Originally posted by Caledonia:I was working at a newspaper at the time in the advertising dept, the floor above the news room, where they tended to have BBC News 24 running on TV's hung from the ceiling, so I heard about it pretty quickly.
The whole day felt apocalyptic even for those on the European side of the Atlantic. For those who were too young to recall, what may not be conveyed nowadays is that there was a wider worry beyond what was unfolding in America in New York and elsewhere, were there going to be other attacks. We heard shortly afterwards that various skyscrapers in London's Canary Wharf were being evacuated, and all air traffic being stopped.
I don't recall doing any work that afternoon it was hard to think about anything else, and when I got home I was glued to rolling news all night myself, didn't even go to bed that night.
I went up to the observation deck of the south tower (I think) of the WTC in May 1997 when I went to see U2 in New Jersey and we actually got evacuated from the building that morning (false alarm due to smoke in the kitchens in the restaurant - but it actually made it to local news that evening). The fire brigade got us down to the ground literally within a minute or two - and all was well that time thankfully.
I have a recollection of the digital display in the lifts telling you the floor number you are at absolutely whizzing past 90, 80, 70 etc. I can only imagine how horrific it must have been for those trapped in the towers that day, and I thank my lucky stars every time I think about that day or the WTC and remember those that weren't so fortunate in 2001.
It very much felt the world turned on its head that day, and I don't think things have been the same since.