Where were you when.....

[Quattro formaggi]

9/11 I was at work at a temping job my work colleague told me what had happened her mum or someone kept phoning her to tell her I couldn’t believe it. Then someone who had the internet in the office printed off the sky news story for everyone.

diana - was on my way backfrom a club in mcr with my friend at it was on the news on the radio in the taxi she had been in a car crash and dodiwas dead but she was still alive at that point. l must have found out next morning she was dead but I don’t remember specifically.

 

[Jess1991]

I was in year 5, so about 9 or 10. Remember coming home and trying to put kids tv on and every channel was covering it. I don’t think I realised how shocking it was at that age but it’s crazy how even being so young, you remember where you were...

 

[Razzledazzlex]

I was in school and another teacher interrupted our lesson to say we had to listen to the radio.
After school at home, I just remember it being on the tv the whole evening and how my mum was saying how serious it was. Quite scary, I was only 9 at the time!

 

[svdwoodsen]

I find it fascinating how we all remember exactly where we were.

@svdwoodsen I can only imagine how emotional the atmosphere is there and poignant seeing those names in your office. I also hope that your colleagues take some comfort in the fact that even people from tiny Yorkshire villages like mine send nothing but love to them.

When Diana died I was at my mum and dads caravan in flamborough with my sister and brother in law. It was astonishing. My mum was heartbroken. She always had Magic radio playing quietly all through the day and night and that day they cancelled all shows and put music on a loop of about 8 songs. Each of those songs now reminds me of the day she died.

This means a lot, thank you.

I think it's one of those events that shaped an entire generation of people for sure. Unfortunately, the idea of terrorist attacks has become almost ingrained in our generation and when I'm out and about in a big city and hear an explosion or loud bang, that's the first thing that comes to mind. It shouldn't be this way but it is.

I was really young when Diana died but I remember my mother being devastated as well. She was well loved around the world and I think a lot of women really identified with her struggles despite being from different backgrounds, cultures, and circumstances. Truly the people's princess.

 

[Moe]

Had been on a visit to Jersey Zoo and had got on a bus back to St Helier. Sat down then I heard the driver talking to other passengers knew it was something important but couldn’t quite catch what he was saying. I asked him when I got off and couldn’t quite believe it but as I was walking through the town there were lots of police that hadn’t been around earlier in the day. I walked past a pub that had its doors open and a large flatscreen showing the moment one of the planes hit the towers. So sad and terrifying for all the innocent people involved and their families.

 

[toffeejelly]

I was off sick from school, I remember seeing it on TV and just being in complete shock. It still haunts me to this day, it's just so tragic.

I've been to Ground Zero and it's such a beautiful memorial, but also very eerie when you are there. Feels surreal.

 

[Anasnake]

At home with my 4 week old baby (who’s now at uni), wondering what’s sort of world I’d brought him into

With Diana I was hungover after a night out and put the telly on to see Tony Blair talking. It was half way through and I didn’t knew who he was talking about, I thought it was the queen at first. I remember later issues of the newspaper had a new front cover but it only had the basic details.

 

[JD-Morgan]

I was 11, I remember coming home from school and my mum was glued to the tv and as I walked into the living room she gasped as the second plane hit the second tower. I asked her what film she was watching and she replied it’s the news

I visited New York in 2005 when it was still Ground Zero. I visited again in 2017 after the memorials were finished and went to the museum and the fountains. Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[chandlercheesecake]

I like reading stories from people who got caught up in it, although there aren't that many as most people are prob traumatised by it.

I was 7, and I just remember seeing it on TV and asking if any kids died.

 

[jharpz]

I was in Primary 5 and came home to my granny’s after school just in time to see the second plane hit. We didn’t move the rest of the afternoon and I remember watching the news for days

 

[Hinchhater1442]

I was in Spain on a family holiday. I was only about 7 at the time. Me and my sister both and white T-shirt’s with sequins on. My sequins were shaped like a heart of the American flag, hers the same but shaped like a star.
We had lots of Spanish people coming up to us trying to ask questions and say sorry.. took my parents hours to figure out what was actually happening and then explain that we’re not actually American.
We were on holiday again during the 7/7 bombings. From then on my parents were always paranoid to go on holiday as a family incase something bad happened

 

[or JusRollWithIt]

Pregnant, working in a clinic. Had a full schedule and no time to leave my work room. As each patient came in, I heard snippets of what was unfolding. Couldn’t piece it all together. A co worker went home and recorded the news and brought it into conference room and pressed play. We all watched, unable to believe what we saw. Went home end of shift and wondered what kind of world I was bringing my child into.

I remember spending the next day glued to the tv. People putting up posters of their missing loved ones. People on the news, bystanders, had made makeshift gurneys out of plywood to help transport survivors. There were no survivors.

I remember going for a walk at night, and the sky felt empty and quiet as all flights grounded.

It was a very sad, very heavy time.

 

[Belleboo]

I was at college, another tutor came in to talk to ours and they told us to go home as what was happening was more important than anything they could teach us. Being a stupid 19 year old I went to the pub where they were playing the news on the big screen, I think I only really understood how terrible it was when I saw it. Everyone was crying, I still struggle to get my head round it even now. All those innocent people and for nothing. It’s heartbreaking and the world really did change that day.

 

[Kat5998]

I was only 3 years and exactly 6 days old when 9/11 happened so I have no vivid memories of it being shown on the TV, I think my parents distracted me away from the news coverage

 

[Mememememe]

Diana - all I remember is my aunty calling the house and told me to tell her Diana had died.

9/11 I remember walking into the house after school and I could see burning tower on the TV I can see him now sat in the sofa i enter in and he just turns and looks at me. It was a look I won't forget. Ans then the tower fell ( may have been the second tower) and I just couldnt believe what I was seeing. I was about 12.i went into my bedroom and sobbed. I was terrified. All those dead and I didn't really understand.
I was scared for a while after that.

7/7 - I woke that morning and went do etaors turned int he TV. Mum came in and we watched it unfold live. I told her straight away that this was a terrorist attack even though it was unconfirmed at the time

Grenfell - here in this house watching it in gmb I think cuddling my baby tight because I just felt absolute dispare at what had happened.

 

[StiflersMom]

I was yr 8 or 9 and didn’t really know much about it.
Went home, headed up to my football training and then off to my grandads before getting a lift home.....didn’t hear anything apart from my grandad waffling about a plane hitting a building in America. Just was like ‘oh ok’ and carried on up the stairs to sneak a fag out the bathroom window .
The next day at school everyone was taking about it and spent literally the whole day discussing it and watching the news etc. It’s only really a few years later that I really got the magnitude of what happened. Like I saw it in the news but it didn’t seem real in a sense....I knew it had happened but never grasped the fact that these two massive buildings had massive planes driven into them.

 

[Amyx1518]

I was 9, we went to see a friend of my mum who had just had a baby. It was on the news and I didnt think it was real but then the adults were talking about it so I realised that maybe it was. Definitely didn’t understand the gravity of it though, until many years later.

 

[Sw4]

911- I was in year 8 and remember vaguely someone saying something in school. Then when I got picked up from school my dad was like have you heard and then told me and I don't think I fully grasped it, then was shocked when I got home and saw the TV footage. I think it's the first time I'd come across the term terrorism as well.

Diana- I was about 7 or 8 and I believe it was the weekend and my aunt, uncle and cousins were staying over which was a regular thing as they live quite far. Us cousins all used to camp on the living room floor and sleep late, and I rmemeber my aunt waking us up sombrely and saying guess who's died. For some reason I immediately thought it was my dog but then when we were told I was shocked, I didn't think princesses could die like that in my young naiive mind. Didn't entirely understand what paparazzi meant for ages too.

 

[Marmaladeapricot]

In my office in West London, stood in reception watching it happen on the big tv.

 

[ChloChlo]

I was 18 years old the next day (my bday is the 12th). I had actually been released from mental hospital after I was sectioned for 6 months for hearing voices and trying to kill myself the same week. I was in a shitty hostel room, it was very clinical and I was laying in bed listening to the radio. I didnt really know what the twin towers were TBH and didnt pay no heed, then when I put on the telly to try and see where they were on about because it seemed to be monopolising the talk radio stations, I was very shocked!!