Extraordinary scenes on the M6 toll as the police dealt with an unlikely terrorist plot to blow up a Megabus. Thankfully it turned out to be a false alarm caused by an electronic cigarette giving off fumes from a bag. A passenger called the police, making them either a hero or an idiot depending on which way you look at it. Of course we don't want to get to a point where people are afraid to report their suspicions for fear of looking foolish, but then again confronting the person who owned the bag might have been a more sensible immediate response. If it was a bomb and it was giving off smoke then it was probably not best to hang around and if it wasn't then you'd all get to your destination quicker if you just asked what was going on.
Before the truth was discovered there were rather terrifying images on the news of the passengers from the bus, all seated in a huge square pegged out on the ground, surrounded by policemen in black. It seemed sinister and unnecessary, but also strangely though it was clear in the film that the BBC were showing, the reporter was not mentioning it at all. Apparently also the passengers were kept on the bus for two hours before they were then led to this strange wall-less holding area, which I wouldn't have been very happy about if there was a possibility that a bomb or poison gas was in the vehicle.
Obviously the police have a proscribed way of dealing with such an incident, but it seems a strange way to deal with it to me. I am amazed that no one went ape shit. All those guns and people trapped in a bus and then held in a strange 1984 two-dimensional prison - it wouldn't have been too surprising if someone freaked and then got shot, all because someone on the Megabus had been trying to give up smoking.
After it was all over did those passengers all get on the bus and carry on their journey? Did they know who was responsible for ringing the police or for releasing the vapour? What was the atmosphere like? Cheers for making us six hours late and having had me held at gunpoint mate. I think there may have been some tension.
Or did the shared experience of being treated like a terrorist bring them all together. Sometimes being treated like a terrorist is enough to make you want to act like a terrorist. It would have been apt if they'd all made a pact and decided to drive the bus into the Houses of Parliament. It would probably only hurt them, but who cares?
I am not a paranoid conspiracy freak, but it really feels like there's something we're not being told about this. Wouldn't the best course of action be to get the people to get off the bus and then ask to look in the smoking bag and then when it turned out to be an electronic cigarette let them all get on their way? What's the logic in keeping them all on the bus and then in that little square? Very odd.
I enjoyed this video
of a guy having a conversation with his 12 year old self, but that's probably because that's pretty much what my entire career boils down to. This is really well done though, funny and poignant and showed great foresight from a 12 year old boy. I love the mild embarrassment of the older version when the younger one is acting up. Of course in the future it will be possible to literally have a conversation with the younger you, using time twisting technology. It won't matter that you'll be able to warn yourself about what the future is going to bring, because the laws of physics are created in such a way that a 12 year old will never take advice from or properly listen to a 32 year old.
