Where were you on 9/11?

[pigin stripes]

In bed having come off a night shift and was awoken by the phone (ear Plug had fallen out---which they never did before or since). Told by a colleague to turn CNN on.
Saw a big fire in a tall building thought bloody hell, just to see the second plane hit the second tower.
One of those moments will always stay with you RIP.

 

[Seagull Stew]

I was on my lunch break, and the first I heard about it was from North Stand Chat!

 

[teaboy]

In the back room of the Bar Mariuccia in Montalcino, Italy, translating the live Italian TV news coverage for a group of near-hysterical Americans, including a couple of New Yorkers, who were trying to make some sense of what they were seeing, even though it made no sense to the people who were presenting the TV programme ... all the time worrying about the teaboy and his girlfriend who were on holiday in Lower Manhattan.

As it happened, the young 'uns had been out late the night before, had slept in (about half a mile from the action) and eventually woke up to find that it was "a bit dusty outside".

Slept through the attack in our hostel on the Bowery. Overheard someone say "apparently a plane's hit the world trade centre" so popped outside and next-door for breakfast bagels as usual and a bit of a look. I couldn't see the site, but it was a bit dusty! I took breakfast back to the room, and spent most of the rest of the day watching CNN with shocked New Yorkers. The scrolling reports along the bottom of the screen were great - "500,000 dead" followed by "100,000 dead" followed by "unknown number of casualties" - there's nothing like a bit of sensationalist reporting in times of disaster!

The 10th was REALLY odd - New York couldn't cope with anything. Some roads were closed "for safety reasons" but in one direction only and you were allowed to walk round the block to get into the closed bit then through the cordon from the other side. There were 90 false alarms across the city and buildings were being evacuated, but to the road outside. It's the only time in my life when I wished the Met police were in charge.

I managed to spend 2 weeks in New York without going up the WTC, Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty - all things planned for week 2 of the trip and all closed. The flight back was odd too - they wouldn't give us plastic knives at Newark airport, but we got metal cutlery on the plane and actual glass glasses!

I didn't see the film of the attacks until a few days after we got home - bloody horrible.

 

[LukeOwen]

I was 4 can't remember much , we lived in germany and I think my mum and dad were just sat on the sofa fixed to the tv,or my dad was at the RAF base working. But i don't remember much.

 

[manilaseagull]

On Detachment in Bahrain with the RAF

 

[SeagullsT0m]

I was on the plane coming home from Corfu when the first plane hit! It was some scary stuff! I was only 6 so I had a feeling it could happen it the plane I was on! The scariest flight of my life!

 

[APACHE]

Just arrived home from work to watch the whole event unfold on tv. 1 week later flew into Washington D.C. on a half empty jumbo and in the city the hotels were empty and hardly a tourist in sight. When they found out we were English they couldn't believe we'd travelled at that time as most Americans were staying at home, tried to explain we were use to it what with the IRA etc. Big wake-up call for the USA.

 

[The Original]

I was working for British Airways at the time, but day off on 9/11 as my Grandma had passed away late the previous evening. The loss of a close relative combined with the enormity of the unfolding situation made it a surreal day - one I will never forget.

 

[Strikerdes]

I was so young but I remember the day like it was yesterday. In school and when I got home it was all over the news.
People say it is a moment in our life that we shall never forget, where we were, when it happened, why it happened and so on, they are correct. One of the biggest tragedies this world has seen, still sad to think of it today.

 

[Simster]

Working in London. Awful day. It then transpired a week later that someone who had left the firm a year before had died.




(I do hope brunswick doesn't see this thread)

 

[itszamora]

I was at school, heard a rumour something had happened on the bus home and got home just after the second plane hit. Then didn't move from in front of News 24 for about five hours.

 

[bpbill]

Had a day off as it was my wedding anniversary and in those days (two year anni) my wife expected me not to work on usch a day.

Spent the day watching events unfold on the box. When the fourth plane went down it was close to where a friend of ours was living at the time, we didn't know until later just how close it was. Tried to phone them up but couldn't get through.

Day went from bad to worse when we had a knock on the door to be told my eldest son (14 at the time) had been knocked down by a car. Rushed up the road and arrived at the same time as the ambulance, it was not a pretty sight, but thankfully he was not to badly injured and was released from hospital later that night. The one saving grace was that the car had not been speeding in what was a road notorious for drivers going to fast.

Needless to say we spent our anniversary evening in the hospital and not in the restaurant as planned

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

I was at sixth form in the common room. A girl ran in and shouted "They've bombed the pentagon!". I'll never forget how she almost sounded pleased. She was a bit of a hippy and probably thought it was cool to hate america.

We went into one of the english rooms and sat there for the next hour watching the tv. She very quickly changed her attitude. I don't remember seeing the towers collapse.. I think I was at home by then. All I remember is seeing the footage of the second plane hitting over and over again on BBC News.

 

[Sam Ovett]

Year 4, came out of school and my mum said "A plane has crashed into a building in New York". I wasn't aware of the scale so said "oh, so?" - Didn't know it was that bad until I got home and it was on t'news

 

[Chamberpot]

I was 8 and started year 5 in primary school. My mum had told me about the disaster after I finished that day, we were affected by it as we were in New york a few months before.

 

[Biscuit]

My mum was driving me along the coast road in a clapped out van, we heard it on the radio.

Very weird day.

 

[PC-Gull]

I was walking into my Maths class when I heard about it. Didn't really spend much of the rest of the day learning what the teachers had planned to teach. We were watching the news in every class.