LONDON — An orange teddy bear nestled among bouquets of flowers on a railing outside King’s Cross station yesterday.
“London — We Love You,” read one message, written boldly in red ink. A flower-bedecked card read: “We’re Thinking of You,” and a note pinned to a bouquet carried the words of the Psalm 23, “The Lord is My Shepherd.”
Fifteen stories below, in a claustrophobic tunnel reeking of rotting flesh, police battled intense heat and humidity in an attempt to reach bodies in the mangled wreckage of a blasted rail car.
Elsewhere, commuters sat in silence.
“Bloodied but Unbowed,” was the headline emblazoned on the mass-circulation Daily Mirror.
Afternoon papers displayed photos of people reported missing and carried the “desperate appeals” of their loved ones for information.
Trains passed through King’s Cross station without stopping. They slowed briefly as they traversed silent and empty platforms.
“No Stopping — maximum speed 5 miles an hour,” read a yellow sign.
Ironically, a large sandwich-board sign on the platform proclaimed: “Thank You London. Congratulations.”
It was referring to the decision Wednesday to appoint London as the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games — a bid which the London transport service had strongly backed.
On the walls of the tunnel alongside the deserted platform, a large poster read: “Guilty until proven innocent.”
The “guilty” party was depicted as an innocuous-looking bag, and the message urged the public to report suspicious items.
“Since the Irish Republican Army threat diminished in recent years,” said Graham Brooks, 40, “we ordinary passengers had relaxed our vigilance about bags and suspicious people.”
“We’re somewhat inured to it as we’ve had terrorism long before you Americans got it,” he added.
A software developer, he had worked in London throughout the IRA bombing campaign of the 1970s and ’80s. “I guess we’ll be careful now.”
Another passenger, Hanna Turner, 28, agreed. “You’re not really on the lookout, especially in the morning when you’re still half asleep.”
Roads out of London were clogged, as many Londoners decided to spend the weekend outside the metropolis. Yesterday evening’s rush-hour trains were only half-full.
“I was shocked yesterday, but now I’m feeling relieved,” said 17-year-old Isabel Fingel, a student.
“It was gonna happen, and now it has happened. I think we got away quite lucky,” fellow student Neil Dhadresha, 17, chimed in.
“You saw what they did to Madrid and obviously New York. We’ve had our punishment. … I don’t fear a repeat. Touch wood.”
Fellow students laughed — nervously.
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