Not Realising at the Time

It began here. It began as all things begin, without anyone realising at the time that things were going to change and change forever. It is only with hindsight, and when it is much too late to go back, that we realise how things have changed.

It all began simply enough when the government claimed it was, of course, having to take action for the good of us all, to protect us from those elements, both from within our own society and from outside who were threatening our way of life.

It seemed, though, at the time that the ever-present threat of terrorism, either from within or from outside had always been with us in one form or another. Nevertheless, we had – in that archetypal British way – managed to muddle through without much changing, except the occasional news headline about some atrocity or other, which – like all news headlines eventually faded into history.

However, the changes that the government had set in motion had not faded away into history, but had begun to creep and grow, mostly out of sight and out of mind, like some rampant weed that suddenly one day seems to have taken over the garden without anyone ever noticing.

It seemed that one day we woke up and our world had changed forever and it was too late for any of us to do anything to stop it.