'It's that sick feeling you have before an interview'

Mark Margolis, project manager, 28

"That is where I boarded the train, in the first carriage," he said, pointing to the front of the platform. "And that is where they have confirmed the bomb was placed. Seeing it is one of the worst moments of my journey today."

He had been walking past the cordoned-off Piccadilly line platform at Finsbury Park in north London in his first commute back to work. Revisiting the scene brought back the terror. Mr Margolis, 28, a married project manager for a software company, had felt apprehensive about going to work in Hammersmith, west London, so soon after the trauma of last week's blast.

"I've got butterflies in my stomach and that sick feeling you have before a job interview, the same adrenalin," he said. "But I hope today will be the beginning of a return to normal life for me. Getting back on to the Tube for work is a milestone. I'm not sure my head is in the right place for work but I'm going in anyway. And from now on, I'm going to ask about bags if I don't see an obvious owner."

He was among the first survivors to emerge from the King's Cross train, having endured the smoke, dust and screams of fellow passengers for 20 minutes.

Yesterday, changing at Victoria for a District line train, he was relieved he had nearly completed the first journey back, after an early-morning visit to his doctor who checked his head injuries. "I am glad I've done it but I've left for work later today so tomorrow, when I board an even more packed train on my own, it's going to be difficult," he said "It's not going to be nice for me the first time a train stops in a tunnel, or when it jolts, but I'll get through it.

"If the Piccadilly line was working, I'd get on it. I'm not saying it would be easy but I'd want to do it. Maybe it's the Londoner in me or stubbornness. I just know I'm not going to let this stop me from living my life," he said.