Ten years ago...

The New York skyline - before and after

The question used to be, "Where were you when JFK was shot?"

Now it's, "Where were you on 9/11?"

I remember. Exactly. Like it was yesterday.... which is a little strange, because I don't always remember my yesterdays.

I was working in a call centre in the UK. It had been a busy day, when all of a sudden the calls tapered off and then stopped completely.

My colleagues and I looked at each other and wondered if there had been some sort of phone failure.

Then one of the supervisors (the only ones who had internet access on their computers) let out a horrified gasp, "There's been a terrorist attack in New York... I think they've blown up the World Trade Centre!"

We all huddled around her computer trying to read the small font, to see the pictures, to make sense of what was happening.

At 5pm, there was a mass exoudus from the office. I went straight home and turned on the TV. For the next few hours I sat glued to the set, with tears streaming down my face and my heart breaking.

I watched and re-watched the scenes unfold; the planes, the explosions, the smoke, the collapse.

I watched people throw themselves out of the building. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; I couldn't imagine having to make that choice.

I thought about the people in the building, those in the levels above and those in the levels below. I thought about the families of those in the Towers; not knowing where their loved ones were, if they were safe.

I couldn't (still can't!) imagine how those people who were trapped felt. Uncertain, to begin with, of what was going on and then completely aware of what had happened, and what was to come.

Eventually, emotionally exhausted, I turned of the TV and cried myself to sleep.

September 11, 2001 - a day that has been etched into my heart.

The day the world changed forever.

Where were you when you when the World Trade Centre was attacked?

{image from here}