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Original poster

9/11 20 years on where were you can you remember it happening

311 replies

TheCatsHaveEyes · 07/08/2021 09:57

Just read an article about 9/11 cannot believe it will be 20 years since it happened next month. Still remember it like yesterday.
It really was my generation's JFK moment I think.
I was working at Fenwicks part time student. My friend came over to relive me so I could go on break and told me about a plane flying into one of the twin towers. I assumed she meant a light air craft so as I wandered into the staff room I was shocked to see the type of plane crashing into building and gasped as did everyone else already watching in the room. Only then did someone say that was a second plane.
After work me and all my family watched sky news on a loop it was horrendous those poor souls what they went through. The world seemed so terrifying suddenly.

OP posts:
FortunesFave · 07/08/2021 09:59

I was working in a theatre in the West End and didn't need to go in till later. I was at my flat in Camberwell and put the tv on. The sight of the horror was terrible...I remember sitting there, quite afraid and thinking "this is the end of the world!"

And in some ways it was. The world changed after that.

Sometimesonly · 07/08/2021 10:02

I was at work and someone ran in to the staff room and said the twin towers had been hit. I live in a town which has twin towers (in Italy) and there was some confusion over which towers they meant but we switched on the tv and couldn't stop watching. It was awful. My flatmate was on a flight that day but luckily he got back ok.

Mustgethelppls · 07/08/2021 10:02

I was in primary school. I remember watching it on the news when I got home. I was 9 years old. Just so sad 😞. Terrifies me because this type of thing could happen at any time again and we wouldn’t stand a chance. What a horrible world we live in. Those poor people who died that day, how scared they must have been to be stuck, knowing that they wouldn’t be rescued on time.

SoddingWeddings · 07/08/2021 10:03

I was bimbling about the Student Union when someone in an office said the first plane had hit - he had the Sky News ticker tape on his computer then.

We all ran down to the bar and put the news on the massive screen and watched in utter horror as the second plane hit.

Watched for an hour or so, no idea what to say any of us. I went off to the shops as I had planned but couldn't really see any point in it so gave it up, went home, and spent the next six hours glued to a tiny TV with my housemate.

Just horrific. I think the image I'll never forget, in the most awful way, was that of people throwing themselves out of upper storeys.

MaMelon · 07/08/2021 10:03

I was at work and people listening to their radios in various offices starting appearing in the corridor to share the news. We had a TV that was used for training so we got that out and started watching the news in horror and disbelief. I had to stop watching it, it was too much to take in. DC1 was 4 and was aware of it and started to ask questions about it over the coming days. The horror of it never really goes away.

ThreeKneeRepeater · 07/08/2021 10:04

I was working. Came out and phoned my DS1 to ask him what he wanted for tea. He told me to put the car radio on and hung up. I sat there listening for ages before I could drive home. I was really scared.

trevthecat · 07/08/2021 10:05

I was at home, off school ill. My mum rang me from work to tell me to turn the news on. A few minutes later the second plane hit. I was 13. I watched everything from that point, I didn't turn the news off all day.

BusySittingDown · 07/08/2021 10:08

At 6th form college. I had A Level Psychology and the tutor was late because she has been watching the news in the staff room. She arrived to lesson and apologised and told us about it and how terrifying it all was. It didn't sound real! She told us to put the news on when we got home, which I did and watched it with my now DH and my mum.

I remember in following weeks analysing the newspaper articles in Media Studies. Absolutely horrific!

Comedycook · 07/08/2021 10:08

I remember being at uni and my boyfriend at the time driving us home from a lecture...we put the radio on in the car. When I first heard them say a plane had hit the wtc, I assumed it was a trailer for a new film.

Dollywilde · 07/08/2021 10:08

I was 12, in Year 8. I remember the first I heard of it was when my mum picked me up from school and said ‘apparently there’s been a plane crash in America’ and I did a sort of disinterested ‘oh really?’ because it wasn’t especially unusual. I knew something was up when she said ‘no, I think it’s quite a bad one’.

It’s odd to think our teachers would have known what was going on that afternoon and were still teaching us without talking to us about it. Not sure how I would have done my job that day pretending everything was still normal.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 07/08/2021 10:08

I was at home watching TV and remember watching the second plane hit. It ruined 2 of my DC's birthdays for me as they're very close to it, but as soon as I thought of their birthdays I thought of 9/11 for years.

takemetomars · 07/08/2021 10:09

I was at work in the middle of a busy clinic. GP calls me into his room to watch it on his computer. We watched for about 10 mins then had to carry on seeing patients. It all felt a bit surreal
We went on holiday to NY the following April and stated in a hotel close to the site. The police presence was still massive at that point. We heard lots of stories from taxi drivers etc and saw the site before it was totally cleaned up. Very strange

melonhead · 07/08/2021 10:12

I was working in London and had been to visit a client with a colleague and we were on the top deck of a bus going back to the office. She had a mobile and another colleague phoned us to say what had happened. We came straight back to the office in Holborn and watched Sky News on a monitor. We were so freaked out. My boyfriend called me at work and we were all allowed to go home to be with our families.

MotionActivatedDog · 07/08/2021 10:14

I got off the bus after school and went to a cafe to wait for my mum. My best friend phoned me (she was already home) and asked if I’d seen the news. No? An airplane had crashed into the world trade centre in New York and it had collapsed. I didn’t really know what the WTC was or why this was such big news so it wasn’t until I got home and every single tv channel was showing the exact same footage. That was when I realised this was a BIG event. I remember being in school the next day and people calling each other horrible racist slurs as an insult (we were all white) and thinking they were hilarious. Hmm that lasted a long time.

Fordian · 07/08/2021 10:16

I was sitting in bed BF my youngest, with our toddler on the bed with me, in Australia, when DH came into the room to tell me.

I remember a bit of a feeling of panic as to whether I'd be able to get home to the UK as all flights stopped immediately.

It still seems surreal, but I recall a tiny, tiny silver-lining - Noraid cash more or less stopped. The terrorism that funded suddenly arrived on their doorstep in NY.

Standrewsschool · 07/08/2021 10:17

I was watching Neighbours at home with my dc. After Neighbours, the tv switched to the news and showed the planes. I seem to recall it was live. I remember the clear blue skies.

Cherrysoup · 07/08/2021 10:17

We were all on a break and my boss came running to tell me to watch the office tv. Unbelievable to see it, we were all obviously gobsmacked.

Fordian · 07/08/2021 10:19

I also recall, as it emerged who was behind 9/11, saying to DH 'An awful lot of Muslim children are going to die because of this' 😔

PickUpAPepper · 07/08/2021 10:20

I wasn’t working that day, so bumbling around in our horrid, damp dingy flat all day. Sewing, reading and playing video games, hadn’t even had the radio on (no T, no mobiles back then), hadn’t been out. My now-dh came back from his Uni and told me, I didn’t actually believe it at first. We went out into the city and watched the footage on the TVs in electric shops. Of people jumping rather than burn to death.

elQuintoConyo · 07/08/2021 10:21

It's a holiday in Barcelona (well, all Catalunya) so most people were at home wondering why there was a disaster film on every channel, or in a cafe thinking the same.

Awful.

I remember a colleague making a horrendous joke the next day at work and someone punching him in the face!

magicstar1 · 07/08/2021 10:21

I was on holiday in Arizona with my ex. We were an hour behind NY, and my mother rang from Dublin to tell me and we watched on tv. We were booked on a flight to NY exactly 7 days later at the same time, and of course all air travel was stopped. It was a surreal feeling….we were far away from it, but I was glad to get home a couple of weeks later.

Gingernaut · 07/08/2021 10:23

I was in an open plan workplace.

One of us got a phone call about something unbelievable happening and I was outed as having a portable radio (against the rules).

I was persuaded to bring it out and had to try to retune to a new station to catch up on the news.

Eventually, the unreliable radio, partially stymied by the geography of the area and the building, drove us nuts and someone left the place to try to find out more.

Later, the employer put a TV in the canteen. I've never seen so many people in there.

Hekatestorch · 07/08/2021 10:25

I was working in a restaurant. The kitchen radio said a plane had hit. Like pp i presumed small aircraft.

I went on my break. The staff room was in the basement. I walked in and saw the TV, I was watching when the second plane hit.

We closed due to having an airport very close. My boyfriend, at the time, picked me up and we went to my parents and just watched.

LadyCatStark · 07/08/2021 10:26

@Dollywilde

I was 12, in Year 8. I remember the first I heard of it was when my mum picked me up from school and said ‘apparently there’s been a plane crash in America’ and I did a sort of disinterested ‘oh really?’ because it wasn’t especially unusual. I knew something was up when she said ‘no, I think it’s quite a bad one’.

It’s odd to think our teachers would have known what was going on that afternoon and were still teaching us without talking to us about it. Not sure how I would have done my job that day pretending everything was still normal.

I’m not sure they would have known, don’t forget this was in the days before smart phones, Sky News alerts and rolling news. They’d probably have only known if they’d happened to have the radio on.

I remember finishing a geography lesson a bit early so I was the first one on the school bus. After a while I noticed that there was no music on the radio and Chris Moyles was talking in a subdued voice so I started to listen. When I got home I adjusted the antenna on my TV (😂) and watched the news all night. There was a lot of worry in the family as my uncle lives in New Hampshire and had been due to fly out of Boston that night but he managed to call my grandma and say he was OK. It was a very surreal time.

LadyCatStark · 07/08/2021 10:27

Oh yes, I also imagined a small aircraft when I heard it on the radio, the first tower hadn’t collapsed then I don’t think.