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 working in an office when someone said out loud to us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre as she had a friend in the London branch of one of the banks based there who had just phoned her with the new and we turned the TV on.

At that time it was reported to be thought it was an accident but we saw the second plane hit and I said out loud 'That plane aimed for the building!'. Sounds a bloomin' stupid thing to say on reflection but I couldn't believe that someone would deliberately do that.

I was at work - my manager came out of her office and told us that there'd been a plane crash; we all tried to get into the internet, but it was jammed. I eventually got the Guardian website up, and a colleague managed to get onto CNN and we all sat open-mouthed gazing at the screens.
My DD had been in NY the previous May - she was at home and I rang her and told her to put the TV on - when I got home she was in tears on the sofa, and I just sat down by her and held her as we watched for hours... 😥

I would have been in college/sixth form...oh those days sooo young

@AccidentallyRunToWindsor, I can understand that. I remember sitting in the cinema feeling guilty, but also determined to not feel that way as it made no sense. I went on to see it three more times at the cinema and I've watched it on DVD etc since then too. I'm not sure, but I think watching it that day was such a relief from the horror that I loved the film even more for how it helped me that day.

I remember seeing it on a tv screen in a shop and being in absolute horror

I was helping dc with homework and chatting about school.
I'd seen it earlier in the day on Richard and Judy.
Maybe not the day to say this, but I told my dc about how many innocent children had been killed by Americans, as well.

Was singing happy birthday to my mum with my then 4 month old daughter and 3,year old son , whilst staring at the television screen, we didn’t know what we looking at as we thought it was just the news and then we saw the second plane coming around and crash into second tower live ..... I still get goosebumps thinking about it . My Mam said that it looked like a terrible accident and I said no, it’s not, this will change the world ......
Always in my thoughts

I was 17 and working in a newsagents. I'd never heard of the twin towers before this point. It was awful. A horrifying sight!

I was working at the London Boeing aerospace office. Mostly American staff. We were all told to leave the office and go home.

At work. DH had flown to NY the day before (he had just accepted a role based 50% in NY, I’d agreed with my bosses that I’d do the same). Luckily I’d spoken to him an hour before and knew where his office was. He was stuck there for a week and was badly affected by some of the scenes he saw.

I came home from college with my best friend and Mum had Sky News on, we were just sitting there in shock. Then we saw the towers collapse on TV. There was something so eerie about seeing it live and knowing the devastation it was causing.

I was 17 at the time and it took a while to grasp the enormity of it. The world suddenly felt like a much more dangerous place.

I had a part time job in a shop at Dublin airport at the time and I was working that evening. The place was a ghost town as a lot of flights (not just the American ones) were cancelled. I think we had two customers the whole night. There was a really strange atmosphere around the place.

I was a teen and working my shift at KFC where I worked part time while at college. It was a quiet day, we had the radio on and were just stood around chatting when we heard the news report about it.

At the time, it was thought to be an accident, I knew very little about the world trade centre/twin towers and the full extent of the disaster wasn't known... I remember thinking "oh, that's terrible" then thought very little else about it and just got on with my shift.

But then I got home later that day and saw the full horror and carnage on tv. Seeing video footage of a man throwing himself from the window of a burning tower has haunted me ever since.

On the way home from school in the taxi it was on the news, got home and my mum and neighbours were stood open mouthed watching the tv in our living room, me and the other kids from the street also stood their open mouthed, just watching for what seemed like hours. Just awful. Will never forget that.

I was in my classroom marking books after school. The caretaker came in and told me about it. I said to him, “ the world will never be the same now. There will be a world war”.

We were in Argos buying some things my son needed for university. I glanced up at the tv screen and saw the plane hit the south tower. I thought it was a disaster movie until I read the news thread running across the bottom of the screen. We drove home thinking the US was at war.

At work in london. Head of IT came running around to switch the ceo's tv on (she was out and no one was allowed to switch it on!) shouting that a plane had crashed into the wtc. We didn't believe him but we're soon transfixed. Then the rumours started that there was a possibility that London may also be a target. At this point CEO instructed us to organise a load of cabs and get us all home - she didn't want any of us using public transport. So I went home, picking up my 1 year old ds from his childminders on the way. I remember sitting hugging ds as much as he would let me, watching it all unfold on tv and crying about what kind of world my child would grow up in. I guess the world did change that day - but what probably saddens me the most is that when terrorism and events like 9/11 come up with my kids - is how desensitized they are to it - how the fear of an attack is a normal feeling for them

It was my first day at my first proper job after graduating uni. The electricity was out in the office so it was a weird day anyway. When my boss showed us reports of the first plane, we thought it was an accident.

I got to go home early. Everyone I passed on the street was talking about it. I went home and spent the rest of the day huddled with my flatmates, watching it all unfold on tv.

I was on maternity leave pregnant with ds1. I had just watched neighbors on bbc1 and the news came on saying there had been a freak accident. A plane had hit the world trade centre. Whilst they were reporting and had a live screen up the second plane hit. Dh was about to get on a plane to America when it happened. I can remember him calling me saying he wasn’t going and me stupidly asking why! I couldn’t quite understand what was happening it was all a bit surreal.

I was at work at a VW dealership where the tv was always on so we were all dotting back and forward from our desks to get updates. I was 6 months pregnant with my son and knew the world had just changed. Bosses son’s friend was killed in the tower collapse.

I came back from my lunch break at work and walked in part way through a conversation between two colleagues, one of them panicking because her daughter worked at Canary Wharf and the other trying to calm her down. She was worried about a terrorist attack in NYC and in my day terrorist meant bombs as I grew up through the ira bombing shopping centres in the 80s. I couldn’t understand how bombs in NY (and therefore not ira bombs, so why were we worried?) meant worrying about bombs in London. I just remember being thoroughly confused by it, which didn’t really change when I saw the news and realised what had happened. I’m not sure if I was just naive or if it really did change the way we thought of terrorism.

Pram shopping for ds1. I was devastated watching through the windows of the northern electric shop. There was a huge crowd but no one said a word.

I was watching TV when a news flash came on showing the first tower had been hit in an assumed accident. I immediately rang my friend at work to tell her as we were visiting New York 6 weeks later and had planned to visit the Twin Towers. As I was telling her the second plane hit. She thought I was joking.

I watched TV the whole afternoon, feeling as if the world was ending. I wanted to get my kids out of school early and keep them safe in my house. I rang my DH in work, who was busy and totally missed the seriousness of it all, until he came home and saw the footage.

I went to NY on the trip. WTC area was still on fire in small areas, and there was lots of smoke. People lined the streets in silence nearby where it was cordoned off and we watched the huge trucks rumble out, filled with debris. Everywhere we went was covered with American flags; cars, buildings, dogs, everything. We saw the missing notices and shrines.

I went back the following year, and always vowed I would return when it was rebuilt. I went back last year, and stayed with an American friend who had been a paramedic there at the time for 3 days straight. He said they had ambulances ready for survivors, although they remained mostly empty. He took me to the memorial and the museum. I chose not to walk around it with him as it must have brought back some horrifying memories for him as a first responder. It was all beautifully done, and so moving. I would love to return. It was too much to take in in one go.

The images I saw on that day will never leave me. It was a day the world changed forever.

Driving back from France with my ex. Listening to the radio - he kept saying he thought it was a play - he couldn't believe it was real. I knew it was real but we couldn't understand what was going on. Got home and watched the tv for hours and in disbelief and cried. He had to fly to America for work the next day. He told me if anything happened to him to look in the wardrobe where there was a metal file containing his will. I never looked - I was too scared in case I tempted fate. Could not believe what those poor people experienced :( x

I was at home in my flat, waiting for an estate agent to come round to do a valuation. My Dad rang to say “Put the telly on”. I was watching the second plane fly into the tower live when the estate agent arrived. He hadn’t heard yet, and the two of us sat on my sofa in silence watching things unfold. It was so surreal, sitting there with a random stranger, watching such an earth shattering event.

I was an air hostess at the time, and I had several friends in the air between NY and London right then, and the reports were talking about the third missing plane. I was so worried about them, and kept thinking about the poor crew on the hijacked planes, how all their training wouldn’t have helped them because at the time we were taught to do what hijackers asked - it had always been assumed up to that point that hijackers would not want to die, so they would not endanger a flight.

Flying changed so much after that day.

At work, watching the news unfold on the BBC ticker tape running across our computer screens. I got into work in the morning and one of the guys who was usually known for joking around came into our office and said “America’s under attack”. We didn’t believe him at first. Bizarrely, I remember watching Planet of the Apes in the cinema that evening and coming out at the end thinking how surreal the whole day had been.