One day in September...

Where were you when...

11 Sept 2003.
Tuesday, the 11th of September 2001 ("Grim Tuesday", as I call it) was my first day back at work from 10 great days of holiday in Wales...

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 10:25 To: Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: yoo hoo I'm back from my hols now: all tanned and giddy from prolonged contact with fresh air. Regards, Rob

At that time it was 5:25am in New York.
At about 2 in the afternoon I heard some people muttering about a plane crash in New York, and was that maybe something about the World Trade Centre? Nothing that made much sense. More people than normal were going into the lab next to the office (I worked at a TV-related software company so the lab had lots of TV sets, usually kept tuned to CNN and Sky News) so I wandered in too. Maybe a dozen people were stood watching CNN.

And there was the Trade Centre with a scar stretched diagonally across the side of the only tower I could make out in the shot, about three quarters of the way up, with thick black smoke pouring out. It didn't look real somehow. And then I read the ticker which was scrolling across the bottom of the screen:
"...two airliners have struck the World Trade Centre..."
Standing in that lab watching that image of towers spewing black smoke and reading that text ticker was my "where were you when you heard that..." moment: "Two planes. That's not an accident".

From: Andy Shaw Sent: 11 September 2001 14:21 To: Gill Shaw (E-mail); Robert Hinkley (E-mail); Russell Thomson (E-mail); Paulo (E-mail); Graham Tilbury (E-mail) Subject: World Trade Centre In case you haven't heard, two aircraft have been flown into the World Trade Centre in New York, one just before and one just after 09:00am local time.

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 14:27 To: 'Andy Shaw'; Gill Shaw (E-mail); Russell Thomson (E-mail); Paulo (E-mail); Graham Tilbury (E-mail) Subject: RE: World Trade Centre I've seen pictures on CNN in the lab, and it looks like something out of King Kong or Towering Inferno. Big black hole in the side of each tower (the towers are still standing) with smoke pouring out. Aircraft were both airliners: 737 size or similar so quite big. > -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Shaw > Sent: 11 September 2001 14:21 > To: Gill Shaw (E-mail); Robert Hinkley (E-mail); Russell Thomson > (E-mail); Paulo (E-mail); Graham Tilbury (E-mail) > Subject: World Trade Centre > > > In case you haven't heard, two aircraft have been flown into > the World Trade > Centre in New York, one just before and one just after > 09:00am local time.

I feel I'd better explain about the next one. You see I'd written it before I went and looked at the TV, and just hadn't pressed 'send'. So it was waiting there at my desk when I got back: an e-mail to the people I needed to let know, just ready to have the news copied and pasted in. Hence the massively important news tacked on as a stupid PPS to an e-mail of astonishing banality.

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 14:29 To: Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: hellooo Hey you lot, I'm getting lonely here: someone please talk to me. Regards, Rob PS - Wales is great. PPS - 2 airliners have just crashed (presumably deliberately) into the World Trade Centre in New York. I've seen pictures on CNN in the lab, and it looks like something out of King Kong or Towering Inferno. Big black hole in the side of each tower (the towers are still standing) with smoke pouring out. Aircraft were both 737 size or similar so quite big.

And then...

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 15:02 To: 'Andy at work'; Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: latest news You've probably got this already through other channels, but the lastest is... 2 767s crashed into world trade centre. 1 747 crashed into the pentagon. All airliner takeoffs from US airports suspended. The FBI say "foul play" is suspected. No shit, really? Just now one tower of the world trade centre has just collapsed. Completely gone. Regards, Rob

From: Andy Shaw Sent: 11 September 2001 15:04 To: 'Hinkley, Robert' Subject: RE: latest news pretty shit. Hope Richard's okay...

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 15:14 To: 'Andy Shaw' Subject: RE: latest news Who's Richard?

From: Andy Shaw Sent: 11 September 2001 15:16 To: 'Hinkley, Robert' Subject: RE: latest news our MD. He was in a meeting next door to the world trade centre and we're just hoping it was evacuated in time. Andy > -----Original Message----- > From: Hinkley, Robert > Sent: Tuesday, 11 September 2001 15:14 > To: 'Andy Shaw' > Subject: RE: latest news > > > Who's Richard?

From: Dave Jarrett Sent: 11 September 2001 15:21 To: Hinkley, Robert Cc: Carl at work; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: Re: yoo hoo On a, erm, note - has any one seen the latest (you should have, michael) 2 planes have crashed into the World Trade Center, 1 of the towers has collapsed and a plane has crashed near the Pentagon - can anyone confirm any of those cos most news sites seem clogged? dave

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 15:34 To: 'Andy at work'; 'Dave J at work'; Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: 2nd world trade centre tower collapsed Subject line says it all really. The 2nd world trade centre tower has just collapsed. Apparently 25,000 people work in each tower. Wonder how fast they were able to evacuate? Regards, Rob

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 15:39 To: 'Dave J at work'; 'Andy at work'; Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: And there's more The police in Washington are clearing the city centre because they suspect *another* aeroplane is en-route (better safe than sorry).

From: Dave Jarrett Sent: 11 September 2001 15:44 To: Hinkley, Robert Subject: Re: And there's more "Hinkley, Robert" wrote: > The police in Washington are clearing the city centre because they suspect > *another* aeroplane is en-route (better safe than sorry). > feck thanks for keeping updated - no web site news service seems to have bandwidth at the moment.

From: Hinkley, Robert Sent: 11 September 2001 16:05 To: 'Dave J at work'; 'Andy at work'; Carl at work; Dave Jarrett; Mr Jemmeson at work Subject: Continuing mayhem There's been another plane crash near Pittsburgh. There is another aeroplane, apparently hijacked, en-route to Washington: fighter planes scrambled, twitchy men with missiles visible on White House roof. This is like something from a Tom Clancy novel. President Bush is in Florida. He's now on Air Force One (probably the only plane legitimately airborne at the moment). Airliners coming into USA diverted to Canada, Mexico and Iceland. Takeoffs suspended from UK and Germany.

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