9/11 10 years ago
- Thread starter compboyo
- Start date
I was working in Reading on the 4th floor of the 10 storey brown building opposite the Train station.
Remember the day like it was yesterday, an Asian girl mentioned that someone had crashed into the twin towers, people where in disbelieve at first, then when the BBC website went down, everyone went into the Australian pub next door to watch the telly.
Remember the day like it was yesterday, an Asian girl mentioned that someone had crashed into the twin towers, people where in disbelieve at first, then when the BBC website went down, everyone went into the Australian pub next door to watch the telly.
Yep, top of BBC site.
Edit: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-09/us-probes-sept-11-anniversary-terror-threat/2878188
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Stood in the data storage breakout room at work, watching the news report on a little black and white telly balanced on top of a brown wood panelled fridge at around 2.45pm. Standing next to a guy called Sonny, and another called Martin. Warm muggy day, was wearing a black polo shirt and black cargo trousers.
Had to drive to the airport to get my mate and his Mrs later that afternoon, and broke the news to them as they got into the car.
They thought I was taking the mick, until I switched on the radio and found the news.
Mental the detail some remember it in, never heard of flashbulb memory - cheers footman.
Had to drive to the airport to get my mate and his Mrs later that afternoon, and broke the news to them as they got into the car.
They thought I was taking the mick, until I switched on the radio and found the news.
Mental the detail some remember it in, never heard of flashbulb memory - cheers footman.
Associate
Me and a workmate were heading back from the pub after a lunchtime pint and walked into the courtyard that our office sits at the back of - at that point, one of the bosses comes out of the building about to leave for a meeting and says "Christ fellas, a bloody plane has hit the World Trade Centre ... we've got the telly on upstairs, go and have a look".
I immediately pictured a small plane like a Cessna and my jaw dropped when we got upstairs and saw the hole in the side of the building. I was completely dumbstruck when roughly ten minutes later we saw the second plane hit the second tower live.
I just remember the sense of foreboding that gripped me the rest of that afternoon, as the Pentagon was hit and reports started coming in of planes heading for other landmarks - a real fear of the unknown, like "Jesus, what the hell is going on and where the hell is this gonna end?", followed by the thought that George Bush was going to go postal and lob a nuke at Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq.
Never known anything like it before or since and hope to God I never do again.
I immediately pictured a small plane like a Cessna and my jaw dropped when we got upstairs and saw the hole in the side of the building. I was completely dumbstruck when roughly ten minutes later we saw the second plane hit the second tower live.
I just remember the sense of foreboding that gripped me the rest of that afternoon, as the Pentagon was hit and reports started coming in of planes heading for other landmarks - a real fear of the unknown, like "Jesus, what the hell is going on and where the hell is this gonna end?", followed by the thought that George Bush was going to go postal and lob a nuke at Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq.
Never known anything like it before or since and hope to God I never do again.
As it so happens, I've always associated the events of September 11th 2001 with OCUK and these forums while I was on Summer holiday from my first year at Uni.
Reason being is that early that morning I received my first ever order from OCUK. I'd never put together my own computer from scratch before, so needed to read up a bit on what I needed to do, especially with things like thermal paste.
So it was from the website I found the forums and while looking for advice I saw a thread that had just been posted about a plane having hit the WTC and that CNN had just started to show footage of a fire where it hit.
So I then turned on the TV as a result of reading that and built my PC at the sametime. I didn't actually register on the forums properly until a good while later though.
More poignant though was when I got a phone call from a friend a little later whose Father was actually flying into New York not long after the first plane hit. He had been due to go to the WTC later that day and had been considering an earlier flight, so he had been unbelievably lucky.
Reason being is that early that morning I received my first ever order from OCUK. I'd never put together my own computer from scratch before, so needed to read up a bit on what I needed to do, especially with things like thermal paste.
So it was from the website I found the forums and while looking for advice I saw a thread that had just been posted about a plane having hit the WTC and that CNN had just started to show footage of a fire where it hit.
So I then turned on the TV as a result of reading that and built my PC at the sametime. I didn't actually register on the forums properly until a good while later though.
More poignant though was when I got a phone call from a friend a little later whose Father was actually flying into New York not long after the first plane hit. He had been due to go to the WTC later that day and had been considering an earlier flight, so he had been unbelievably lucky.
Soldato
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- 19 Jan 2006
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I was on a weekly catering course with school which took place at another college, my mum picked me and a mate up and told us about it on the journey home. I didn't have any clue at the time what the world trade centres were exactly, as I was only 14. When I arrived home I got changed then cycled round to my mates house, the one who got a lift with us, to watch it all unfold on the TV. It's so weird how clear the memories are as at the time the buildings themselves and the whole scale of the thing to a 14 year old wasn't that great.
I can't remember where i was going to or coming back from but I got into the car and had Radio 1 on but there was no music. i wasn't paying much attention to it anyway so turned yo 5 Live and thery were all over it live in NY etc. Came back into the house and the kids TV was on so switched it to Sky news and watched all day.
9/11 is my birthday as well.
9/11 is my birthday as well.
I was working for Bowers and Wilkins at the time when this tragic event happened. I remember going into the canteen on my lunch break and everyone was stood around a computer with a live stream via the BBC website. I was completely gob smacked/speechless seeing the the second plane hit the second tower, it was like something out of a movie.
Soldato
I was at school, my mum was at the doctors so my aunt picked me up and took us to her house. She told us about the two planes hitting on the car journey home. We all sat and watched the towers collapse.
Soldato
Sat at home on a day off, wife phoned from work to ask if it was true as no one there had heard definitely one way or the other.
I put sky news on then just sat there relaying the news live to them as the 2nd tower was hit.
Slightly off topic, but does anyone here truly, deep down in side care about it? We had the conversation at work today. While I understand it was a shock at the time and lots of families lost their loved ones it didn't directly effect me so I really have a hard time attaching any emotion to it. This really seemed to shock 90% of the women at work. Is it just me that is weird?
I put sky news on then just sat there relaying the news live to them as the 2nd tower was hit.
Slightly off topic, but does anyone here truly, deep down in side care about it? We had the conversation at work today. While I understand it was a shock at the time and lots of families lost their loved ones it didn't directly effect me so I really have a hard time attaching any emotion to it. This really seemed to shock 90% of the women at work. Is it just me that is weird?
i agree, maybe im cold hearted i dont know but i know i dont care about it and most other things going on around the world tbh
Eh I hope I won't be demonized but I did not care. So many other people are killed unlawfully, unfairly and it is not reported, nobody cares. People that died on 9/11 had no connection to me. Did not feel sorrow for them nor sadness. What was going through my mind is anger, anger at what drives people to do such an unnecessary acts of violence.
Soldato
I was sat at Macclesfield bus station, listening to the radio while waiting for a bus over to Buxton. Scheduled broadcasts were interrupted. I listened for a while, a little stunned, then mentioned it to the little old lady sat beside me.
She said it sounded upsetting... then told me she was pleased because she'd just bought some slippers, the final Christmas present on her list.
At the time I thought this was a strange reaction, even for someone who probably grew up in WW2. But I often wonder if the whole world should have reacted like that. Terrible tragedy, but life goes on. We seem to have spent much of the last decade proving that Bin Laden was at least partially right about the West's attitudes and lifestyles. Morally confusing wars, self inflicted debt crisis, people rioting for trainers and mobile phones... strange times.
That's not to say I approve in any way of what happened, obviously, and it is hard to imagine the kind of fear felt by those trapped in the Towers and stay sane. I never forget that, and whenever I'm in a restricted environment, like a multi-storey building or tube tunnel, I always try to have an escape plan.
Chances are I'll never need it; big fires or disasters are very rare. But 9/11 was a very significant reminder that every bad day starts out as a perfectly normal day.
She said it sounded upsetting... then told me she was pleased because she'd just bought some slippers, the final Christmas present on her list.
At the time I thought this was a strange reaction, even for someone who probably grew up in WW2. But I often wonder if the whole world should have reacted like that. Terrible tragedy, but life goes on. We seem to have spent much of the last decade proving that Bin Laden was at least partially right about the West's attitudes and lifestyles. Morally confusing wars, self inflicted debt crisis, people rioting for trainers and mobile phones... strange times.
That's not to say I approve in any way of what happened, obviously, and it is hard to imagine the kind of fear felt by those trapped in the Towers and stay sane. I never forget that, and whenever I'm in a restricted environment, like a multi-storey building or tube tunnel, I always try to have an escape plan.
Chances are I'll never need it; big fires or disasters are very rare. But 9/11 was a very significant reminder that every bad day starts out as a perfectly normal day.
Thanks for making everyone feel old.