For two minutes, the world — or at least in Britain and in most parts of Europe — stood still in rememberance of those who died last week from the bombings in London.

The initiative did not only take place in Trafalgar Square (the heart of most of the memorial events today) but all across the UK and beyond the channel. People not only stopped with what they were doing at 12 noon, but were also requested to stand outside their homes or their places of work to show their condemnation of such atrocities. Our office was prompt, when I came down at 5 to 12, there were already around 6 people there. And then when the clocks struck 12, you could just feel the silence through the air. No sound of machinery or any movement at all. Even the boats that were cruising along the river paused to pay their respects. Shame I was not able to see the traffic from where we were standing, it would have been a touching site to see the cars stopped especially in the busy motorways, if they had stopped at all. And then in the news, pictures came flowing in of these acts of rememberance — the Prime Minister, the Queen herself. Just the feeling of having taken part of it sent goosebumps all over me.

Remembering one of the lines said by a foreign minister (can’t remember who said it):

We are all Londoners now.

And indeed we are, in sending a message to the people who have no respect for human life — we shall prevail!

On a much lighter note, me and a friend, S, went to see The Rat Pack at the Rochester Castle Gardens tonight. This was the musical that was launched in Las Vegas, which highlights the music of three musical legends: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. It is now playing in the West End in London.

The venue was open and with the excellent sunny day we had today, it was just perfect to sit on the blanket on the grass while seeing the rest of the people around you getting well pissed. So pissed, in fact, that the lady who was sitting on director’s chair to our right, fell down backwards when she sat down after dancing to one of Dean Martin’s songs!

But oh, what a night, indeed! They played the favourites, of course, but I did like the performances on Mr Bojangles, That’s Amore, What Kind of Fool Am I and Volare. Oh, also liked Me and My Shadow or was it My Shadow and Me? Oh well. The crowd loved them so much that they had to do 3 encore numbers! Two of them were My Way where everyone was really singing and it turned into one big karaoke stage, and the very last one was New York, New York, of course! My only complain was they never performed Beyond the Sea. But it was a great show. I was planning to see it on West End but now, I don’t have to. Ah … wish I could sing with a big, swing band myself … someday, maybe.

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