn’t feel she needs any counselling. Shes a bit down but I think that’s partly because she can’t get away from it at the moment. I hope that will ease off a bit when some of the vehicles and emergency services finish up.

It turns out it IS sometimes lupus.

I’m waiting on test results to confirm, but am starting some autoimmune meds today.

Sucks to be meeeeeeeee.

Hope the answers/meds help Mimi

It can’t be treated as such, but I’m trialling meds to see if grey help with my butterfly rash, but really if I’m ever gong to get that seen to I’d have to go private to have laser treatment.

Hope the meds do the trick, Mimi

Cheers Z. Fingers crossed. It would make a real difference if they do.

Slept on this today, and honestly I feel fine about it.

To be honest it was something that had been suggested as a cause before now, something I read up about and it was a perfect match, then kind of forgot about until yesterday, so maybe I’ve already done all of my overthinking

Went to a funeral yesterday for a chap I used to play rugby with. He also coached my son for a while. He was only two years older than me, and cancer took him far too soon. It’s absolutely knocked me for six. That said, it was really touching to see some of the old faces again and share stories from our rugby days. A bittersweet reminder of the bonds we build through the game.

Really sorry to hear this, Kov. That’s no age at all.

Thanks mate He was such a lovely man too.

Over on RLLMUK, Harbibokart has been diagnosed with cancer for four years now. It’s been quite frankly amazing with how he’s dealt with it all, but we’ve just been told he died this afternoon. Definite mixed feelings as he’d not been in a good way for some time and is no longer suffering, but I’ll miss his sense of humour and messages.

Sorry to hear that mate.

I found out last night that one of my senior-school class mates had suddenly died - he woke up with a small headache and then later in the day had a massive stroke and that was that.

Only 44 and had 3 kids under 10, so it's really sad. It's kind of shaken me a bit even though we weren't really friends and haven't spoken since school finished I thought he was a decent chap and a memorable classmate.