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What were you doing 17 years ago today?

662 replies

PepperSteaks · 11/09/2018 09:03

I think September 11th is definitely one of those moments when you remember exactly where you were. As MN is such a cross section of society I thought it would be interesting to know where people were when it happened.

OP posts:
BalthazarImpresario · 11/09/2018 16:49

I'd been out with my dsis all day, about 6months pregnant.
Came home around 430, put the TV on to watch some game show on itv to see news but didn't understand what was going on, popped onto ceefax and blithely said 'oh twin towers have collapsed' (no idea why it took so long to sink in) dp then came running in swearing in disbelief.

I sat wondering what kind of world my child would be born into

VeryBerrySeptember · 11/09/2018 16:49

JoeElliot nor that I can see either.
BBC has pressing issues to cover such as mother leaves Twitter over breaking children's iPads..

cptartapp · 11/09/2018 16:50

On our honeymoon in the Maldives. We stared in horror at the events unfolding in NEw York at the beach bar, in such contrast to our glorious surroundings. Security flying back into Gatwick later that week was horrendous.

SerialNameChangerMe · 11/09/2018 16:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

user1489589714 · 11/09/2018 16:57

In an airport in Europe waiting to board a flight home. I remember people in the airport congregating around the tv screens and wondering what was going on. Went over and saw the footage of the first plane going through the building. Managed to get our flight but only just, as they grounded all flights afterwards. Flight attendants on our flight were very scared.

bruffin · 11/09/2018 17:02

bbc news

TorchesTorches · 11/09/2018 17:06

I was on an external course for work. One of the lecturers came in and said something had happened, we saw a bit of it on tv in their staff room, but just 2 mins really, then back to the course.

Going back home to London on the train all of the evening papers were full of it. It didn't sink in properly till i got home and my flat mate told me he'd been watching it all afternoon at work. We watched it together for the rest of the evening.

enbh · 11/09/2018 17:07

I was wagging work to smoke weed and listen to Green Day at my boyfriend's house Confused a habit I've since grown out of!!

ZenNudist · 11/09/2018 17:13

Studying at accountancy college. Tutor came in and told us what had happened and at first it seemed unreal or a joke. Then the guy in the class who always asked questions said "so is that the Pentagon and the world trade centre?" And i sort of laughed that hed still be asking questions. Then we got back on with work.

When i got home i sat watching the tv coverage with my housemate. I'd only just moved to the city and i hardly knew her. We watched people jumping from the towers.

Petalflowers · 11/09/2018 17:13

I had a baby at home, and was watching neighbours. Then the tv went over to the news and there was the footage of the (first?) plane flying into the tower. I remember thinking how blue the sky looked. Then the second plane flew. I don’t really think I comprehended what was happening at the time.

17 years. Wow. A day that truely changed the world.

MrsCar · 11/09/2018 17:14

I walked in the door from school, and my father said 'America is under attack'

liverbird79 · 11/09/2018 17:19

I was in the army in Germany.

schooltripwoes · 11/09/2018 17:19

I was abroad. We'd been out for the day and went into the hotel restaurant to have dinner, where the news was on the TV in the lobby. I didn't speak the local language so didn't realise it was the news, just thought it was just a dramatic film. After the 3rd or 4th time of seeing the footage of the Twin Towers collapse, I realised it was something that had happened in real life. We started watching the TV to try and work out what was going on but in the end had to try to find an English bar to really understand what had happened (no access to google in our pockets then - how things have changed!).

Thebookswereherfriends · 11/09/2018 17:24

I was a nanny in London and both charges were at school- I always sat and watched a bit of telly while eating my lunch, not usually the news, but there was something about it on all the channels so I turned to the news and sat and watched for the rest of the afternoon until school pick up. Weirdly, I can’t remember after that what I did the rest of the day with the kids or whether I talked about it with the parents in the evening (I was live in).

SunburstsOrMarbleHalls · 11/09/2018 17:24

It was my day off and I was at home and had Sky news on the TV, I remember watching with open mouthed horror as the second plane flew into the second tower.

I remember going to collect 4year old DD from school at 3.30pm and all of the parents were standing very quietly discussing the tragic news and what the potential ramifications could be for the future.

MongerTruffle · 11/09/2018 17:27

I was teaching and I had sent a boy to collect something from the department staff room. We had a TV in there and he and some other staff saw the second plane fly into the WTC. He ran back into the class and told us what had happened.

TheBeatGoesOnandOn · 11/09/2018 17:27

I'd just came in from school about 3.15 and started to speak to Mum. She said to be quiet something big was happening in the US.

I was like yeah whatever, as thought it was a political scandal but came in to shots of the planes going in.

I was honestly unsure what to do. It was a waiting game to see what happened next.

papayasareyum · 11/09/2018 17:29

ironing at home with baby daughter, television on in the background. There was a news flash. I stopped ironing and started watching the news and saw the second plane hit, when it became clear that it was terrorism.

Accountant222 · 11/09/2018 17:32

I was in Scarborough having a weeks break at my friends apartment, I'd been having a bit of a kip on the bed, I walked in to the living room and thought DH was watching a James Bond film.

We were glued to the TV after that, it was the most horrific thing I've ever seen.

Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 11/09/2018 17:35

I was in school in year 9. I remember hearing about it from my uncle on the way home from school, but I didn't really understand the scale of it until I saw the news that night.

winterinmadeira · 11/09/2018 17:36

I was about to leave work and a colleague arrived from her break in tears...I drove home in a trance listening to the radio. I can still picture it now

TheDogsMother · 11/09/2018 17:38

Working in the City of London and watching it all unfold on TVs. It had such an apocalyptic feel about it and when a plane flew over very low (heading for City airport) It scared the life out of me.

PamsterWheel · 11/09/2018 17:38

I was at work. It has completely by passed me that it's 9/11 today which is shocking really when you consider how huge it was.

Saymaname · 11/09/2018 17:45

In London, at work. Rang mum to tell her about what had happened, she was shopping with my Nan.

DragonBone · 11/09/2018 17:46

In labour with my daughter. She was then born early the next day.

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