Flying the Union Jack...

...metaphorically speaking, for any Brit who might read this. The time my family spent living in London was probably the high point of our life together as a family other than the adoption of Sally and Rusty, and the only city in the world I love more than London is Karaganda.

But I'll tell you this. The lunatics picked the wrong people to try to intimidate. The worst thing you can do to a Brit is bloody his nose. Do al-Qaeda not remember the Blitz? Oh, yeah, THAT worked well...

For Americans who haven't had the great good fortune to spend time with Londoners, I pass on an eyewitness account from the City today. I don't have the link, but somebody mentioned being in a pub and seeing three guys studiously focusing on the football (soccer) news. As the blogger said, "This was not indifference. It was an act of defiance." Tomorrow more people will show up at work in London than any other day this year. People who had triple bypass surgery yesterday will insist on being wheeled to their offices on hospital gurneys just as a way to tell the terrorists to bugger off. That's the mild version, of course, and therefore not the authentic London sentiment. What you would actually get is more along the lines of Tim Worstall's, "F*** off, sunshine," where, as I have only just this moment discovered, he turns out to be making exactly the point I'm making but more eloquently...come to think of it, though, he tells them to bugger off, too. And for true uncensored British eloquence you can follow Tim's link to LNR's Letter to the Terrorists, from London, with begins with, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?", continues through a number of hearteningly pithy points including, "...that's because we're better than you. Everybody is better than you," and winds up with, "So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your a***holes, and get the f*** out of our city." Ah, I do miss London.

Listen, to any Londoners with nothing better to do than read this: Dessie and I were trapped in Heathrow in the aftermath of 9/11, and we won't ever forget the hospitality and support you guys showed us. Wish we were there now to return the favor. Our thoughts and prayers go with you guys.