How many "Where were you When" events in your life so far?

[LoveFall]

Somewhat inspired by the 9/11 thread. You can probably estimate my age from this.

I remember:

The Cuban missile crisis
JFK assassination
Apollo 13
Princess Diana's wedding and her death
9/11
Robin William's death
The first time I read about Covid. My heart sank.

I can tell you where I was for each one.

What about you?

Funny, Robin William's death really hit me. Someone came into my office at work and told me. Maybe its my age...

The ones I remember most are:

• Princess Diana's death when I was about 11 ("muuummm, the same thing's on every channel!")

• 9/11 - I'd just started 6th form and my mum told me when I got home

• Manchester arena attack - I lived in Manchester at the time and DP worked for one of the emergency services. 6I got a phone call at about 11 saying there had been an attack and he'd been sent into the city centre. Didn't hear from him again until he got home at 4am. You can imagine how much sleep I got that night! Ad it happened he wasn't directly involved but I didn't know that!

I had won 2 tickets for Ariana's concert but needed a third so I ended up giving them away. My friend and his boyfriend were hurt as they got knocked over and trampled on but luckily they escaped serious injury. I felt guilty but thankful at the same time.
Just yesterday my dd was asked what she was doing when George Floyd was murdered which I found strange (if a tad early) but then I guess it's the same as some of the sad events already mentioned on here.
9/11 I was in work and it was on the news on the big screen. I remember the reporter saying he wondered what the people on the plane flying past must be thinking about seeing the crash (and then the panic when that plane was headed to the next building. The manager of the bar next door was a very dour and miserable person who never smiled or had more than a two word conversation with you. I remember him literally galloping up to the bar to tell me about the first plane. He was giddy with excitement. I've never forgotten that.

I worked in a clothes shop in Manchester Arndale when the bomb threat came in. We literally had to force people out of the store and to leg it. One woman was pissed off and insisted that a manager had to tell her. I was stood there like a dick pissing about on the walkie talkie and the manager telling me to just fucking go. We were lead to St Ann's Square when I felt my ears pop and what sounded like a million fireworks going off simultaneously. I fell over and just lay there for what seemed like hours. I'm not small by any means but I was hauled over the shoulder of a fire fighter who carried me to an ambulance that seemed to be miles away. My head and face were covered in blood but I only needed 5 stitches. My hands and knees were cut and bleeding but it was superficial and I just have one scar on my hand. The emergency services were completely on the ball that day and it was down to their super human efforts to clear the city centre that nobody was killed. I still feel anger towards the woman who had to be persuaded to leave but I am thankful that I survived a bomb blast that happened 2 streets away.

Freddie Mercury died. More specifically my mum being upset.
Princess Diana's death being announced. Saw it as Breaking News at about 3am after a night out and thought I'd dream it the next day.
Princess Di funeral
Amy Winehouses death
Manchester bombing 1993. Was on a school trip and it was cut short as in the area.
Berlin Wall coming down
Millennium Eve
9/11
James Bulger murder
2004 Tsunami..had just got engaged discussing honeymoon destination Maldives and news broke
7/7
Boston Bombing Marathon
Lee Rigby attack
Paris terrorist attack
Manchester Arena bombing
London Bridge attack
Grenfell Tower
Lockdown announced by BJ

Death of JFK
England winning the World Cup
Death of Jim Morrison
Iranian Embassy siege.
Argentinian invasion of the Falklands.

Many of the above

For 7/7 I was on a tube train 2 stops behind one of the explosions. That was scary afterwards when I found out how close I'd been.

Also the morning of the Brexit vote result. Sat on my bed and cried, not just because of Brexit, but for the fact that is signalled growing Xenophbia and the inevitable rise of racism and fascism tendencies and a loss of opportunity for my kids. Tragedy of a different kind.

When John Lennon was shot. Heard it on a Radio 1 new bulletin.

And when Elvis died one of my sisters friends (about 14 ) went into full mourning.

And the Westminster terrorist attacks. I found out when my phone went nuts with everyone asking if I was OK. I worked in that area and was, unusually, working at home that day. Lucky escape.

And the Boxing Day Tsunami. Hearing a news report on the radio and not really grasping the scale of it.

Helicopter crash in Vauxhall (it landed in the street outside my old office). I went past it on the train about 3. Invites after it fell from the sky.

Reading this back I'm wondering if I'm actually secretly being filmed for the next Final Destination film. quite a few close ones.

@ShesAPeachSconeBob that sounds so scary.

The Great Storm. Got a day off primary school. Probably the first news event I remember. Our neighbours washing blew into our garden and I remember the tiles rattling on the roof.
Diana dying. Woken by my dad as a teen.
Millennium. Anticlimax of being sat on the sofa with a fluey boyfriend.
9/11. At Lakeside shopping, in John Lewis specifically. The TV department had all the TVs tuned in and people were gathered round watching in horror. There had been an announcement earlier that the chapel was open in the shopping centre, but they hadn't said why.
7/7. On a first aid at work course. First I knew was my dad messaging me to say he was ok thankfully.
Covid, obviously a massive event, but we were talking about it at work/home for weeks before lockdown. So it was a developing situation rather than a single event.

Challenger space shuttle
Bradford city fire
Diana death
9/11

I’m surprised no one else has mentioned that Beslan school siege. Admittedly, I don’t remember what else I was doing that day, but the siege unfolded on live TV and was just horrific and heart-breaking. The news agencies broadcast some scenes that they probably shouldn’t have done.

@ShesAPeachSconeBob

I worked in a clothes shop in Manchester Arndale when the bomb threat came in. We literally had to force people out of the store and to leg it. One woman was pissed off and insisted that a manager had to tell her. I was stood there like a dick pissing about on the walkie talkie and the manager telling me to just fucking go. We were lead to St Ann's Square when I felt my ears pop and what sounded like a million fireworks going off simultaneously. I fell over and just lay there for what seemed like hours. I'm not small by any means but I was hauled over the shoulder of a fire fighter who carried me to an ambulance that seemed to be miles away. My head and face were covered in blood but I only needed 5 stitches. My hands and knees were cut and bleeding but it was superficial and I just have one scar on my hand. The emergency services were completely on the ball that day and it was down to their super human efforts to clear the city centre that nobody was killed. I still feel anger towards the woman who had to be persuaded to leave but I am thankful that I survived a bomb blast that happened 2 streets away.

On my what a horrible experience. You were so brave. I can only imagine the fear you felt. Thank you for sharing that, it is good to hear about a survivor and what it was like.

@DinosApple

The Great Storm. Got a day off primary school. Probably the first news event I remember. Our neighbours washing blew into our garden and I remember the tiles rattling on the roof. Diana dying. Woken by my dad as a teen. Millennium. Anticlimax of being sat on the sofa with a fluey boyfriend. 9/11. At Lakeside shopping, in John Lewis specifically. The TV department had all the TVs tuned in and people were gathered round watching in horror. There had been an announcement earlier that the chapel was open in the shopping centre, but they hadn't said why. 7/7. On a first aid at work course. First I knew was my dad messaging me to say he was ok thankfully. Covid, obviously a massive event, but we were talking about it at work/home for weeks before lockdown. So it was a developing situation rather than a single event.

@DinosApple I was also at Lakeside when 9/11 broke! I was a teen with my dad and we saw a group of people clustered around a shop window of TVs - probably a Dixon’s or something - and vaguely caught sight of the smoke and towers but didn’t realise what it was we were seeing. We then heard it on the radio on the way home and the enormity began to sink in.