Memories of 9-11

I remember distinctly 11th September 2001. I was working for the Lib Dem group at the Local Government Association at the LGA HQ in London. The internet was more basic and slower back then but I was able to pick up a news report that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. My initial thought was that it was a small plane that was involved in the collision. A few days before I had (wearing my historian's hat) studied a crash by a light aircraft into the Empire State Building in 1945. I presumed the crash in 2001 was something similar. I mentioned the crash to colleagues as they returned from lunch only to discover no one could get onto the BBC News site. Apparently it was overloaded.

And then came the rumour that a passenger jet, not a light plane, had hit the WTC. We knew there was a tv in the basement so we headed down there to see one of the towers burning and to witness the 2nd attack followed by the collapse of both towers. It was a Kennedy moment. Everyone old enough remembers what they were doing when they heard the news of the assassination. Now everyone old enough remembers what they were doing when they learnt of the attacks on the WTC, Pentagon and American Airlines 93.

With fears that this terror attack could be about to hit other countries, the Blair government ground all aircraft in UK airspace. We felt as though we were all under siege and as we were based in Westminster, next to Parliament, and fearing the rail and tube could be suspended, we were told to head home. I got to Victoria Station which was unusually crowded for an afternoon but fortunately the trains were still running. These were the days when mobile phones were simply for making calls but David was able to phone me from the safety of the North East and give me an update.

I got back to the house later in the afternoon and watched as events unfolded on television. We knew at that point that the world would never be the same again.