Ajaxtalk

It has now been confirmed:

1. the blasts in London were a series of terrorist attacks
2. there are not just wounded, but also deaths (two confirmed so far)

This is the new 9/11, although it seems like we won't lose as many human beings this time. If it turns out that 'only' two people have died when the dust settles, it would be a true miracle given the fact that six bombs went off on underground trains and buses during rush hour in London.

My thoughts go out to the wounded, the people who have lost a loved one and the people of London and the rest of the U.K. for this cowardly attack on their country.

This is a sad day.

K.

One survivor said he saw more than 20 dead bodies at Kings Cross alone, and "arms and legs everywhere".

Also that bus that has been ripped to shreds was reportedly packed with commuters who had been turned away from the underground.

The Guardian's Newsblog is reporting that a 7th bomb has gone off on Leicester Square in the last few minutes. Not confirmed anywhere else though.

Yes, the numbers are increasing. Officially there are 2 dead and 190 wounded now, but according to First Aiders the number of deaths will increase by at least 10...

:nooo:

K.

33 dead according to police reports...

K.

I think I might be a little bit tetchy but somehow the use of smiley's don't really seem appropriate at this worrying time.
Maybe it comes from having 3 sons and one future daughter-in-law all working in London.

one minute silence

I'd like to say that I'm sorry about the tragedy that happened today in London.
Come on England, be brave !

It does kind of put life and football into perspective really.

I work in Central London and was in a meeting and knew nothing of what was happening until I came out and my girlfriend was ringing asking where I was and if I was OK.

Thank god that I was although there are is one colleague who we've not been able to contact all day but who will hopefully be alright. I do try not to use the Underground anyway as I hate it but I have to at times and have travelled on route 30 bus (the one that blew up) many times. It just brings it home all the more when you know the places involved - I used to work just around the corner from two of those.

A very sad day and thanks for the solidarity guys. (I can see what the flags are for now - it didn't click and you had me puzzled till I read this thread)

Glad you are safe SE6Ajacied.

One of our sons travels each day through Edgeware Road - lucky for him this time that he has to be in work at 8am. One of our other sons works at Liverpool Street whilst the future daughter in law is in Docklands. Thank goodness they are all safe. The third son is on Australia on Holiday.

Thanks for the support from France and thanks Ko for removing the smileys.

Over Pasanens Head schreef:Glad you are safe SE6Ajacied.

One of our sons travels each day through Edgeware Road - lucky for him this time that he has to be in work at 8am. One of our other sons works at Liverpool Street whilst the future daughter in law is in Docklands. Thank goodness they are all safe. The third son is on Australia on Holiday.

Thanks for the support from France and thanks Ko for removing the smileys.

Cheers OPH,

Glad your people are OK too - I'm certainly not looking forward to getting on that train to work tommorrow.............

It is of course of no relevance on a day like this but I would still like to scribble something down about my support for all the people who were injured or killed in the terrible deed today (all well as for their relatives and Londoners/Englishmen).

It's on days like this you think about what's valuable in life and I sincerely hope that we don't have to face another deed like this in our lifetime.

One has to dream...

My heartfelt condolences go out to the families of the innocent victims of today's mass murder and my prayers to the wounded , their families, and all the citizens of England. YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!

The number of deaths is now officially higher than 50... and there are still bodies in the tunnels of the Underground... 22 people in hospitals still in critical condition...

This is so terrible. If you just add up the numbers: all those young soldiers and innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan... all those people inside the Twin Towers in New York... all those people on that train in Madrid... and now these people in London... They're gone. Forever. And think of their wives, parents, children, friends... They lost someone they love.

Why? What's the point of it all?

Devastating. It's so sad. So pointless.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef: And think of their wives, parents, children, friends... They lost someone they love.

Yes, it's easy just to remember the exact number of victims that have lost their lifes, but there are so many more. Thounsand and thousands of innocent people who have lost their family mmebers and friends.

It's terrible. Hard to understand. Awful.

Kowalczyk schreef:
It's so sad. So pointless.

K.

Perhaps not from their point of view

Frans schreef:

Kowalczyk schreef:
It's so sad. So pointless.

K.

Perhaps not from their point of view

Frans, I don't get your point, mate.... :???:

Carcajou schreef:

Frans schreef:

Kowalczyk schreef:
It's so sad. So pointless.

K.

Perhaps not from their point of view

Frans, I don't get your point, mate.... :???:

Perhaps what he is saying that these people believe that this is the only route now open to them and that in their eyes the likes of Bush and Blair are the real terrorists.
I just wish that both sides would just stop and think about what they are doing and the resultant cost in human life.

Over Pasanens Head schreef:

Carcajou schreef:

Frans schreef: Perhaps not from their point of view

Frans, I don't get your point, mate.... :???:

Perhaps what he is saying that these people believe that this is the only route now open to them and that in their eyes the likes of Bush and Blair are the real terrorists.
I just wish that both sides would just stop and think about what they are doing and the resultant cost in human life.

I'm afraid I don't understand, again. Is that the same as "Poor little terrorists this is their only mean of expression ?". If so, then I disagree. Fuck the terrorists, they're prehistoric barbarians.

You don't understand or you don't want to understand ?
No one said here "Poor little terrorist", for me, Frans just said that terrorists exactly knew what they were targeting, and WHY : that is not pointless, it is not 'just for fun', even if it's silly reasons.
They are 'prehistoric barbarians', everyone agree with that, but it is maybe too simple to say "they're bad, we're good, let's destroy them". This is the policy employed until now, and I think you can draw your conclusions by yourself about its efficiency...
So maybe it's time to think different and try to understand why these fu***** terrorist exist.

I had to go into Central London today,and chose not to cancel my appointments because we should try and carry on as normal and not let these Bastards win.If we change our normal day to day activities they would feel like they had achieved something so F*** them.It was quieter than normal and people did seem upset by what had happened but still determined to try and carry on as normal.The strange thing was I bumped into SE6 near Victoria.I am amazed I recognised him he was suited and booted and was even wearing his Ajax tie and telling me he is off to the Amsterdam tourny.
A very sad time and our thoughts are with those people who have lost loved ones.

pizza 5 schreef:The strange thing was I bumped into SE6 near Victoria.I am amazed I recognised him he was suited and booted and was even wearing his Ajax tie and telling me he is off to the Amsterdam tourny.

It is amazing really that something like this has some strange side affects. As well as a sort of cameraderie with complete strangers on the train etc you bump into people you'd never have seen otherwise. Without yesterday, I'd have already been in work (Charing Crosss station was shut for a bomb scare and I had to walk part of the way) and Pizza 5 would have been on the underground (I didn't fancy that either!). I wore my Ajax tie for luck - I don't wear it often but had it on yesterday and didn't want it to become a bad omen - today was OK so it isn't!

As you probably know I meet quite a lot of non-Dutch Ajax supporters. I've actually had the privilege of meeting quite a few of the regulars here on Ajax Talk. Always nice. You always ask me a lot of questions about Ajax, about Amsterdam and about The Netherlands - and I try to answer them. One of the things most of you want to know at some point is: how big is Amsterdam? How many inhabitants does the city have?

My answer: 'I don't know exactly, but it's not much more than 700,000.'

You seem surprised: 'Seriously? I thought Amsterdam was much bigger than that!'

Well, no. It's not. But there is something you have to take into account. That number is strictly the city of Amsterdam itself: the most limited way of counting, so to speak. A handful of sub-urban towns (Amstelveen, Diemen and Badhoevedorp) have actually physically 'grown together' with Amsterdam and are connected to the city, lifting the total population of the 'physical city' to well over 800,000. And then, of course, there's the 'Greater Amsterdam' area (the agglomeration/economical entity) that has approximately 1.5 million inhabitants.

If you look strictly at the population of the cities themselves (not the suburban towns or 'greater' areas) this is the list of cities/towns in Holland with more than 100,000 inhabitants (figures of 2005):

1. Amsterdam: 738,434
2. Rotterdam: 596,068
3. Den Haag: 468,421
4. Utrecht: 275,797
5. Eindhoven: 208,573
6. Tilburg: 179,917
7. Almere: 175,008
8. Groningen: 170,487
9. Nijmegen: 158,215
10. Haarlem: 146,753
11. Arnhem: 141,320
12. Enschede: 139,494
13. Apeldoorn: 136,980
14. Breda: 136,838
15. Maastricht: 122,620
16. Amersfoort: 119,785
17. Dordrecht: 119,649
18. Leiden: 118,231
19. Zoetermeer: 115,913
20. Zwolle: 110,947
21. Den Bosch: 100,870

I stumbled across this list and I thought: hey, let's post it to the Grab Bag, as some of you are so interested in this country it frightens me... ;)

K.

Kowalczyk schreef: If you look strictly at the population of the cities themselves (not the suburban towns or 'greater' areas) this is the list of cities/towns in Holland with more than 100,000 inhabitants (figures of 2005):

3. Den Haag: 468,421

Strictly speaking The Hague is only a village.. but that's just splitting hairs ofcourse.. :D

One more reason to book those tickets for World Cup 2006!

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/sto ... TR&coview=

:cheer:

1 August
• Anniversaries :bis:

Danny Blind
Date of birth: 1 August 1961
National team: Netherlands
Clubs: Racing Club Souburg, Sparta Rotterdam, AFC Ajax

Blind became Ajax's defensive cornerstone after starting out as a right-back with Sparta Rotterdam. With Ajax, he won 16 titles including five Dutch championships, three cups and three Super Cups. He also won the UEFA Cup in 1992, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, when he captained the side to victory against Milan, and European/South American Cup in 1995 and the UEFA Super Cup in 1996. He did not enjoy such success in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, however, missing Ajax's final victory in 1987 through injury and being sent off in their defeat by KV Mechelen the following year.He subsequently joined the coaching staff at Ajax and was appointed as head coach in 2005 following Ronald Koeman's departure.