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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:
placemats · 11/09/2018 10:03

I was with my husband - who was working from home that day, baby son and mum. Had to leave to collect my two daughters from primary school, and everyone was in a state of shock. My sister lived in New York at that time. We couldn't ring her and obviously the internet was mostly dial up at that time. No twitter, no facebook. We found out afterwards she had been temping in the Twin Towers and didn't go in that day because she was unwell. Shock

YourHandInMyHand · 11/09/2018 10:04

I was at work in a local pub and we had the TVs on sky news for some reason, so saw it all right away and as it unfolded. I'll never forget it, I think for our generation it will be one of those pivotal world news moments that we always remember vividly. Sad

LadyR77 · 11/09/2018 10:05

I was working for a financial data firm in London. One of our big clients was based in the WTC. Initially one of my colleagues said something had collided with the building, and we all assumed it'd be a light aircraft or something - the full scale of what unfolded was just horrific, especially knowing that people we had spoken to and emailed regularly were caught up in it all.

51Pegasusb · 11/09/2018 10:06

4 mths pregnant at work, IT guy came over to tell us what had happened and we all rushed into one of the conference rooms where the CNN news was on.
This was the days before internet phones only sms. I got an sms later that night that I'll never forget from the fiancee of one of my oldest and dearest friends. He was there for unexpected meeting he never made it out.
I went along with a group of our friends and his parents when they unveiled the 911 memorial. We made a rubbing of his name for them a few days later which they have framed at home, they'll never get over it and I still have a lump in my throat when I think about it..
Horrific day, my heart and love goes out to all the families involved.

onemouseplace · 11/09/2018 10:07

At work, then having frantic email and MSN messenger chats with various friends as I was flying to a high risk country then next day.

Dartsplayer · 11/09/2018 10:07

I was in bed off work sick with tonsillitis. I was just watching telly and it got interrupted by the news. I had phoned a friend to wish him happy birthday and we were just glued and stayed on the phone discussing what we were watching

FoxTeaParty · 11/09/2018 10:08

I was in secondary school in french class. The teacher wheeled the tv in and said this was more important. The whole school was unnaturally quite for the entire day.

Figlessfig · 11/09/2018 10:08

My husband, age 49, was diagnosed with cancer on Tuesday 4th September.

On Tuesday 11th, I took my mother out for lunch so I could tell her about it in private. I had just told her, when a lot of screaming started, and the restaurant owner told us we HAD to move into the bar area which had a television. Which we did, to see the second tower being hit.

The following Tuesday, 17th, my husband had major surgery. He was in ITU at first, and we had to wait for another nerve wracking week to find out that his cancer was stage 2 and hadn’t spread. (He made a full recovery, and the cancer has never returned.)

It felt like my life was falling apart when my husband was diagnosed. Then a week later it felt like the whole world was falling apart when the towers fell. The strangest month of my life (so far).

DemocracyDiesInDarkness · 11/09/2018 10:10

I was ill in bed and had taken painkillers that knocked me out. My boyfriend came home and told me what had happened but I didn't get it. When I woke up about 11pm I couldn't believe my eyes. Sad

SymphonyofShadows · 11/09/2018 10:10

At work in an investment bank in the City. First inking we had something was wrong was someone on the next bank of desks losing a videoconference link to a colleague in WTC after the screen went "weird"

girlwithadragontattoo · 11/09/2018 10:10

School. I found out when i went to work at a cafe in the town at about 4:00pm but i didn't understand exactly what had happened as i thought it was fighter jets that had gone into the buildings, it wasn't until i got home at about 6 that i saw the news

Nothisispatrick · 11/09/2018 10:10

I was at school, in year 6. Mum told me on the way home from school.

KERALA1 · 11/09/2018 10:10

Had a big important job in the city went out for lunch with my office friends. We were all upset but my lovely friend extremely upset and said we are targets sitting here I am going home and she did. She died 2 years ago herself of cancer at 44 still think of her often.

AlessandroVasectomi · 11/09/2018 10:12

At a client meeting in Richmond, Surrey. One of the attendees was participating by phone from New York and was a little late in phoning in. The meeting was due to start at 2 pm and when he eventually phoned in, he explained that an aeroplane had crashed into the WTC. The meeting got underway and was suddenly interrupted shortly afterwards when he told us that another aeroplane had crashed into the other WTC building. Scary times.

TheSassyAssassin · 11/09/2018 10:12

In my first job working for big American company over in the UK. Remember streaming Sky on my pc (though connection was slow) and updating colleagues. Tv's put on everywhere. Everyone in shock. Remember internal statements coming out in the days after confirming that people working for the company in NYC had lost their lives. Awful Sad

SheGotBetteDavisEyes · 11/09/2018 10:13

At work. I remember a colleague who'd caught the news saying that '2 people had died.'

I went to a wine bar with a friend, watched some coverage, then both ended up at my apartment watching the news for the next five hours or so.

Like so many, I have friends and colleagues in NY and my thoughts are with them, and all the people directly affected.

Leesa65 · 11/09/2018 10:14

Changing my then 2 week old DSs nappy on his changing table .

Friends daughter told me after school had finished as I had not had the TV on all that day . Much concern for family who live out there and at that time , the husband was often on commercial flights in the States. When DM finally got through he was, luckily, on 2 weeks vacation so safe.

DanglyEarOrnaments · 11/09/2018 10:14

I rang one of my clients about something, I hadn't known about this as I didn't often watch tv and she told me.

I remember thinking 'Surely it cannot be as bad as she said' and put the telly on - and found out it was as bad, the horror was so real. Sad

ShalomJackie · 11/09/2018 10:14

Sorry for your personal loss PegasusB.

I was on maternity leave, out shopping with a friend from antenatal who was also pregnant with twins. Saw news on TV in a store. Went home and watched coverage. She went into labour and went into hospital and had the babis on 9/12.

IggyAce · 11/09/2018 10:14

On holiday to zante with my now DH we had just got back from a wonderful day trip by boat to Kefalonia. We were walking back up to our apartment when we saw that the sports bar we sometimes had a drink in had the news on, we just stopped in shock took a seat and watched the footage. The whole town was quiet, we were just transfixed in horror and disbelief of what unfolded. I strangely remember that I ate nothing that night.

LoveAGoodChat · 11/09/2018 10:14

I was sat watching TV with my family, my mother was chatting on the phone, I can remember the news cutting into the programme to give a live news report about the first tower being hit, we watched it thinking oh my god what a terrible accident, and as the reporter was speaking and the live footage of the first tower burning was showing, we saw live on tv as the second tower got hit..I will never forget seeing that

Stephisaur · 11/09/2018 10:14

I was at school. I was in music when we were told the news.

A lot of the pupils at the school had parents who worked abroad, so they were sent home.

When I got home, my parents were watching the coverage on Sky News in the lounge. We'd been planning a trip to New York for that Christmas and they cancelled it as a result of the attacks.

I found out a few years later that my friend's dad was meant to be on one of the planes, but he overslept and missed his flight.

TroysMammy · 11/09/2018 10:15

In work. I was on early lunch and a colleague came back from her lunch break and announced it.

My friend remembers it because she had a smear test.

MadMum101 · 11/09/2018 10:16

I don't think you ever forget the disbelief that it was a deliberate act as it unfolded. I thought the first plane was an accident and remember thinking why couldn't it get to a less built up area to crash. Hadn't even heard of 'suicide bombers' before that. Never knew it was a thing, still can't even start to contemplate the mindset of those that do it. Completely changed the view of the world for everybody I think.

Troels · 11/09/2018 10:16

I was in the shower while my kids ate breakfast. I'd yold them to watch the weather to see if they needed a sweater, then one came bursting in to tell me a plane crashed into a building, he sounded shaken, so towel on into the livingroom to see the Morning show live trying to figure out what was happening, followed by the second plane hitting. I felt sick.

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