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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:
tiredvommachine · 13/09/2018 09:45

I had taken my year old DD to a baby clinic and saw the events unfolding on a small tv in the waiting room.
When I got home, I watched the news with horror wondering if the world would end.
I lived about 2 miles away from a RAF base and could hear all the jets flying over my house. Just horrible Sad

haverhill · 13/09/2018 12:30

I was teaching. At break time a colleague came into the staff room asking if anyone had heard about the ‘terrible accident’ in New York.

Ibiza7 · 13/09/2018 13:49

In Malta with 2 mates. Found out when we returned the hire care and they were watching it on the news. Had to fly next day. Took 4 hours to get through airport security and then when boarding the plane saw the pilot who was middle eastern with a long black beard! It was the wirdest flight ever the cabin crew barely said a word and no-one spoke all the way home. Just horrible.

NastyCats · 13/09/2018 14:20

I had got married a couple of weeks earlier having returned to my home town after university. The day before was my birthday and my parents came to our new flat. I remember they gave me a pink cardigan as part of my present (I still wear it around the house even though it has holes under the arms).

On the 11th I was offered a temping agency at a department in my local council, starting 12th September. As our internet wasn't yet up and running I went round to my parents' house to use their computer and saw a news alert on the email login page saying a 'plane had hit the World Trade Centre. I had to check the details of my new position and then saw another alert saying it was believed the 'plane had been hijacked. I kept refreshing, trying to find some more information and then thought it was likely there'd be something on the TV about it. I turned on, horrified and, watched. Then the second 'plane hit, people were falling. I didn't want to watch but couldn't look away. My husband 'phoned me from work to find out what was going on because they had no access to TV and they couldn't get anything on the internet.

The next day I had to start my new role. The newspapers at the station all had headlines like 'APOCALYPSE.' When I arrived at work I found my manager was one of the most disliked people in the building and everyone was talking about what had happened all day. One lady's son had rushed down to Athena and snapped up a famous poster they had at the time of the NY skyline. Apparently they were selling like hot cakes...

Iamthegirlwho · 13/09/2018 16:06

I was in New York on my Honeymoon

ToftyAC · 13/09/2018 16:42

I was at work when the accounts lady rang from downstairs and told us to put the internet news on. I was 2.5 months preggers with DS1 at the time and wondered what sort of mad world I was bringing a child into :(

minimalist99 · 13/09/2018 16:46

At boarding school completely unaware of what had happened.

YeTalkShiteHen · 13/09/2018 16:47

My friend and I had a day off work and a liquid lunch. So we were pissed when we got the phone call to say what had happened and raced to my house.

Awful.

OliviaStabler · 13/09/2018 19:37

When I visited New York I went to visit the site and the museum. I remember the guide of the tour I took stopping us in front of a piece of wreckage and telling us that it was part of the television broadcast antenna mast on top of the North Tower. Blew my mind.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 13/09/2018 19:39

I've been to ground zero a couple of times. It takes my breath away and the way the names are grouped together by firm, organization, emergency team... is very moving.

goose1964 · 13/09/2018 20:02

Had an assessment at an occupational therapist and came in to the news

AdoraBell · 13/09/2018 20:06

Fekko I couldn’t breathe while reading those names. It was heartbreaking to stand there looking at the space where the towers had been.

therealimposter · 13/09/2018 20:10

I was on my way to work and somebody told me that there had just been a plane crash in NY, when I arrived I heard that there had been a second one. That was when we started to realise that it wasn't 'just' a plane crash. By lunchtime we'd got the full details of it, it was unbelievable.

therealimposter · 13/09/2018 20:18

i was in central park pushing baby in the pram , beautiful early autumn sunny crisp morning . with a friend laughing vaguely wondering why there were so many sirens and fire engines rushing thro the park when a woman rushed over and said “ you’re laughing you haven’t heard what happened a plane crashed into the tower , you better go home “

How did you not know? You could see the clouds of smoke from the towers from in the park.

MyNameIsFartacus · 13/09/2018 21:25

Waiting for my mum to visit. I was 17, pregnant and hadn't spoke to her for months. A very memorable day!

LapdanceShoeshine · 13/09/2018 21:33

i was in central park pushing baby in the pram , beautiful early autumn sunny crisp morning . with a friend laughing vaguely wondering why there were so many sirens and fire engines rushing thro the park when a woman rushed over and said “ you’re laughing you haven’t heard what happened a plane crashed into the tower , you better go home

How did you not know? You could see the clouds of smoke from the towers from in the park

Facing the other way would do it Hmm

Wobblybitts · 13/09/2018 21:56

In a villa in Portugal. Came in to make some lunch, switched the tv to catch up on the news and there it was unfolding! It was like watching a film - took a while to sink in what was happening

Fstar · 13/09/2018 22:00

I was at work watching events unfold online bbc news. Arsehole manager joked about someone in the team being called back to army, reallyr fucked me off.

The following day a customer complained we couldnt give financial figure for day before because stock exchange closed. Unreal

midsomermurderess · 13/09/2018 22:12

Imposter, there is a famous photo of some kids sitting together on some grass chatting and laughingseemingly oblivious to what is unfolding on the skyline across the water from them.

therealimposter · 13/09/2018 22:18

Yeah, I know. However Central Park isn't the quietest place and the chance of not hearing somebody else talking out it who can see it is unlikely.

User23991160 · 13/09/2018 22:40

In year 6, remember pulling onto drive from school, radio on saying about something happening in New York. Don’t remember what it said exactly but remember mum saying oh it’s New York (we lived near York) and turning engine off to go inside. Then obviously later finding out what had actually happened.

Frequency · 13/09/2018 22:48

At my temp job making those sample cards you get in curtain shops of the different fabrics. I was eighteen and working the summer to save for uni. Someone came in to tell us to turn the radio on. No-one spoke for the rest of the day. When I got back home I just remember how quiet my gran was. She had the tele on in the dining room, which she never put on unless my uncle was in and we both just sat there in silence watching.

I had a cousin in the US at the time who we'd lost touch with. We had no idea where she lived but knew she'd worked in NYC for a time. Luckily, we found her on Facebook a few years later safe and well in Jupiter. We keep in touch now.

OnNaturesCourse · 13/09/2018 22:50

In school, didnt know anything about it until I came home and it was on the TV - had family in new York so whole family was round the TV. We got no contact until three days later, thankfully our family members were ok.

mathanxiety · 14/09/2018 00:47

I have seen photos of people chatting, going about their business while the towers blazed in the background. If you were away from a radio or TV you wouldn't necessarily have been aware of what was happening, even in NY.

callmekitten · 14/09/2018 00:51

I'm American and heard about the first plane on the radio as I drove to work. It was thought to be an accident. A little later, after I had arrived at work, a co-worker came running into the building saying that another plane had hit the 2nd tower and that it was now thought to be terrorism. I work with adults with disabilities and we were not allowed to have any radios playing in order to avoid upsetting them. I only heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon because I had a co-worker who's father was at the Pentagon that day and her mother called work. She left work early to be with her mother.

I didn't hear much more until after work and then I watched those towers fall over and over and over. It was horrifying and mind numbing all at the same time. And in the next days, there were so many stories of people who were missing, people looking for their loved ones, all the first responders who lost their lives. It seemed that the world should grind to a halt but it didn't.

All flights in the country were grounded for several days. I live in a town that has a small airport and it was eerily quiet without them. But when they resumed, it was odd to hear planes in the sky again.

This has been a really interesting thread to read...the perspective of people outside of the U.S. Thank you for remembering us.