What were you doing 17 years ago today?

[PepperSteaks]

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.

I was running a conference in the US. It didn’t go to plan.

I was in Seville on a birthday holiday. Flew back on the 13th.

I was on my way to pick up my 2 year old from the childminder , Simon Mayo was on 5live and announced there’d been an incident in New York. I put on Sky news and saw the footage.

I remember it like yesterday.

I was in a meeting being told my company was being taken over. Came out, wondered why everywhere was so quiet, got in my car to drive home and heard the news on the radio. I'll never forget it

At work, on an ‘away day’ down the road from work when a man ran in and said ‘you all really need to see this’.

We all huddled around on TV and watched. I think the away day got cancelled.

Work experience at a local newspaper.

The whole place went into meltdown

In a caravan in the middle of nowhere getting stoned with my moronic ex. Had no idea for a few days as no tv and before the smart phone days.

I was working in a large shopping centre and I'll never forget they had a generic cd playing as usual in the aisle when all of a sudden the place went eerily silent and the cd was replaced by the radio.. within about 15 minutes there was hardly anyone left in the centre as everyone was gone.. a really eerie feeling I'll never forget

In the 6th form common room waiting for a class to start. Had just started 6th form the previous week. Always had the radio on which after each song was interrupted by news. I asked one of the lads to put the tv on as something was happening and there is was. We went and got the rest of the 6tg form out of the classes to watch it. The lad who turned the tv on is now my husband

I was 15, and playing tennis during PE at school when someone in my class said 'New York has been blown up.' Not quite accurate of course, but I remember it vividly.

I was 18 and due to start university on a few weeks. My dad was driving me to the airport to visit family abroad when we heard it on the radio. We thought it was a play at first. I remember sitting in the departure lounge as many of the flights were cancelled. Whole airlines were grounding their fleets but there was minimal access to the live news airside. My flight still went ahead and I flew without having quite grasped the enormity of the situation.

My dc were babies and I was sitting on the floor with them and very unusually the tv was on and I was watching something (it might have been Neighbours) and it cut off to breaking news that a plane had hit the tower. I was watching when the second plane hit. I sat looking at the tv all day.

When the second plane hit I remember thinking that world war 3 was going to start.

I had just handed my PhD thesis in and was at work seeing my psychotherapy clients. The news was on in the waiting room, it was the strangest day, we were all so shocked.

I was at work, teaching. Heard from a parent at the classroom door (Primary) what had happened at home time. Obviously everyone else had too as as soon as the children left people sort of congregated in the staff room. Someone had set up a tv in there and we all just stood and watched in silence - very eerie, incredibly distressing.

This.
The first parents arrived early and told us what had happened. We let the children go children home if their parents were there. Some parents stayed and watched the TV with us.

I was in an exam. Went in about 2pm and left at about 5:45pm. So it all happened without me knowing.

During the exam usually one invigilator sat in the room and one just outside. The one just outside went and got the “in the room” one and they were huddled together outside. In my “the exam is all that matters” world I wondered if they had found an error on the exam paper.

Dh and I were newly weds and he watched the whole thing knowing that I was completely cut off from the world and had no idea.

I discovered it when I put the radio on on the way home.

Playing Crazy Golf in Scarborough, on holiday with my parents and sister. The guy in the booth where you hand your clubs in had it on the TV.

I was at College of Law Had just had my first tax lesson learning about Inheritance tax when I heard.

Initially I thought it was an accident and then the person who told me said no there were two planes they did it on purpose.

I remember driving home not quite able to believe what I was hearing on the radio.

I don’t remember much of the day because I was only 11 and my memory is shocking, but I do remember coming home from school and finding my dad sat in front of the tv, wide-eyed with horror. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look like that at any other time, either before or since.

I also remember I was too scared to fly for ages afterwards and even now I get the jitters when I go on a plane ... obviously what happened was awful for everyone involved, but I’ve often wondered how many of the passengers on those planes knew they were going to die and how long they had to endure that horror before it was all over. I can’t even imagine the pure terror they must have felt.

I actually visited the museum in NYC last year with my DH and it was one of the most poignant and terribly sad experiences of my life. I don’t know if recommend is the right word to use, but I think it’s an important place to visit if you have the opportunity. I learned a lot during my visit, although I did get very cross at the other people there who thought it was appropriate to take selfies, especially in front of the huge images they have of the towers burning

For those of you who were having a difficulty time on that day, I hope your lives are better now. I felt touched reading your stories.

It’s a day that changed the world alright, but I hope it will be the last of its kind.

Sat with my sister who was pregnant with nephew. I was 'ill' from school and my sister called me down to watch the news

I was in Portugal on the beach and we found out on the way back to our apartment. We then had a 'shit! The world is ending' moment and decided there and then to get married. So I got engaged. I still remember calling my mum to tell her and her saying 'that's lovely news darling but do you know what's HAPPENED today?' So it's a weird anniversary for me.

I was with dd in Morrisons and got a panicked call from my mum as my dad was in the US on business.

Thankfully he had left NY the day before and was in Chicago.

In Typhoon Lagoon, Orlando floating around the lazy river. The klaxon went off, and we were all told to leave the water (this usually happens when the weather is bad - lightning) so it was quite strange on a bright sunny morning. Then shortly after the tannoy announced that the park was closing due to circumstances beyond our control (or something similar) and we pick up our belongings and went to the car.

As soon as we got into the car we turned on the radio and couldn't believe what we were hearing. We then sat in traffic as we returned to our Disney Hotel and turned on the TV in time to see the the towers come down. We had a 2 year old and a 4 year at the time and spent the day in our room glued to the TV in shock.

Disney did their best considering the whole resort was considered to be a target, with some food was available, and the parks were open again the next day.

When we went back to the parks it was a very muted atmosphere totally strange with hardly any crowds and everyone on high alert.

With no flights the next concern was how long would we be stranded and what would happen. Fortunately on this occasion we had used a travel company to book and we had regular updates from our rep.

Our flight home was the first Virgin flight to leave Orlando on the day the skies reopened and because of the way they re-book cancelled flights we were on it. The security was immense and I had to keep reminding myself that it had to be the safest time to fly just to get to the plane.

We were very glad to be home.

Was at work and was spending the afternoon carrying out visits to patient's homes. TV on in background at one particular house. All conversation stopped as we watched the events unfold.

I was in primary school year 6. My mum told me on the way home from school and we watched for the next few hours on the news trying to make sense of it. They had released pictures of Osama bin laden on one of the news channels among others.

My best friend at the time lived next door to me. She knocked a few hours later and asked (as usual) if I wanted to walk to the newsagents at the top of the road for sweets. I was glad to come away from the tv.

Newsagents had been run since I was small by a lovely Italian man called jo, and had just been taken over by an even lovelier Indian man called Paul who still has it to this day.
We walked in age 10 and chose our sweets and went to the counter. We were alone. As we paid my friend shouted at the shopkeeper that the twin towers was all his fault because he was a "paki" and "pakis were to blame" she said her Mum had said so which I really don't imagine to be true.

This girl lived next door to me until I was about 20. I genuinely never spoke to her again after that day. All respect lost.