Peter Newton

On my way to work this morning I passed by my local fire-house and police station. They were having a rememberance ceremony and it took me back to what I was doing when I heard about the terrorist attacks.

My wife and I were living in London at the time. I was in Kingston on Thames, (south west London) when I heard. I had just finished a client meeting when the news came through. My first reaction more of disbelief than anything else. I called my wife who was in a state of panic, as I had forgotten that her Dad's office was just a few blocks away from ground zero.

We both left work, met up at home, and watched the events unfold on the TV. It was 24 hours before we could confirm my Father in law was safe as the phone system was jammed. One of the most difficult moments we have ever experienced.

hevs

I was sat at home in a distraught state as my husband had just called to say that he'd been made redundant. The events later that day certainly put things into perspective and we decided to do something with our lives and emmergrate.

hhmaker

I watched the whole thing unfold from my office. I had a clear view of the towers from where I work in Midtown. It was like watching a movie. One thing I noticed, was the reaction of the different ethnic groups. The American employees were in a sheer state of panic, the Brits (many of us worked in London during the IRA activity) were calm but worried and the Europeans (mostly Germans) were walking around like nothing was going on!!! and business was to be run as normal.

nathan barley

I was at work, at Abbey National in Teesside. We have no TV's or radios, nor internet access in our office, but someone came from upstairs and said that a plane had crashed into the WTC. A while later, someone said that a bomb had went off at the Pentagon and White House.

The news we got was chinese whispers at best, but we eventually learned that two planes had hit the WTC, and that had us gossipping for the remaining three hours of work.

The bus ride home was surreal, nobody was in the town center despite it being rush hour, it was completely deserted, as was my bus. Everyone I talked to was in a state of shock, and overwhelmed that something on that scale had happened in the US. I spoke to my parents, who were watching it, then started talking to my friends on IRC, whilst we all watched the wall to wall news coverage on our TV's.

It hit me that this was big when the US shutdown it's airspace, and the BBC cut to explosions and fighting in Kabul, Afghanistan.

My wife works across the river in Queens, and from her office, they could all see the planes strike, and the subsequent collapse. Despite being a good 7 miles away, they could feel the ground shake as they collapsed.

NC Penguin

I was at work in the City (of London) that day. My husband (also working in the City) phoned me immediately after the first plane had the WTC. He'd been on Sametime (IBM product) communicating with colleagues in the US who were describing what was going on in NY.

So I pretty much knew what was going in real time across the pond in NY, PA and the Pentagon

My husband (a USC) has worked in the Pentagon and was concerned that some people he had worked with had died when the plane hit that building. After an exchange of emails, he discovered that nobody he knew he died that day.

The terrorism in the US (and the UK for that matter) does not deter me from travelling. I am perhaps more cautious about people's behaviors and things like unattended bags.




NC Penguin

scotch03

I was sleeping in bed in Santa Barbara having flown with AA via Boston two days previous.
My travel Karma is weird.
When the UK sent troops to Bosnia I was in Malaysia. When the twin towers came down I was in the US. When the US started bombing Afghanistan I was in Canada.
I hate flying at the best of times let alone when wars start.

Watching CNN this morning I was touched by the children reading the names of those who died. Such strength.........

Yosser

My wife and I were driving to work, we was in the car in the HOV lane going around Dallas just chattin away, approx 8.00am on the radio they said a plane had hit one of the towers and it was thought to be a 'cessna plane?'....

I dropped my wife off at work, then there was panic on the highway people shootin off at exits (I was just driving past the world trade center in Dallas) and there were police everywhere, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I just got to work when the plane had hit the pentagon and I will never forget the DJ saying "we are under attack, America is under attack" then I heard of the 2nd plane etc....I couldn't believe it, I was so saddend.

30 mins later my wife called her high rise building was being evacuated as it was right in the flight path for Dallas Love Field airport, I never drove so fast back to get her. We got back home 2 hours later, the highways were a mess.

I called my boss, she said just stay home, so I just watched it from my in-laws house all unfold.

Mum called from england in the afternoon, worried sick we were all so sad, what a way to celebrate my birthday

SueIP

I was at home with my husband and watching the news - well sort of watching it - when we first saw it I thought it was a movie so didnt pay attention at first. When it did dawn on me it was for real - I was in a state of shock.
Those people jumping out of the twin towers still haunt me - what must have been going through their minds...........

Patrick

We had just come off the beach in Corfu in Greece, we where sat in bar at the hotel having cocktails when someone put all the tv's to CNN. The second plane had just hit and some of the Greeks in the bar where celebrating the attack on the americans (because the american OIC member had called Athens a backwater and not deserving of the Olympics in 2004 and Greece is very anti-american anyway (a fact I did not know until then)).

I think we should never forget this ever happened, or any other act of terrorism that resulted in the loss of human life (Warrington, Bali, Dunblane, Munich to name but a few) but we must get past it. America seems to have been stiffled this week with nothing but 9/11 programs and reporting, let this wound scar and lets not reopen it and let it bleed out.

God Bless those whos lifes where taken or whos lifes where effected in any way by those events and may you all love each in the way you would want to be loved

Patrick

Webbie

I was working for a publisher in Oxford and we are constantly in contact with publishers in the USA. We also had an office in NJ.

For some reason we got a recording of a long distance operator telling us that the call couldn't be connected.
At first I thought it was just me but I asked my colleagues and they same the same.
Then someone from another section came over and said about a 'plane hitting the World Trade Center.
Like others we heard at first it was a light aircraft and possibly be an accident...
At the same time I fired up the browser and tried to bring up the BBC News website, but many (millions) of others had the same idea and the site wouldn't come up.
Finally I found a news service website and read the page in disbelief.
Someone managed to speak to the NJ office and confirmed everything - our IT Manager sent out a mail asking people not to go online because of the strain on the servers and gave details of what he was told by NJ.
The rest of the afternoon I can't remember, I was in a daze.

My wife (American) - who was working at a bookshop didn't know a thing, she had no radio or online access.
The first time she found out when someone at the bookshop head office called to offer their sympathies to her.
Obviously she was confused - for what ? What was happening ?
She was told what had happened and spoke to a customer and found out the full story.

At 5pm she went home and switched on BBC News 24, 30 minutes later I joined her and we both watched in silence.
When the news went to something else we switched over to BBC Choice (we had an onDigital box) - they had cleared all the normal programmes and were just showing news feeds from U.S TV stations.
All night we watched the entire day unfold again...
- My wife has a cousin in NY and tried to reach him, but of course nobody got through, a few days later she did and he was fine.


One year later I had my interview at the U.S Embassy in London - The interview was scheduled for 8.30am on September 12th, so we booked a hotel room and went to the memorial in the square in front of the embassy.
When we went in we were handed a badge (pin) with the U.S and British flags - something I wear all the time now.

We met a woman who was originally from the UK, but was now married to an American and lived in DC.
She lost her nephew at the Pentagon.
We gathered strengh and encouragement for the next day and our uncertain future from this woman.
- We were in two minds whether we should do this - after what happened was it a good time to move or not.

"There will never be a good time, just go." She said.

And we did.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to tell our stories.
Grahame

tony_2003

We were staying at my wifes parents house. I woke up and walked into the livingroom still half asleep where my mother & father in law were standing watching TV.

I remember trying to focus on the TV and seeing what appeared to be a movie. As my eyes began to clear I realised that it wasnt a movie and that this was CNN. I spent the rest of the day like most people, in utter disbeleif

PrincessofWales

funny that, having just been evacuated from our DC offices, we watched in disbelief at home, then just as the 2nd tower fell the phone rang and my partner was laid off by conference call with the UK.

All he could say was "have you any idea what is going on here, can't this wait for a few hours?".

London had an agenda and would not budge.

Everything changed that day, and the challenges continue.

veryfunny

Netherlands and was in a state of complete shock, I was working with an American at the time, he was less symphatic to his own country folk . Got on the phone as soon as I could to call family in London.

What a terrible experience to find out the company I was working for had an office in that building. (We lost 8 hard working members)

Lion in Winter

I was feeding my then two-year-old in the kitchen and turned on the radio to hear the announcement that the first tower had fallen. In disbelief, went to turn on the TV, but had to turn it off again because the 2-year-old could not be distracted from the terrible images being shown.

My one-time boss, from the New York branch of a U.K. publishing company, was killed on PanAm 103.

In the name of dead, innocent civilians everywhere, I hope we and all our governments can work to remove the causes of hate, intolerance and violence.

JerseyBoy

Getting out of my car to get a haircut when my then girlfriend phoned and told me. I sat in the hairdressers, chairs turned round to watch CNN, and watched the towers collapse.

Will never forget it, and could never go in the hairdressers without remembering that day.