I am having a very busy time in the UK, attending seminars and other genealogy events, doing some research, and visiting relatives and friends. Right now I am staying with a friend in Charlton, London. We expected our area to be safe, but on Monday night we had a police helicopter overhead until about 2am, spotlighting rioters and looters at our local shopping centre (four blocks away). We could smell burning rubber and hear shouting in the main road that runs parallel to our street.
Overall, though, it is much safer here than in many other areas. Last night there were no helicopters here, but police cars with sirens blaring were zooming past on the main road at about one minute intervals from 8pm until I fell asleep around 10:30pm. (Postscript: see Monday 8th August in Timeline of the 2011 England Riots.)
