Last Thursday

Last week was a bit of a roller coaster for those of us in the UK.  Wednesday was full of euphoria as we celebrated the selection of London as Olympic host for the 2012 Olympiad.  I remember laughing as one of of my French colleagues sent me picture of a French woman surrounded by half price T-Shirts promoting the Paris bid.

Within an hour the humour had gone, as I left a meeting a colleague said "you won't have heard the news ...".  From euphoria to horror in 24 hours.

Colleagues from across the globe sent me expressions of concerns and hopes that neither I or my family had been impacted.  We were fortunate but my thoughts are with the families of those whose loved ones are not coming home.

Like many of my fellow managers in the UK, I spent most of Thursday afternoon tracking down my direct reports to make sure they were fine and had suffered nothing more than inconvenience.  It suddenly puts the software industry and business in general in perspective.

When the perpetrators are caught I have a colleague in Italy who has some suggestions on how justice might best be served ....

In the meantime may God comfort those who have been bereaved and strengthen those who have been injured.