Where were you for 9/11

[Chickenkeev]

I was in France, i hadn't a clue what was happening. Didn't fully have the language, it was like a film. Watching a doc now, bringing it all back.

I was in hospital in Turkey.

I was 16 and sitting in my room watching TV and thought it was a great idea for a film as I saw the 2nd plane hit. Then I saw the BBC news in the corner and was then stuck to it all day/night

I was in Colombia, South America and watched it live on TV - horrific and surreal. It didn't cross my mind that the Towers would collapse, I was wondering how people above the fire line would be evacuated.

At work in the City. Watching agape on giant screens all round the trading floor.

I had been in NYC a month earlier and had breakfast in the Windows restaurant. All I could think was they'll never get out.

One man said, very quietly but with total certainty "This will be Bin Laden", which is a name I had never heard or read until that moment.

I was working for an American Company, who had offices In Leicester Square. There was a TV in the reception of the shared building. All the staff from the various companies were all gathered, watching open-mouthed.

No idea. I think I'm the only person on the planet who genuinely can't remember.

I was at home (ironing!) when DH phoned me from work telling me to put the TV on as something awful was unfolding in New York.

Later I had to collect DS from school to take him to cathedral choir practice and one of the other mums who was there had been frantically calling colleagues who worked in the WTC. They were all safe, thank goodness.

I have photos in an old style album of the twin towers from when I'd visited NYC with DS and my mum a few months previously (we didn't actually go into the buildings) and these still freak me out when I look at them and remember those who lost their lives so tragically.

It's gas that you remember you were ironing! It is the absolute normalcy of it, going about your day, and then the world changes around you.

I remember the bomb scares well. You just accepted them as a daily part of life, especially in London. Whenever you went on a tube, for example, there were always trains delayed or not stopping at certain stations due to ‘an incident’. We used to go to London every year with a youth group, and only once it we didn’t go due to heightened ira activities. In many ways, it was more of an inconvenience, rather than you were going to get hit, as I don’t recall many actual bombs, more scares.

I think when the bombs started being placed in towns outside London, that it became more scary. For example, in St Albans, where they targeted a military band (but bomb went of early, hit Barclays Bank instead).

I was at work in a lab where some teams were developing things for the inside of TVs. So it was on some of the TVs. I didn't grasp the enormity of it at the time.

I'd just dropped DD to nursery and had put DS down for his afternoon nap. I put the lunchtime news on and watched the whole thing unfold.

It's strange reading that, you're so matter of fact about it. I suppose you have to be but i just can't imagine living like that at all. We were really lucky in ROI when you look back, it's amazing we didn't have more incidents really.

Working on the ground floor of the highest (at that time) office building in Europe.
For fairly obvious reasons the building was evacuated (well we were all told to go home) at about 16:00 our time. My team walked over to the other side of the river and went for a drink, where we caught up with what had happened on the tv in the bar. We all sat there in stunned silence, which was unusual for us!

Working in a busy newsroom, regional not national.

At that point we only had a portable telly in the editor’s offence. I can clearly remember a newscaster says a light aircraft had hit a tower and it was thought the pilot had died - a colleague shook his head and said “this is going to be much, much worse”.

I was a teenager, at home, off school, so saw it unfold. At first it was reported as a light aircraft (wasn’t sure if I’d imagined this but poster above has confirmed) but then it became apparent it was much bigger than that. I remember footage of people jumping out of windows to their deaths, the towers collapsing, and then later the footage of ‘the falling man’. I kept thinking about what it would be like to be trapped up there. It was very disturbing and upsetting. Awful.

At work in London. We monitor the news and so saw it on TV. Couldn't believe it - looked like a disaster movie. I used to take the Path train from the stop under the towers every day a few decades ago.

It must have been so life changing to be living in the states then. It was like an assault on reality, PP mentioned IRA bombs so British people would have had a sense of it, but Americans much less so I think.

I was in work in the City. I was aware of something serious happening as people's attitudes were just changing suddenly. I went downstairs to our canteen to get some lunch and the TV was on. We stood and watched in silence at the whole awful scenario unfolding, and then the second plane hit. I remember a collective gasp and one of our female lawyers who never swore saying 'Christ all fucking mighty'. It was horrendous.

I went back upstairs and my boss, who was out at a golf day, rang me and asked what was happening as they were hearing about it when they were coming back into the clubhouse. I was so shocked by what I had seen I couldn't talk and just stammered at him.

Me and DH watched it all on the tv in the evening and sobbed all the way through the coverage. Even now it still brings me to tears when I see anything about it.

I was at work. The company I worked for was a large international with US offices close to the WTC. I remember it so clearly. All the screens in the meeting rooms were turned on and we were encouraged to leave if we could. Even thinking about it now makes me go cold.

I was at home. Remember my dad calling me through to see the news. Then we saw the 2nd plane hit. Then the towers collapse

Agreed, it was very much 'keep calm and carry on.' I do recall being on the tube in the run up to Chrismas (1972/3), the train stopped in a tunnel and all these big men in plain clothes got up, flashed warrant cards and started searching bags. The worst moment I had was walking across Waterloo Bridge and there was a lone car parked there and I wondered do I walk past and risk it in case it's booby trapped?

My uncle in rural France asked me how it was possible to live in Lodon in the 70s and 80s with the level ad threat and I said that if you thought about it, you'd go mad - so you tried not to think about ut.

I was 14 and remember getting home from school and putting the TV on in my room and it was on every channel.

I have such admiration for that attitude. Fairly sure i wouldn't be able to pull it off.

On holiday in Mexico surrounded by Americans. We were having breakfast when it came on the news . The entire dining room stopped and went completely silent until we saw the second plane coming in . We didn't leave our room the entire day . Some of our fellow holidaymakers lost family members. Then everyone was stuck there for the next five days because no flights. There were counsellors at the airport when we flew home for people to talk to before they boarded the planes. I have never felt so scared flying ever .

That must have been so surreal 😥