Where were you when

all show no go

I came home from working at HMV, Oxford Circus and I just thought "F**king Yanks. Here we go again!" to be honest...

finchy

Just got back in from town, switched on the TV, saw what was happening.

It's quite strange really, I was 21 at the time, and took a very keen interest in world affairs (Well, I was doing a degree in Politics). Because during my childhood and teenage years, the news was basically Iraq, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Chechnya... I was completely and utterly de-sensitised to violence and killing on the TV - although I'm sure it would be very, very different if I saw it in real life - so I watched the whole thing without emotion, just thinking about what was going to happen next.

I know that's not right, to feel that way when thousands of people are dying, but I suppose that's the result of television being able to get you the nastiest images anywhere in the world very quickly.

It's at times like this that I wish I were religious, so I could do something like pray for people in the WTC and the conflicts above to go to heaven, or something like that.

AMcD

Massimo wrote:

I'd flown back to the UK from the States just 2 days before it happened. I was staying with some friends in Manhattan.

I was sat at work opposite my friend who had just returned from a weekend in Manhattan that she had won in a TV Craig David competition. She took her dad along. The details you remember.

Her sister phoned to tell us about the first 'accident' and phoned us with updates as it all unfolded. When the second plane hit I can remember the utter shock when she told us it was terrorists.

Le Commentateur

In those days, before Apple & the BBC fell out, it was possible to watch free streamimg 24 hour news from the BBC via Apple's QuickTime software, so that's what I did with a little QT window on my desktop while I sort of got on with work.

Porgy

I was off work for some reason and tinkering around in the kitchen listening to John "fat f*ck" Gaunt on the radio yabbering on about asylum seekers, when he announced that there's been an air accident in New York. When the second one got announced I put the telly on and set a VHS rolling to record the lot - still have it today.

My wife was at a conference in Birmingham and she called me....that was her conference blown out of the water - they all sat in the hotel lobby wtaching telly.

I set up a New York radio station on the internet connection to get more immediate news, made myself comfortable and spent the day watching events unfold.

I think the thing that most affected me was watching George Bush's odd reaction and the bizarre thing he said about watching the first plane hit on tv.

benno68

I was sat in my car in Penarth listening to the radio when a newsflash came on.

I was supposed to be flying to the States on Sept 13 (a Thursday) but that flight was postponed. I ended up going a week later - seemed like only a handful of us on a 747!

Porgy

Benno68 wrote:

I was supposed to be flying to the States on Sept 13 (a Thursday) but that flight was postponed. I ended up going a week later - seemed like only a handful of us on a 747!

I flew on a 747 to Miami soon after Lockerbie - on an El Al flight. It was an incredibly cheap ticket - I think everyone thought that it would be an Israeli plane that would be hit next. The security procedure was quite thorough though.

Smokin Joe

Myself and Mrs SJ were out in the car and listening to Steve Wright on R2. The news kept breaking bit by bit, the first reports suggesting it was an accident involving a light plane. As the show rolled on and the full extent was becomming apparant all the usual items were dropped, including most of the music, and we were getting updates as they came in.

mrchrispy

I was working my notice up in Newcastle, so basically loafing about on the internet all the time. I was sat in an IRC channel chatting when someone pointed me at CNN site pretty much as soon as the first tower was hit, pretty soon the web ground to a hault so we all went into the TV shop next door and watched the horror unfold.

my brother-in-law was on holiday in NYC that day, he's told us the day before that he was planning on visiting the viewing platform at the WTC s we were obviously worried. turns out he'd got up early to go and was having breakfast about a street away when it all happened. v.lucky. trouble was that we didn't hear from him until later that night....the wife and his mum were having kittens.

disgruntledgoat

I was on summer holiday from my 1st year a university, at my mate Jono's house waiting in for the glazer to bring an enormous, double glazed bay window round.

When he arrived we told him what was going on and he replied "bloody 'ooligans. Give us a hand with this window."

jrduquemin

I was working at a friends house building a PC when I found out. My mum called me on my mobile and told me there had been a plane accident in NYC. I also turned on the TV in the living room and saw the 2nd plane coming in and thought 'hmmm, that's not good'....

It still makes me shudder whenever I see any footage of it on TV. I also remember when they had camera crews running around at the base of the buildings and you could hear loud bangs every now and again. They were people hitting the ground after jumping out of windows!!!

fatgit

I was playing Rugby at Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. We got on the minibus to go home and they said about it on the radio, we thought they were joking so didn't think anything of it. After half an hour of them going on about it we realised they probably weren't joking!

redddraggon

I had a really good history teacher at school. It was the first history lesson of my GCSEs - we talked about the attack at Pearl Harbour being the biggest loss of life in an attack on the US.

Unfortunately his information was out of date at that point.

Didn't actually here anything about what was happening until after the lesson, when the day ended, went to the school car park, and every body had their car doors open and the radios on.

jellybellywmb

I was skiving off work and painting my patio doors, turned the telly on and thought it was a film.

deptfordmarmoset

As a curious postscript to 9/11, a blue tit managed to get through the 2-inch opening at the top of my living room window. Once inside it panicked and made repeated attempts to fly through the glass. I opened the window as wide as it would go and, after a brief perch on my bookshelf, it flew out the window, did the blue tit equivalent of a whoop for joy and disappeared for good. It's really odd that the only time I've known a bird to fly into my flat should happen on the anniversary of 9/11, as though it really were Flying Into Buildings Day

BigDarbs

I was at one of the hospitals I worked for, and one of the PA's (who was very, very dippy) came down the corridor towards me and said "What are those big towers in New York?" I replied, the World Trade Centre, she said "Yes thats them, one of them has fallen over"... very matter of fact.

I said, they don't just fall over, she replied "well it did" and ambled off, as if she was talking about a branch falling off a tree in the drive!!

jrduquemin

jellybellywmb wrote:

I was skiving off work and painting my patio doors, turned the telly on and thought it was a film.

Funny mentioning that, I also thought it wasn't real at first...

richk

On holiday in a caravan Norfolk.

tebbit

I was in a meeting in Stevenson House in York, left when it started and by the time I got back the security guard on site at Bridlington showed me the footage on the news, which was then interupted for the second plane crashing.

I remember mixed feelings at the time, while I felt sorrow for the poor sods in the towers I rememered support in certain centres of the States for IRA terrorism and people collecting for the IRA, that coloured my judgement about Americans being on the receiving end of terrorism. However it still sends cold shivers down my spine.

Anonymous

I was at work heard the news from my wife who phoned me. We went up to reception and watched it as it happened. I remember thinking that the world was going to change bigtime, and for a while after there were NO planes about at all, loads of Paranoia, Canary wharf had a scare etc. bad times.

Nuggs

I was at work in London. I'd just come back after getting a coffee and the entire office were crammed into the reception area watching events unfold on TV.

I'll never forget the atmosphere on the train home. You could hear a pin drop.

heavymental

Smokin Joe wrote:

Myself and Mrs SJ were out in the car and listening to Steve Wright on R2. The news kept breaking bit by bit, the first reports suggesting it was an accident involving a light plane. As the show rolled on and the full extent was becomming apparant all the usual items were dropped, including most of the music, and we were getting updates as they came in.

I remember the same. I was driving along the M4 listening to the radio. The story gradually developed and all normal broadcasting was replaced by sombre music and news updates. I remember that was the trend for several days afterwards. I remember Radio 2 played Fire and Rain by James Taylor quite a lot in that period. It seemed very appropriate at the time and still reminds me of that day when I hear it now. I got to my destination and turned the news on and watched until it started to repeat itself.

What a crazy day. Its mad when you see the footage again. I guess they're images that are burned into the memories of everyone on the planet who could see a tv on that day. Then again...its also crazy to think that many people rejoiced when they heard about that event. And sadly, they had their reasons to rejoice. Its a mad world.

ddraver

redddraggon wrote:

I had a really good history teacher at school. It was the first history lesson of my GCSEs - we talked about the attack at Pearl Harbour being the biggest loss of life in an attack on the US.

Unfortunately his information was out of date at that point.

Did nt know that!!

I was in a Chemistry test!!

synchronicity

I was watching the Late night news on channel 10 in Sydney. I think Sandra Sully told the dreaded news. After watching the first tower burning we were still trying to figure out what was going on...

Then we saw the second plane hit, then it was pretty clear what was going on.

Half an our later or so, building 1 went down with a mighty CRASH. That's when I predicted building 2 would fall as well. :shock: :shock: :shock:

I stood on one of those towers in late 2000! :x