Where were you on 9/11?

[PNGMK]

I was living in Perth. My son as a few months old and I turned on the TV at night for some light relief. For about 2 minutes I thought I was watching a film but I wasn't.

I really wish the US hadn't burnt up the world's good will with her misadventures in Iraq (GW Bushs personal war) or even Afghanistan. The Gitmo business still bothers me along with the whole sale sell-off of hard won civil liberties. You see, when the country that is the beacon of Freedom gives them up in the name of 'security' it only allows less free countries to do it even more so.

[zzm9980]

At my office in Chicago. But on the morning of September 10th, I was on the Brooklyn Heights promenade and had my photo taken with the skyline and WTC in the background. I'd post it, but silly looking clothes and hair styles were the rage in 2001.

[Wd40]

I was at home in India, final semester of my engineering. I remember watching TV and the flash news was "America under terrorist attack". Those days the word terrorist and America were never used in tandem, it was quite shocking.

It was the worst time to graduate, the economy was already slowing down and this incident made it even worse.

[bluenose]

I was flying from Cairo to the Western Desert and arrived on a rig location to various people jumping up and down with joy at the happenings on TV....not all I must add...but a significant number!

[nakatago]

I was in my college boarding house, studying for a test. One of my housemates suddenly rushed into our room imploring us to go downstairs to see the news on TV. We all couldn't believe it actually happened.

[The Ref]

I was on the 8am flight from Brisbane to Melbourne on Sep 12. By that stage they knew planes were picked that had fuel remaining as it passed NY around 9am. My plane was passing Sydney around 9am with lots of fuel remaining - fitting the profile of the flights chosen in the US. The inflight news had the days events but I don't think they showed the actual plane crashing, but there was definitely the burning buildings.

[the lynx]

I was at home, in the kitchen, mugging over a bowl of cereals while watching the local night news on TV, when it was abruptly cut for live news from NY.

[Barnsley]

Was on late shift in work , and having fallen asleep listening to the radio started dreaming of planes flying into buildings....

Woke up to hear the overnight guy on the radio talking about planes and buildings.

Went to put the TV on just as the second plane went into the second tower, followed by the one into the Pentagon.

It made interesting lunchtime viewing ......

[bgd]

In the office on Canary Wharf. One guy managed to keep a link open and everyone crowded around his desk to watch events unfold. All other sites seemed to be down.

I managed to contact colleagues in NY to confirm that they were okay.

Later we were all sent home. It was thought the Wharf could be a target.

[nutnut]

In my office in my home town - UK, we heard something on the radio but never really paid attention, when I got home that night and turned on Sky News, I was shocked to the core! Like PNGMK, I thought I was watching a movie to start with or some kind of dramatisation!

[ScoobyDoes]

A nuclear power plant in Southern China.

My girlfriend called me to tell me a plane had flown into a World Trade Tower but I didn't believe her.....she told me to turn on the TV and I started to watch coverage from a HK news channel that had decided to get feed directly from the US and that was it, awake for hours but still couldn't really believe what I was watching.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I was sitting at our kopitiam table having dinner around 9:00 pm and was listening to/watching CNN on the cable here in Singapore and wham! In your face. Spent the whole night watching updates and additional horrors as the stories kept coming in. Went to work next morning around 8 am and spent till lunchtime glued to our TV in the office. Fortunately, while myu folk are only around 100 km as the crow flies from the Pentagon, it took quite a long while to get in contact with them due to the jammed up telecommunications networks.

[BedokAmerican]

I was in Florida at a local government meeting for work.

A few minutes before the meeting started, I heard two people in the hallway talking about how a plane hit the WTC and I thought in my mind it was probably an accident and didn't think twice about it. Right around the time the meeting started, one of the citizens in the audience passed me a note that said "2 planes hit the WTC" and I thought, "Huh? Two planes? That doesn't seem like an accident."

A few minutes later, the commissioners stopped the meeting and the TVs were turned on and it became clear what was happening.

Very, very sad day for America and the whole world.

[Mi Amigo]

I was in the basement of a major US financial institutions' building in London, working on some video networking equipment. On checking various incoming video feeds, they all seemed to be showing the same pictures, so at first I thought there was a problem with the router. Then I realised that the tickers on CNBC, Bloomberg, etc. were still there on the respective channels. At first the anchors were talking about a 'light aircraft' but then as events unfolded a crowd of people started to gather around me to watch. I managed to get through to our NY office and confirm that thankfully everyone there was safe (they were watching it all happen from their window). After the second plane hit we decided to evacuate all but the essential staff, as there seemed to be a credible threat of similar attacks happening in the City of London. I can vividly remember heading home on the tube in a complete daze and then staying up all night watching and trying to get my head around what had happened.

I agree with PNGMK - on 12th September 2001 I reckon more than 95% of the world's population were sharing in the USA's grief and wholeheartedly supporting them (even if they didn't necessarily agree with all of the country's policies; this event went beyond that). For 'W', Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al (with help from Blair) to squander all that goodwill and support over the subsequent few years was just awful. I will always be an 'Americo-phile' regardless of whoever is in the White House, but it deeply saddened me to see how those 'in charge' messed things up. It still does.

Yesterday evening I was at an event on the top floor of one of the MBFC buildings and thinking about the significance of the date brought it all back to me. The waste of so many lives in so many places.

[Hannieroo]

I was in marks and spencer I came out and there were hundreds if people stood in the street watching it through the TV shop window.

But for me yesterday was just my baby's 6th birthday and I prefer it that way.