What were you doing on 11/9/2001?

[steve_b_wales]

I had just got in the house, after arriving home from a holiday in Turkey. I switched the TV on to watch the news, and saw the second plane hit the tower.

[bignoel]

we were driveing throu county kerry in ireland and heard it on the radio .it was hard to belive it .

[Frenchieboy]

I was running a Hop Farm in Hereford. I knew nothing about what had happened until one of two friends that were going to visit us that evening rang me mid afternoon. They were both from the States and siad that they were not going to make it as there had been a bad terrorist attack the Twin Towers and they had relatives that worked there that they thought might have been killed.

I didn't know the severity or the details of the attack till I got home that evening!

[Spiderdude]

I walked off a golf course in North Cave on a corporate day to see a young lad run across the car park to his dad.

 

He said "Dad come see the news, a plane has crashed into a skyscraper in America".

 

Went in clubhouse to see second plane hit..... Left club immediately.

 

Totally surreal, rang my parents who were living in Florida, no idea why, but felt I needed to.

[holly]

i was working at tilbury power station , i was in a condenser water box when the plant engineer stuck his head through the door and told me what had happened . ive visited ground zero and its amazing how the surrounding buildings survived

[goldypurple]

unfortunately i was at my Grandmothers funeral whilst this horrific attack took place, it wasnt until i got home a few hours later i knew about what happend, one i knew what had happended i was glued to the news.

 

I dont think i will forget the day in a hurry.

[TJ91]

i was getting rushed to hospital after a nasty motorbike accident

only young when it happend but i remember i wasnt in much pain after i saw what had happened, my pain was nothing

[ack-ack]

I was monitoring a diaphragm wall pour in Stratford box (Stratford international station). We had 100+m of concrete to pour and had just committed to it by firing the first loads down the tremmies. The mixer drivers were giving us constant reports on what was happening. We were spitting distance from Canary wharf and were half expecting a commotion there. We heard that they'd evacuated it and that there was a flap on, the traffic was awful, had we not had an on site batching plant we'd have lost the panel. We ended up running well into the night to complete it.

 

Couldn't quite believe it when I saw it for myself. I rang my brother who was watching the news and we just watched it without talking other than the odd '******* hell' . He said that when he rang his mrs and told her that the Pentagon had been bombed she thought he meant the shopping centre in Chatham. It brought some much needed light relief.

[garyb]

I was at home, instead of being at college (as my parents thought) getting stinky fingers with the lovely blonde from my class! (those we're the days!)

 

Had the TV on in the background to hear initial reports of a light aircraft hitting a NYC Sky Scraper, watched the 2nd plane hit.

[Good shot?]

We were visiting a sick relative at her home,the news was on tv and we watched in disbelief and horror at the scenes we saw.We only realised a day later when the relative died that the reason she watched it with a certain amount of acceptance was that she, unlike us knew she was dying.I don't know if acceptance is the right word but we felt that something was not quite right....

[Vipa]

Channel 4, National Geographic Channel & Discovery are doing a week of documentaries on 9/11.

 

People say they remember what they were doing when JFK was shot. I'm not that old but I remember what I was doing when I heard about 9/11. I was just getting off a plane and my girlfriend called me to tell me the news. I joined a crowd watching the news at one of the bars at Edinburgh Airport.

 

What were you doing?

 

In the car going from one office to another, turned the radio on just as Chris Moyles was saying "the second tower's collapsing." Never been so frightened in my life!!! Up to that point I was unnaware anything was happening, had been in meetings all day so hadn't seen or heard of the unfolding tragedy!

Edited September 6, 2011 by Vipa

[AlistairB]

At work on Wigmore Street, couldnt get onto any internet news sites so i went across to the electrical department in Selfridges and watched it all there along with a couple of hundred other people in syunned silence.

 

Half the people i worked with were then stranded in the US at a conference for another week until they were allowed to fly back.

 

AB

[Brown Sauce]

Out viewing a house and the owner had the TV on. We all stood watching the second plane auger in, completely shocking. People wonder why the US and UK have 'rendition', well this'll be the reason why.

 

3 days later flew out to Egypt, watched some Burka'd up woman decline being pat searched. Funnily she never made it onto the plane.

[bakerboy]

Flying to Turkey, we did not find out until the following morning.

I should have been in LA working, and then to fly out on the 13th to Turkey to meet the wife and friends, but changed my mind and went straight to the holiday. Would not have made the holiday, as work colleagues in LA were stuck there for nearly 2 weeks before they could get a flight out.

[Teal]

I was in school, so initially we only got snippets, and at the start the story going round was that some country had declared war on the USA. I remember that evening catching a flight to London, the flight had no delays but I remember the London airport being remarkably quiet.

[baikal boy]

i had just taken down a big beech and was grinding the stump out, when i had a tap on the shoulder off the customer i was working for with a cup of tea in his hand,i switched off the vermeer took my ear muffs off to be told the news, it was totally shocking then just over a week later i was doing a similar sort of job somewhere else finished got home and was told that my da had committed suicide,i will never forget that month and that year.

 

paddy.

[Mungler]

I was on a train pulling into Liverpool Street when the texts started.

 

I had an appointment at Regus Liverpool Street where I then watched it unfold standing shoulder to shoulder with a lot of American bank workers who all directly knew people who were working that day in the twin towers.

[Grandalf]

I was walking the dogs across a very large field that we call The Prarie.

The Memsahib 'phoned me and said "Get home now!"

She is not in the best of health and I thought she had fallen or something so I belted home to find her sitting and watching the TV - I was not best pleased...

Then I felt really guilty when I discovered what she was watching and why she had called me.

[spanielchris]

I was celebrating my 17th birthday and was waiting to have my first driving lesson. Still can't belive it when i watch it now! Shocking!

[semiautolee]

i was in art at the time news broke and everyone downed pencils and watched the telly!! never forget that day!!

[Gimlet]

I was in a pub in Weymouth called The Boot, drinking orange juice and nattering to a bunch of old boys who prop the bar up every day.

The barman had a news alert come in on his mobile phone. None of us quite believed it, there were lots of jokes about the Yank's navigational skills and giving the Arabs the cold steel etc etc. Then someone switched a television on...

[Bloke]

I was running a detox clinic near Grimsby when we first heard, initial reports seemed to indicate it was just a light aircraft with slight damage. As the news unfolded we just watched in horror, we moved a TV to where it could be seen in the waiting area - even the most hardened of the 'street people' we had in that day were appalled and subdued. On this 10th anniversary week, my thoughts and condolences go to all those bereaved relatives and the others affected by these terrible acts, their pain never goes away.

[Dr W]

Just finishing my last Accountancy professional exam in London, had a text from my gf and then at the end (they let us finish first) they said what had happened and that we should go directly home as some buildings in London were being evacuated, was a nervous journey home.

[Andy75]

Wife and I were on a hot air balloon trip over the New Forest. Didn't really have a lot of fun - everyone was subdued and talking about the horrors they had seen on TV.

[guss109]

I was still in the army and on guard shift as it all started to unfold. Needless to say it soon went to double squads and 24hr shifts with every motor hand searched ect. Were even aloud the tv on at the desk so we could all watch it