The plot thickens

A year and a half ago, shortly after moving to Bristol, I wrote something about the exaggeration of fear in fighting terrorism. The day after, there was a “terror raid” in London that, besides being oddly prompt in relation to my post on the previous day, also made me double-take when I saw the location of the raid. I wrote:

I’m slightly concerned that the bomb-makers seem to be following me. I arrived in the UK last year in the middle of the 7/7 bombings, and discovered that some of the bombs may have been manufactured near my old home in the Hyde Park area of Leeds. Now it turns out one of the properties raided last night was very close to my last home, on Forest Road in Walthamstow. Anti-terror squad take note: next time I move, keep a close eye on the Clifton area of Bristol.

Well, it would have been highly peculiar to find bomb factories in Clifton, a bastion of wealthy Englishness. Still, Westbury-on-Trym, the home of the recently arrested 19 year-old “charged with terrorist offences relating to explosive substances”, is a mere three miles away.

I don’t think this has half as much of the “isn’t that weird” synchronistic frisson as I thought it might. I’m kind of getting used to it…