// "essential" //
on the morning of 7th July 2005, there were a number of terrorist incidents in central London. all the London boroughs were placed on high alert and all of them enacted a plan for managing the situation. A friend who was Facilities Manager for a borough that will remain nameless sent me a (redacted) copy of an email he received as part of this. it explained a number of actions he needed to take, including provision of standby power supplies, and other related actions. It also explained that the borough's gold command would be set up in the Town Hall Boardroom. so far, so good.
the email went on to explain that the Boardroom was then in use by the Council Budgeting Committee, and their meeting would be in play until 2pm, so the Gold Command would be set up once they'd finished.
"Dear Mr Terrorist. We're not ready yet, please bear with us....."