Stay Strong London

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night or whatever time of the day it might be in whatever part of the world you are in. I'm writing this after cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and planning my trip to Alcatraz tomorrow before heading off to Las Vegas the day after. I cannot believe how lucky I am to be on what can only be described as the holiday of a lifetime with Chicago and New York still to follow.

The events of Saturday night in London have only made me feel even luckier and my heart goes out to the victims of such mindless violence. This is not a political forum and I'm not going to discuss my views on politics on it ever as it's about football and that should be an escape from not only the humdrum, but also the more serious aspects of our lives. The fact it happened in London made it all the more relevant and closer to home for me as I travel there every season to see my beloved Arsenal play.

It is never right or justified to kill innocent people in the name of any so called cause and I cannot believe any religion condones it. The horrors of Saturday night won't be easily forgotten for those who were caught up in them and I cannot imagine what all of those people had to go through on what should have been a normal night out. A good friend of mine had gone there for the weekend with his wife and I know how worried I was as I searched social media for news on the two of them.

Thankfully they were a good distance away from what happened, but they were still very scared and I was glad to hear they were safe. Those who carried out the attack want to scare us, but I will not let it stop me from going to see Arsenal as soon as I can next season and I have no doubt I will meet the same mix of people from every race, creed and persuasion that I always meet at Arsenal games. London is a fantastic city and one I have visited as often as I can for over 30 years now through good times and bad and that will not change.

I had hoped to write this post about all the latest transfer rumours surrounding Arsenal players and what I thought our chances were of signing any or all of them. With the transfer silly season here again there is plenty to report on, but it doesn't seem appropriate at the moment and maybe I'll get back to it in a few days. For the moment I'm going to leave it there and just reiterate how sad all of this has made me feel and how my thoughts are with all the people and their families who suffered so awfully on Saturday night.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.