Dorothy

At work. My first patient of the day was late for his 9 am appointment which pissed me off. When he came in he said he was sorry he was late but he was listening to the news about the plane that hit the World Trade Centre. We had just finished in the exam room and I walked him down the hall to hear on the radio that the second plane had just hit the other tower. My husband was working at Toronto Pearson Airport that day, overseeing the installation of the new cameras on the runways. He didn't get home until the next morning.

The radio and was nothing but news coverage for hours. I'll always remember the first song they played on the radio when they went back to music was James Taylor's Fire and Rain. I still can't listen to that song without it making me cry for all those innocent people who lost their lives. And the fact that I love James Taylor anyway.

Comet, do you remember how amazing Peter Mansbridge's coverage was? I never really liked him before but he really changed my opinion that day.

Jan4kids

I was at my Mums for lunch with my two young kids after their weekly swimming lesson. I was heavily pregnant with my third. We both sat there transfixed at the Lunchtime News...it was surreal and VERY scary. I feared for my kids and especially my unborn babys' future. Everything in the world wasn't so 'cut and dried' anymore and I felt very unsafe.

Damson

In the local post office picking application form up for our then 6 month old to travel to Italy. Yes, things really changed for ever that day, for us all, not just for the tragic people involved with this whole event. Horribly, horribly sad. RIP

petensue

I was watching Opera when a news alert came up.I changed to Sky news not really believing it before I went to pick my children up from school.The memory of those poor people jumping out of the windows stays with me.Sue.

Kapri

Unusually, both my husband and I were off work that day. We got a call saying the first plane had crashed and turned on the news. We watched, horrified, as the second plane crashed and we remained glued to the tv all day.

Cheetah7

It was the day before we flew to Milan and I was working at a veterinary hospital. I had just been in to see one of my colleagues and had said to the vet I was scared of flying, he said 'dont be silly, planes dont crash these days'.

I then went to the video shop for something and saw footage of the first plane, I remember glancing up to see the second plane hit the Twin Towers. 'Is this some kind of film?' I asked the woman serving me, she just stared open mouthed at the TV and didnt answer.

By the time I had got home, the other plane had crashed as well.

The bit that haunts me was watching a couple holding hands jumping out of the towers and then both towers collapsing. The next day when we flew to Italy, the whole plane was silent - it was awful, we nearly cancelled. When the plane landed at Milan airport, everyone on the plane started clapping.

9/11 and the Asian Tsunami, two major events I will never forget.

The Bloke

Just woke up with the radio/alarm. Felt like it was part of a dream. Switched on the tv, still felt like a dream. In fact, felt like that for the whole day, couldn't believe that it had happened.....

framac67

Working in a shipyard when it came over the news on the radio. Having no access to T.V. we waited until home to see the full extent.

JackTheLad

I was alone at the Medina Grand servied apartment in Melbourne, watching a bit of CNN before bed. Saw the report and repeated replays of the first plane crash and assumed it was an accident involving a small plane. Then 10 minutes later, saw the second crash, live. Immediately realized it was an attack. Total shock and disbelief. Broke down in tears, shaking. Phoned JTL at work in London. Phoned family in Hong Kong. Couldn't get through to any friends in NYC. Finally found a friend in DC and asked him to keep me posted on status of a couple of friends. Couldn't sleep all night. Sat in sofa watching CNN.

Days later, found out everyone I knew was fine. But some former classmates had lost friends and colleagues.

I had never felt so alone in my life. Far away from family and friends, watching the horror.

Mrs JTL

koalakim

Hi

I was working for a well known aviation magazine at the time and we always had the tv's on in the office. I had just come back from lunch and saw everyone standing staring at the screens....what's going on I asked and someone said a plane has crashed into one of the twin towers...well I just thought at that stage it was a light aircraft and they said no an airliner! Eh?...airliners don't just crash into skyscrapers and then of course within moments the second one happened and then of course all hell let loose in the office with the press wanting experts opinions.

I remember the days afterwards as being a very horrible unsettling time, I think because you just didn't know how the USA would react (WWIII came to mind!). You actually wondered what kind of world you lived in, I know we all grew up with the IRA bombings but this attack was on just such a huge scale. Of couse we now know what made it worse was that the towers collasped when everyone thought they were designed to take a 747 crashing into them and of course the buckling of the steel work in the heat just added to an already awful situation.

I remember my friend was going through IVF at the time and she did wonder why she was thinking of bringing a child into this world.

It's been very interesting working in the press these days as everyone is news hungry and just wants info and opinions instantly with very few "facts" to go on. It was interesting watching info coming in and the stories behind plane crashes unfolding.

KK

BadgeIsBack

Press "1" for a collision into a tower
Press "2" for a collision into a house...

"Thankyou"

Press "1" for a big plane
Press "2" for a little plane..

I was in the office in Luxembourg when one of our German girls took a phone call from someone. The CNN website was down. Minutes later an email arrived of the first photos..

Minutes later she got another call, once we realised there was another plane I knew it was more serious.

There were people crowded around a TV shop on the way home, no not a indication of TV ownership in a place where the per capita income is amongst the highest in the world, just at the bus stop.

Interesting - not a big telly watcher myself so it passed the time that evening.

That next weekend I flew business class (they were happy days) back to London and I was crapping myself.

Dorothy

The house we lived in was on a flight path for Toronto airport and it struck me in the days after who strange it was that there wasn't a single plane in the sky. It was all very surreal.

Bernieboy

love it.

tonrob

I was asleep on the Ghan between Alice Springs and Adelaide.

Pollyana

That bit was OK, the next bit though was where one ends up talking to the relatives of an incident victim, and they are describing what he/she was wearing etc to help with the identification. Did it during a couple of the major UK train crashes - not a nice job.