9/11 Where were you?

This terrible day is one of those few times in history which prompts the question: “Where were you when…?”

Most of us will remember where we were when the tragic events of 9/11 occurred.
I was at home alone in my flat in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, on a day off from work. I woke up late, as usual, and turned the television on. I wasn’t paying much attention initially but thought that it was a bit early for a disaster film to be on. It slowly dawned on me that it was not a film. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre and as I began to pay attention the second plane went into the other tower. It was then I realised that it was not a disaster it was an attack. I phoned my closest friends and made them all aware of what was happening, happy that I didn’t know anyone who would be directly affected by this assault on basic everyday people. Little did I know how this one day would affect the whole world for the following few years, maybe even decades?
After sitting in front of the telly for what seemed like hours I decided that I needed to get out, to go somewhere and not look at the Towers for a while. I got a train into London and went for a drink in Comptons of Soho. The upstairs bar is often less cluttered so I went up there to get my first drink. As I got to the top of the stairs I noticed that the television projector was on and the patrons of the bar were all watching the unfolding events and talking about just one thing. I didn’t stay upstairs, I wanted to get away from the tragedy for a while so I went back downstairs and, when I’d finished my drink, moved on to another bar. I didn’t stay out as long as I normally would that night and when I got home I caught up on the latest Towers news before going to sleep.
I was truly shocked. I didn’t think I would ever experience one of “those” days when everyone remembers where they were when “it” happened. But that day I knew I had. Unfortunately it isn’t the only one I have experienced and probably won’t be the last one.

I remembered my mum telling about where she was when Kennedy was shot. She and my dad were in their first home after getting married, a flat (I can’t remember where it was exactly, somewhere in south Essex). They didn’t have much furniture, using an ironing board as a table when they initially moved in. They had no television and would often sit there listening to the television of the upstairs neighbour, who would always have the sound up high. It was during one of these days when they heard he had been shot. It was something she always remembered and it stuck in my mind when she told me about it.

I don’t recall where I was when I heard about Diana. I was shocked but she wasn’t an important figure in my life.

On 7/7 I had been working on night shift and got home at around 08:00, so when the bombs actually went off I was fast asleep. I first knew about it when my sister phoned me to check I was alright. This was at about 11:30 and she woke me up with the call. Normally I would have ignored the phone, but that morning I didn’t. I got up to check out the television and just didn’t go back to bed. I wasn’t working that day, which I was glad about. I didn’t go out that night either. The idiot who blew up the bus had intended to get on the Northern Line, I heard, which was the line that I used at the time. He was unable to do so because of faulty trains or something, this didn’t surprise me because the Northern Line is really bad for delays and cancellations.

When the Admiral Duncan pub was bombed, I was living in Stevenage in Hertfordshire. I was intending to go into Soho for some drinks. I changed my mind at the last minute because I was too tired. This was very lucky. I wouldn’t have been in the area for the bomb but I would have got caught in the underground possibly (I’m presuming that there would have been cancellations and closures).