So What Were You Doing On September 11 2001?
11 09 2006Since the day when the world saw passenger planes deliberately flown into the Twin Towers in Downtown New York, with the death of almost 3,000 people I wonder if, years later, there is anyone who hasn’t asked and answered that question.If there is anyone who cannot remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the precise time they found out that planes had been crashed into one of the most famous and recognizable landmarks in the world.
It’s five years today, and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was still living in England and was at home preparing to pack all my stuff for shipping because I was emigrating to Canada. It was just after 2 in the afternoon. I had turned off the tv and was upstairs when the phone rang. It was my husband (he wasn’t my husband at that point). I picked up the phone upstairs, surprised he was calling at that time, because we usually timed our calls around the 5-hour time difference between Toronto and London.
“…Have you got the tv on?” he asked.
“No, I’m upstairs packing.”
“Go downstairs and turn on the telly.”
“Why, what’s up?,” I ask.
“Just go downstairs and turn it on.”
“O.K..heading downstairs… are you o.k?”
When I turned on the t.v. I saw the now familiar film of the second plane hitting the World trade centre. It was surreal, and at first I thought it was a Tom Clancy or other blockbuster film. I had been at the top of the Twin Towers just three years before, now I was seeing planes flying into them? This couldn’t be real. I said a lot more, but I remember one other thing I said, apart from “Oh, my God, oh my God,” over and over again.
Still on the phone to Toronto, I said: “But…but aren’t there people in there?”
I remember where I was for both 11th September and 7th July. I was at home in London on both occassions and remember just staring at the news channel. I hated seeing the footage again and again but in a way I needed time to realise that the events were actually real.
My second selfish thought on both days, but especially the London attack, was - are my family and friends all ok. When everyone had “checked in” I then sat and thought about all those who weren’t so lucky.
I remember the 9/11 - I was still at uni and had a part-time job. I was at work and it was all anyone was concerned about all-day, rightly so.
@rhea
I don’t think your thoughts are selfish, it is a natural reaction to put your friends and family first.
It’s funny how no matter how times I see the footage of the planes crashing into the twin towers, it still upsets me.
That was a bad day, but my sister’s illness and all the major family drama that surrounded it was the main focus on my mind during that time. I remember September 11th mainly because she was still alive. When she was told she was terminally ill practically a month later, talk of terrorism further took a back seat. I remember my mother, who has no love for the US government, blaring on and on about bombs and computer hackers possibly bringing the whole country “to its knees”. I told her in so many words to shut up and get her priorities in order. She had a sick daughter at the time that she wasn’t doing much to help out (my dad and my older half-sister were just as guilty of being unhelpful, too).
Oh,i will remember that day for many years to come.
I had 5 visitors that day and i went in the kitchen to make some coffee.4 of them came with me and just one of my girl friends sat in the living romm watching tv.
We were talking and joking in there and there she came,all white and in panic and said:
“You won’t believe whatr just happen!A twin tower has been hit by a plane.”
We dropped eveything else and went in front of tv and watched for hours in a very deep silence how the towers were quickly transforming into dust and ashes.
May God rest all of them in peace!
In the UK, I was thinking about getting ready for work - evening shift, at an investment bank - and happened to have the TV on about 10 minutes after the first plane hit.
When the second plane hit, it was obviously a co-ordinated attack. At the time, there was great confusion as to the scale of the terrorism, especially as the reports of other planes came in. I decided not to go to work (my building was basically next door to the NatWest Tower (Tower 42). That, and Canary Wharf were obvious targets if a similar UK plot was planned. My decision was merely a precaution, not fear exactly (as we were likely to be evacuated).
I rang my family in Australia to tell them of events, my father predicted that the building would collapse. The first building collapsed at the rate of roughly three floors per second (45 secs/c150 floors).
I watched events for several hours, and thinking as a fire warden, pondered the futility of buildings so tall, that the safe evacuation of all occupants was unlikely. I too thought of the terror the poor people trapped at the top of the buildings must have been feeling, as well as the last moments for those on the planes who had been hijacked saw the target looming.
On 07/07, my mother, sister and I were driving along the M25, the signs had “Avoid London - turn on your radio”. Even before the media had broadcast ‘terrorism’ (Underground power failure were the first reports), it was obvious to me that some plot was unfolding. Aldgate East was my local station for seven years, so had some extra sadness.
on 07/07 it was very weird for me because, while I live in Toronto, I knew all those stations very well. I worked not far from King’s Cross for several years and I couldn’t imagine the terror people must have felt being on the tube when a bomb went off - basically trapped on the underground. I emailed all my family and friends who I thought might be in London that day as the phone lines were down for quite a while.
Happily they were all safe. One of my friends just missed the King’s Cross train because they were delayed.
But the other thing I clearly remember was feeling very angry and thinking that, as a Brit abroad I should be in London, going through what Londoners were going through. Silly, because I was safe where I was, and who wanted to be in the midst of the mayhem anyway, but it was a solidarity thing. As it was I was at my desk at work, trying to phone home and following events on the BBC as the papers here didn’t really have reports until the next day.