#ThoughtfulThursday: Holborn Blaze
It's been an unusual 24 hours here at the office. We've been evacuated, left in the dark and heard sirens for miles. Now, when working in central London you begin to get slightly used to the 'white noise' of the city but after a few hours of repetitive noise, the office became unsettled.
Our lights started to dim, people started looking out of their windows only to see crowds of people in the street and smoke bellowing from manhole covers. It wasn't until the power completely died that people really started panicking.
We were in the dark for a while, not knowing what was going on outside of the four walls of our office. Our phones were down, Twitter wasn't loading so you can only imagine the drama. But thank fully, after an hour we were told to evacuate the office and hundreds of staff bundled onto the streets. One of the busiest areas of central London was in chaos, with no power until Somerset House. It had been declared as a ‘major incident’ and (at the time of writing this) they had not discovered the cause of the fire.
It was a very scary time but also a short time for reflection. It is so amazing how much we rely on electricity. To do only the simplest of things, like make a phone call, is almost impossible without electricity. Massive businesses grind to a halt without power and for a split second we all become redundant. It is truly fascinating.
I am so thankful to the London Fire Brigade for keeping us all safe! And of course to the UK Power Networks for getting us power and a functioning workplace!
If you were also affected by the #HolbornBlaze, I’d love to hear from you. Tweet me @NCampopiano.