Waiting In Vain

I’ve broadcast my drivetime show on three separate occasions from the scene of the Grenfell Tower disaster and strangely it was almost worse every time.
The first was in the immediate aftermath, and it was heartbreaking. The building still smouldering. Hundreds of press descended likes ghouls feasting on the souls of the dead….
Family and friends literally walking around in a daze, waiting.
People told me they were speaking to friends in the tower up to 4am that morning and then nothing. They hadn’t been home and hadn’t spoken to anyone in authority. They were just waiting.
At that point I knew it was bad but..
I went the next day too and it was amazing. I didn’t see a single person purporting to represent the council but there were hundreds of volunteers. Young, old black, white, rich and poor working together. Trying to fill a void. I met people from all over the country who just woke up and came down to see what they could do. There were so many donations too. Only now I see what was missing…. it was the survivors. Where were all these boxes going?
A week on, we decided to have a look at what had developed. By now everyone was blaming everyone else. It was now I heard what people who had witnessed the fire thought the real death toll was. They were also accusing me and other media of suppressing the numbers. Oh by the way. 1 week on the trucks, anchors and cameras had gone. It was just me and the team on the scene. The ghouls had gone
There were shrines to the dead, posters on every lamppost. People randomly crying, whilst others were making sure the tower was is view as they took their selfie.
What hurt, what really hurt was just before the end of the show about 60 people turned up beside our van to hold a mass of sorts for someone who was missing and feared dead. Never been an uninvited guest at the funeral of someone I didn’t know before. And certainly not in the middle of the street while I was broadcasting.