Gentlemen of ATC,
Thank you all for the story of that evening from your perspective. It must have been a logistical nightmare for you all.The suspension of LHR departures is completely understandable under those circumstances. From the pilots' point of view, it is always the lack of accurate information about the real situation which causes unnecessary second-guessing and changes of flightplan.
In tribute to UK ATC, I re-entered the UK via REFSO on Friday evening of 2nd August at about 1700UTC. On initial contact, it was immediately apparent that the controller's workload was immense. For a period of at least 5 minutes whilst we were on frequency, he issued instructions and responded continuously, without a second's pause, to a huge number of aircraft. The degree of cool professionalism was outstanding and you all have my utmost respect.
I have flown for far too long, all over the world, but it is always a real 'welcome home' to get back to the best ATC environment of all.