(no subject)

This whole Madrid thing... ghastly... I have a good friend from work who lives in Madrid. I;ve known him for the best part of 15 years - he runs the IT department for our Spanish firm, but comes from Colombia originally. He is suave, sophisticated and has a wicked sense of humour. I like him a lot, although we probably only exchange mails every few months or so, and maybe see each other at work conferences once a year.

I mailed him - of course - to check that he and his family and other friends and colleagues who I know over there are ok. Thank God I got a reply back by return - he is fine, but lots of people from the firm are currently unaccounted for...more likely because of the disrupted travel and communications than because of the bombs but I guess we won;t know for sure for a couple of days...

It rather brings things home.... How many times have I heard reports of bombings in Iraq or Israel or Palestine or wherever and reacted with a shake of the head and a passing feeling of sadness? It takes an attack on a place where you know people to bring home the reality of the horror - and that makes me feel a bit shallow...