I remember the day, and the days afterward, only too well. Working in the aviation sector, I was on my way home from London Gatwick Airport and my wife had just collected me from Three Bridges station.
"A light plane has just hit the World Trade Centre." she told me. It was of interest to us because we had been in the "Windows of the World" in February that year. Naturally, we assumed it was an accident.
When we got home and put the TV on, we were both shocked to see the news footage which was of the second aircraft slamming into the second tower.
My 8 year old daughter came home from school a couple of hours later and when she saw the news her first words were "I hope that lovely black waitress who said about my pretty dress wasn't at work today 'cos she would have been on the top floor, wouldn't she?" (On our February visit, a friendly waitress had travelled with us in the lift (elevator) with her tea trolley and had chatted to my daughter - "My that's a pretty dress - you folks here on a vacation?")
My eyes still go misty thinking about that waitress and hoping she was sick on that day, or working somewhere else!
At work, everything was very subdued. No flights were able to go to the USA, we had loads of aeroplanes stranded in Halifax and in the US and lots of family members worried about people stuck half way through their journies. Passengers moved around the terminals quietly, almost as if they were in church, and not demanding anything - just grateful to be actually going somewhere. Half of my shift was spent answering enquiries from people worried about their loved ones stranded somewhere overseas with jammed cellphone networks and unable to make contact.
.............and, to this day, I still think about the American Airlines, United and US Airways crews who lost their lives. I had probably met one or two of them - the world of aviation is incredibly small - when either they or I have been "non-revving". (Taking a free, or partly free, holiday known as "non-revenue travel".) Along with the other folks of 09/11, they went to work full of the joys of a late summer's day, not knowing that they would never return.
I look at my 21 year old daughter now as she kisses me goodbye and marches away from the house with a smile lighting up her face and her trolley-bag rattling behind her. She is crewing now for bmi (British Midland International) and thoroughly enjoys the job - I think she was born to do it! .................and daddy feels so proud of her when he sees her stepping forward in her uniform or we sit together testing each other on questions to do with "Safety and Emergency Procedures", "Aircraft Specifics" or "Aviation Medical Knowledge". (Yes, folks, there's one hell of a lot more to the job than "chicken or beef?")
A lump comes to my throat because I think of the parents of the crew members who lost their lives and how they must have to live with it every day!
All I can think of is "God Bless Everyone who was hurt on that tragic day."
"A light plane has just hit the World Trade Centre." she told me. It was of interest to us because we had been in the "Windows of the World" in February that year. Naturally, we assumed it was an accident.
When we got home and put the TV on, we were both shocked to see the news footage which was of the second aircraft slamming into the second tower.
My 8 year old daughter came home from school a couple of hours later and when she saw the news her first words were "I hope that lovely black waitress who said about my pretty dress wasn't at work today 'cos she would have been on the top floor, wouldn't she?" (On our February visit, a friendly waitress had travelled with us in the lift (elevator) with her tea trolley and had chatted to my daughter - "My that's a pretty dress - you folks here on a vacation?")
My eyes still go misty thinking about that waitress and hoping she was sick on that day, or working somewhere else!
At work, everything was very subdued. No flights were able to go to the USA, we had loads of aeroplanes stranded in Halifax and in the US and lots of family members worried about people stuck half way through their journies. Passengers moved around the terminals quietly, almost as if they were in church, and not demanding anything - just grateful to be actually going somewhere. Half of my shift was spent answering enquiries from people worried about their loved ones stranded somewhere overseas with jammed cellphone networks and unable to make contact.
.............and, to this day, I still think about the American Airlines, United and US Airways crews who lost their lives. I had probably met one or two of them - the world of aviation is incredibly small - when either they or I have been "non-revving". (Taking a free, or partly free, holiday known as "non-revenue travel".) Along with the other folks of 09/11, they went to work full of the joys of a late summer's day, not knowing that they would never return.
I look at my 21 year old daughter now as she kisses me goodbye and marches away from the house with a smile lighting up her face and her trolley-bag rattling behind her. She is crewing now for bmi (British Midland International) and thoroughly enjoys the job - I think she was born to do it! .................and daddy feels so proud of her when he sees her stepping forward in her uniform or we sit together testing each other on questions to do with "Safety and Emergency Procedures", "Aircraft Specifics" or "Aviation Medical Knowledge". (Yes, folks, there's one hell of a lot more to the job than "chicken or beef?")
A lump comes to my throat because I think of the parents of the crew members who lost their lives and how they must have to live with it every day!
All I can think of is "God Bless Everyone who was hurt on that tragic day."
Last edited:
