Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

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:
FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast · 11/09/2018 09:24

I cant recall exactly, looking after 2 two year olds....

Susiesue61 · 11/09/2018 09:24

Sitting waiting for DD to arrive, it was the day before my due date. Oprah winfrey was interrupted for a newsflash, and i watched it all unfold live

hugoagogo · 11/09/2018 09:25

ds and I had been to toddler group, had lunch and put the tv on.
I really couldn't get my head around what was going on- was feeling sick and weird.
It turns out I was pregnant with dd.

Sallycinnamon17 · 11/09/2018 09:25

I was at Secondary school, 2nd week in, 11 with no clue what terrorism really was. We were in a history class when my teacher heard the news and went and got a tv. We spent the whole lesson watching the news live.

BishopBrennansArse · 11/09/2018 09:25

I was at work as an export manager. After lunch Pauline (the only one of us to have external internet as opposed to everyone else's intranet) came in and said there had been an incident at the WTC. We shut down early.

Some of the customs officers I'd worked with in NYC when exporting to the stores there died that day.

sleepymouse · 11/09/2018 09:26

I was home alone, exdp was working away. I was in Aus, so watched it all unfold on evening tv. I remember such a huge feeling of disbelief, and absolute shock and horror. The following day it was all people were talking about - I worked in retail and we actually pulled a tv out to watch in the store. Unheard of behaviour! It saddens me the effect that 9/11 has continued no have across the globe

AnneWiddecombesHandbag · 11/09/2018 09:27

Just got in from work as the second plane hit. My mum was watching it on tv and she couldn't even speak to tell me what was happening.

iknowimcoming · 11/09/2018 09:27

At home with dd (almost 2 at the time) and heavily pregnant (and hormonal) with Ds - I spent most of the day crying about what sort of world I was bringing children into Sad I also remember a friend phoning me and ranting on and on about something ridiculous (her husbands inability to turn his socks the right way out before putting them in the laundry basket iirc) and me just listening for a while and then saying errrrm have you seen the news?!?! ........ I can even remember the clothes I was wearing

scaryteacher · 11/09/2018 09:28

Getting ready to teach a lesson on Islam. I was in my NQT year. I stood in my classroom with my mouth open watching the news.

treaclesoda · 11/09/2018 09:28

I had just come home from doing the grocery shopping. We were miserable because my husband had been made redundant and we were worried sick about money. We looked at our tiny bags of shopping that we could barely afford and then we looked at the TV and we knew that being poor was a small worry to have compared with what some people were facing.

Marmite27 · 11/09/2018 09:28

Working in a dentist. A patient came in and told us.

Before leaving for the day the first tower had fallen. I got home and asked my parents if the second tower had fallen, and they didn’t know what I was on about. They were shocked when we put on the tv.

AlevelConfusion · 11/09/2018 09:29

I was in the Gp's surgery's waiting room, waiting to see the midwife and it came on the radio. Thought it was a terrible accident at first but by the time I got home and put on the news, I realised it wasn't Sad

missnevermind · 11/09/2018 09:29

It’s my Weddding anniversary and we had moved house over the weekend. I was also at home with a small baby and a toddler.
Husband phoned and I thought it was a Happy Anniversary call but he told me to put the news on. I just caught the second plane crashing

HippyChickMama · 11/09/2018 09:30

I was at work, we had the radio on and I remember the music being interrupted as they reported the first plane flying into the world trade centre. There was speculation that it was an accident at first and then the whole thing unfolded and there were just news reports for the rest of the day. I still find it difficult to comprehend the magnitude of it now.

liquidrevolution · 11/09/2018 09:31

Looking forward to my 30th birthday meal with friends. Then colleagues in our new york office started live streaming the attack.

ragged · 11/09/2018 09:33

Ah... that anniversary. DH had a day off work & we were in the conservatory with toddler DS having lunch listening to Simon Mayo on R5L say how bizarre it was that a plane had crashed into a NYC skypscraper. SM went back to regularly scheduled chitchat show for about 8 minutes until the 2nd plane hit.

We didn't have a telly so went to a friend's house to watch TV footage that evening (pre Youtube or lots of Internet newscasts).

MonsterRehab23 · 11/09/2018 09:34

I was 14 and at school. I wasn’t doing P.E that day so I heard the P.E dept talking about it. That was the first time I’d heard the concept of ‘terrorism’.

DowntonCrabby · 11/09/2018 09:34

I was 17, I had a study afternoon so left school early to go into work. We had the radio on and heard the news unfold.
I remember sitting in school the day after with friends discussing how the world would never be the same again. Sad

JumpingJetFlash · 11/09/2018 09:34

I was teaching and a colleague came in and told me that a plane had flown into the Twin Towers. I didn’t really fully comprehend the enormity so I said something like “oh right” and carried on teaching. At the end of the day, we all gathered together to watch the news in a classroom and the reality really sunk in 😢 Hardest conversation I’ve ever had to have with my class about the whys/who was responsible and how it was important not to label all Muslims as responsible - particularly important as we had a very diverse school population.

SuperLoudPoppingAction · 11/09/2018 09:35

I'd just moved into my new rented flat to start university. I had a nearly-one-year-old dd.
I remember I went to BHS to get some saucepans in the sale, walked back to the house and saw the news.

Madcatperson · 11/09/2018 09:36

I was on holiday in Majorca with my young baby as on maternity leave - saw it on the TV in reception and saw the second tower hit. Horrifying.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 11/09/2018 09:36

I was 15 and on work experience at school. I came home and my uncle just said that planes and flow into the twin towers. We watched them fall live on tv. I spent most of the evening in silence, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I think we watched the news constantly for weeks afterwards and i remember crying on the bus reading the paper seeing photos of people jumping. I still cannot begin to imagine how scared a person must feel to make jumping from a skyscraper the better option.

It really did change the world.

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets · 11/09/2018 09:36

I was at work in a residential home, the tv was on in the lounge. We all slowly copped on that it was the news and not a film, it was nightmarish. I started watching just before the second plane hit so saw that unfold. For the rest of the shift most of us just stood there’s watching it happen and crying. We thought it was the start of ww3.

TinyTear · 11/09/2018 09:37

At work in a bookshop seeing a rep from a publisher. she got a text message and told us... I think she was from Harper Collins. Details that stay

gilmoregal · 11/09/2018 09:39

I was 13 and at school during the day. I can clearly remember sitting in my parents kitchen-diner with my friend we were doing our homework. Mum was cooking dinner and Dad had got home from work and had heard on radio so turned news straight on, and called us all in to the lounge to watch it .This was the first time we'd heard the word terrorism. Can remember an RE/PSHE talking it all through with us at school the next day.