TEN years ago today I was working at a petrol station on the outskirts of our fine city during my summer holiday from university.

During the morning we heard whispers of a September 11-style terrorist attack in London, first as vague rumours then later as more concrete tales of a bombing on the tube and a bus.

While on my break I checked my mobile and had a voicemail from my mother telling me she’d heard from my dad and he was fine.

My reaction was to wonder why I might have thought he wasn’t and thought no more of it. It wasn’t until I got home that afternoon that my brother mentioned he’d gone to London for the day for work.

While it turned out he was a long way from being in any danger, it did bring home just how close to home this was.

While September 11 was shocking, it was a long, long way away and seemed almost like happening in another world.

But this was different. While the majority of the 52 killed and 700 who were injured were Londoners, at least some of them were people who’d just popped to the capital for work, a spot of shopping or some sightseeing.

None of them expected they might not be going home.

While it was no doubt a major part of our 21st century history, ten years later how much has really changed?

It’s not uncommon to hear from New Yorkers, and Americans as a whole, just how different the world was after September 11. But here seems different.

Maybe it’s because we’d had the shock of seeing the twin towers fall, so another attack didn’t seem as shocking. Or maybe it’s a testament to resilience of Londoners and the UK, but the world in 2015 doesn’t seem dramatically different to how it did before the bombs went off.

Terrorists were successful in killing 52 people and hurting hundreds more once, ten years ago. But society didn’t collapse.

We occasionally hear that police and anti-terror forces have thwarted a plot to carry out an attack somewhere in the UK, usually in the capital. And every time we are thankful. But one day we won’t be ready.

And when that happens we’ll bounce back again. Just like we did 10 years ago.