9/11.... where were you?

[Josephus]

I used to smoke then and that morning I was at work having a smoke break outside in the parking lot. This girl pulls up in a taxi, she worked in the building. She didn't know me so much, other than she would have seen me in the smoking area before, and blurted out: Did you hear, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center building." I hadn't heard it before, but honestly didn't think too much of it. I finished my cigarette and returned to my office. to get to my desk I had to pass my editor's office, and he had the teleivision on and a crowed was gathered around it. I figured this had to do with the plane crash, and thought I'd check it out. I went in and said, "Yeah, i heard a plane crashed into a building?" My editor looked at me and said, "Two. Two planes, two buidlings."

If the first plane didn't affect me that much, this did. "Two. This can't be a coincidence."

[Duque de Bragança]

Woke up from a too long siesta (messed up the subsequent night) to discover the horror.

I first thought TV was showing pictures of the earlier World Trade Center attack in the '90s. Then I quickly made the link with Al-Qaida/Bin Laden since Massoud had been murdered two days earlier in Afghanistan.
I still remember discussing with conspiracy nuts using the UNOCAL thesis having the Taliban as mere pawns of the US Kapital so Al-Qaida, the assassination of Massoud had no place in their "Weltanschauung".

[crazy canuck]

At work.  I had an early morning meeting with a client at our office.  We could not get a hold of his close friend and business partner who had gone to New York for business meetings - in one of the towers.  Later we learned he had managed to get out of the building.

One of my partners was on runway at the Vancouver airport waiting to take off to fly to a meeting in Halifax, but of course that flight never took off.

[celedhring]

That afternoon I was meeting some friends to play Warhammer. While I was getting ready to leave home, I heard my father yell "a plane has crashed on the Twin towers!". I rushed back to my room and turned on the telly, the whole thing felt unreal. We all assumed it was a freak accident, but then the second one hit.

I still went to meet my friends, but instead of playing we spent the afternoon glued to the telly.

[Syt]

At work. Left work as usual at 4 pm, and the full scope only became clear over the radio on the ride home. We stopped at a shop to pick up some things, and it was surreal how people din't know yet.

Coming home I went to my Mom's friend who was nearby and where my Mom and some of her friends had their usual afternoon coffee meet. I told them to turn on the TV. They weren't particularly impressed, or affected and turned it off after a couple minutes. My Mom was annoyed that the TV schedule was messed up for days and she couldn't understand why I or my sisters were emotionally devastated.

(Heck, I read a detailed chronicle of the events on a news site this morning and had my eyes water reliving the events and seeing the pictures again.)

And I'm realizing that there's already a whole new generation of young people who were not part of this collective experience (or similarly momentous events, like the Fall of the Berlin Wall), but that's a normal course of things - one generation's collective memory and trauma is another's story told in documentaries and history class.

[Sheilbh]

I was in school I remember leaving and my dad as picking me up that day. I got in the car and he asked me if I'd heard the news - and I hadn't.

[Grey Fox]

I was in school. My class was across the corridor where you could rent TVs. The people there turned 1 on and I watched the 2nd plane hit live.

I didn't go to school the next day. I expected more carnage and that joining the army would soon follow.

[Agelastus]

Came home from attending a job interview, turned the TV on and the BBC coverage came up.

I think it was before the towers fell but after all the planes had hit; can't really remember.

I do remember thinking several times, "the Americans will go insane after this".

[HVC]

Home during spare. Heard it on the radio. In my memory I was listening to Howard stern but I dont remember if he was on the air at that hour.

[Jacob]

Home in bed, I think. My mom called and woke me up with the news, but they didn't really register until later.

Spent most of the day on Paradox OT discussing and reacting to developments.

[The Brain]

At home. A buddy called and said a plane had crashed into the WTC. The image in my head was of a small plane. Then I turned on CNN and watched the rest unfold. When I started watching the second plane had hit but the towers were still standing.

[Syt]

I think I spent much of the evening watching CNN and posting on Home of the Underdogs.

[mongers]

Sitting on a wall chatting with a girl I used to fancy, waiting for Mr Ben's bike shop to open up.
On the way back I popped into my sisters', and she said something like she heard from someone that planes had crashed into the WTC, I didn't believe the rumour and when on home.
Only later did I turn on the TV and see the first tower fall.

[Maladict]

I came home from uni, and the phone was ringing. I forget who called but they told me to turn on the news.
My roommate at the time would watch cartoons all day long and I had some trouble getting him to switch channels, but just in time to see the second plane hit the tower.

[Josquius]

I think I remember after school coming home halfway through my paper round where my mam and nana were already home.
I definitely remember vividly thinking about it and being quite excited by what was unfolding as I did a few houses.
I also remember being quite annoyed when the TV was nothing but news coverage of this for weeks after.
Then there was the jingoism and flash animations on the topic....