Forman's Games by Forman Lance;

Author:Forman, Lance; [Lance Forman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 4782754
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2016-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

On that friendly note, I must have checked in for the night with René, both mentally drained and in fear for our future.

My call to the LDA office the next morning, 7 July, didn’t quite go as planned. Firstly, nobody was available at nine – unlike the Marshgate Lane business owners, I suspect they’d been indulging in lavish celebrations at the news from Singapore. I left a message with the receptionist, and promised I’d try again in half an hour.

For the rest of the morning, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on business. There were soon reports of explosions across the capital. In 2005, just four years had passed since the collapse of New York’s Twin Towers at the hands of a coordinated terrorist attack, and London had long been considered next in line, on account of the UK’s being the White House’s most willing sidekick whenever it dived head-first into its latest Middle East conflagration.

Suddenly, my morning’s resolution to re-engage with the LDA was overtaken by events. I was reminded that, however troubling my situation, it paled into insignificance against being the hapless victim of a terrorist attack – killed or maimed for no better reason than trying to travel to work during the peak commuter hour. Over the next few hours, the storm of rumour and counter-rumour gave way to some disconcerting truths. The UK had suffered its first ever Islamist suicide attack, and also the worst terrorist incident on British soil since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Fifty-two people had been killed as a series of bombs had detonated at locations across London’s Underground and bus network, with hundreds more maimed or injured – many with life-changing severity. I quickly established that none of my workforce had been affected, which was a blessing, and reflected on the astonishing, roller-coaster twenty-four hours in the capital’s history. One moment, asked by the IOC to host the planet’s most high-profile sporting event; the next, in the terrorists’ crosshairs. No wonder that my emotions that day were such a mess. With images of the atrocities seared into people’s minds, tension remained palpable throughout the capital. It wasn’t until the following week that Londoners were once again able to go about their business with a spirit approaching normalcy (even then, it took a brave soul to carry a backpack and run the gauntlet of worried glances from one’s fellow travellers).

Soon after hearing of the attacks, I pinged a short email over to Blacker. ‘Gareth, truly sorry about the tragic problems that we’re all facing today in London. I trust your people are safe and secure. Perhaps we can speak tomorrow.’

We never did speak the following day, but I did confirm that the New North Road site was still available. However, the asking price had doubled to £8 million since the previous summer. If the LDA thought the price had previously been steep, they were unlikely to leap at the opportunity now.

It was months before my next substantive conversation with the LDA. Not expecting to win the bid, they were under-resourced to deal with success.

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