9/11 - 20 years ago. Where were you?

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Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
I wasn’t around when JFK was shot, but I remember where I was when the planes hit.

I was on a business visit to an insurance office in Chelmsford. We were all watching TV so saw the second plane hit the towers live and people around me knew staff from Marsh Insurance Brokers who had a head office in the twin towers. They lost around 100 staff that day.
I lived in dock lands at the time and it was so eerie driving home with the empty roads, the huge towers above and no planes flying from city airport.
20 years has gone fast, but the world has changed hugely
 

annedonnelly

Girl from the North Country
I was at work in an office Newcastle. Some of the PCs had decent enough internet that people were able to view online and keep the rest of us updated. I'm not sure that I've ever seen footage of the plane hitting the tower.
 

Sharky

Guru
Location
Kent
I remember the JFK and a few other "shock" deaths. Tom Simpson in particular. The 9/11was indeed shocking and distressing, particularly as the media captured it as it happened and was on everybodies TV.
Hard to believe 20 yrs have passed.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
At home. Had sprained my neck fighting a villain, so Mrs D MK1 had.propped me on the sofa with the remote and a bottle of painkillers.

I had CNN on while I was reading, so watched it unfold live. I was screaming at the TV that it was no accident, and the first person to say so on the box was the author Tom Clancy. Then the second one went in.

Not a day anyone Will forget in a hurry.
 

Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
I was in an internet cafe on Stratford Rd, Birmingham. A group of Muslims were standing on the other side of the room staring at a TV, wide-eyed. I couldn't see the screen so I didn't realize what had happened until I got home and saw the news.
 
I was the operations manager of a International Telecomms company and we had huge screens in the Operations Centre showing news 24/7 so if something significant happened world wide we would have a heads up on what might effect communications. So the entire centre got to see the whole thing as it happened on massive cinema sized screens.
We had staff and a big telephone exchange in NY. Normally a Operations centre is busy with the hum of phone calls etc. Place went quiet ( apart from people gasping and the odd swear word) and people stood up to watch.
 
A colleague shouted across the open-plan office:
"a plane has crashed into the World Trade Centre!"
"Oh really? Is there a giant gorilla up there too??" quipped Matticus in response.

Needless to say, the true gravity of the situation became apparent to Matticus within a few hours ...

A memorable day, and unlike any other "where were you when ...?" type moments, at least for me (also too young for JFK). :-/
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
At work, the internet fell over so we went outside and put a car radio on.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
It was very odd driving home down the motorway that night as the aircraft follow the M60 to line up with Manchester airport ! Is this one going to drop on my head thoughts !
 
I had just been made redundant at the time
I went to the local university careers department who let me use their resources to look for possible companies to apply to

I remember looking through some files and hearing one of the careers staff calling her colleague into a side room saying
"They're flying planes in building here!!"
I thought they were talking about some kind of stunt show or safety test so I just carried on

Then I got home and saw the news
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
I was out with my Mum shopping for stuff to go back to Uni with. Only heard it on the radio in the car, at first they said a bomb had gone off. I don't remember the rest of it really, until we got home and watched the TV,. I don't really remember anything else; it was too surreal to have memories of maybe
 

classic33

Leg End Member
At an auction, cycling into town afterwards the roads were empty. Went into the bank to get some money out and the staff were just stood looking at the screens.
 
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