What were you doing when you heard about the WTC attacks? (new house, living)

[Suesbal]

We’re coming up to the 20th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center. Do you remember what you were doing when you heard about it?

[porterjack]

vividly, i was at work downtown Ottawa, we had a TV in the kitchen and watched with horror...everyone was sent home
the streets were eerily quiet i will always remember the incredibly bright blue skies

[Zoisite]

I was asleep in my bed. My farm-wife neighbours came yelling and pounding on the door to wake me up to tell me that North America was under aerial attack by enemies whose identities were as yet unknown. We watched a little bit of the news for more information for a short while (which wasn't very informative). Then we all immediately went out in our pick-up trucks and spent the rest of the day shopping and double-stocking up very fully on essential supplies for our families and farms and livestock. That was because on TV there had been some speculation and fears from newscasters about a war starting on home soil that could involve both USA and Canada and could interfere with supply chains in both countries. We wanted to be ahead of any lineups and fully stocked up before public panic shopping started in the event their was anything to the speculation.

.

[The Very Man Himself]

Was painting the new house I had moved into. My next-door neighbor worked at the Pentagon but had gone for a medical. The next occupant of that house died of Covid.

[nandorrei]

I was driving to work - I worked for a newspaper - when I came into the office - everyone was talking - TV's were on - second plane hit when I was sitting at my desk - people were crying -
one woman waiting to hear about her husband who worked in WTC - he was okay.

I left work early and watched TV into the night. Very, very sad day.

[lollycat]

DD was 11 days old. We were up for her early morning feed and DH turned on the TV.

Zoisite, where were you living then? We're Northern BC, were watching TV all day and I don't remember ever hearing anything about the possibility of a war. Just the concern of more planes crashing in large population centres until they were all grounded.

[Natnasci]

I didn't have to be in the office until 10am that day, but I was up early, before 6 am.

In those days I usually read my newspaper, but for some weird reason I decided to turn on the TV. Something I rarely if ever did in the mornings, as I like my quiet.

I saw the image of the burning tower and thought another bombing had taken place. I don't remember what the broadcasters were saying about the incident, but a bomb is what I thought, since the World Trade Centre had been bombed in the past.
I phoned a close friend, who asked me if I knew what "&^%$#$%" time it was . I told him to turn on his TV. He asked what channel and I remember saying it didn't matter, it was on all the channels, even the weather network.

We watched in horror when the second tower got hit. It was surreal. Time kind of stopped.

I remember phoning my mother. I was on the phone with her when the first tower fell. I can still hear her repeating in a hollow voice, " this is real, this is real ", as if trying to convince herself.

Having been up in the World Trade Centre, I knew how big they were. That just made the images on TV more horrific.

I had to eventually get ready and go to work. People on the Skytrain seemed very quiet. I worked in a federally regulated company. We had to have all the blinds pulled down. Not sure what good that does during daytime, but it was mandated by the code were were now under. I suppose they were worried about targets in Canada, especially since we were letting all the US bound planes land here.

[Mightyqueen801]

I didn't hear about it.

I was on the 43rd floor of One WTC when American Airlines 11 slammed into the building.

One of the more inane things I said to my escape-mate after we got out and were on the street looking up was, "I wonder if anyone outside the city knows this is going on."

I am always interested in other people's stories of That Day.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I didn't hear about it.

I was on the 43rd floor of One WTC when American Airlines 11 slammed into the building.

One of the more inane things I said to my escape-mate after we got out and were on the street looking up was, "I wonder if anyone outside the city knows this is going on."

I am always interested in other people's stories of That Day.

I can't imagine what you went through.

[ChevySpoons]

Holy hannah, Mightyqueen--that must have been something. Glad you got out safely.

My story: my wife and I were, as usual, having our morning coffee and watching the Today show on NBC. It was its usual friendly, fluffy morning show--until it wasn't. It cut away shortly after the first aircraft hit the building, to a news report, with live coverage of the WTC. So we were watching when the second aircraft hit. And we watched the towers collapse, live on TV.

Of course, as the morning went by, we saw news about the attack on the Pentagon, and the aircraft that went down in Pennsylvania.

Neither my wife nor I went to work that day; we each called in sick, and were glued to the TV for the next few hours.