Where were you when...

Up Donegal

How about a thread asking where you were and what were you doing when you heard about some major event, national or international?

For example ;

Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard about the 9-11 attacks?

I was eating a sandwich at home when Shane Lowry won the Open. There may have been two slices of turkey instead of one.

RMAOK

I was in school when the 9-11 terrorist attacks happened

Woke Hogan

Deleted User wrote: »

I was eating a sandwich at home when Shane Lowry won the Open. There may have been two slices of turkey instead of one.

Jesus, speaking of turkeys...

ILoveYourVibes

RMAOK wrote: »

I was in school when the 9-11 terrorist attacks happened

Me too. Or just getting off.

Woke Hogan

Woke Hogan wrote: »

Jesus, speaking of turkeys...

...you're not just for Christmas?

rgmmg

Sep 11th - I was working in Canary Wharf. Area was evacuated at 1400 as there were rumours it was to be targeted that day. Everyone in my office went to the pub under the building

ILoveYourVibes

rgmmg wrote: »

Sep 11th - I was working in Canary Wharf. Area was evacuated at 1400 as there were rumours it was to be targeted that day. Everyone in my office went to the pub under the building

**** me.

Up Donegal

RMAOK wrote: »

I was in school when the 9-11 terrorist attacks happened

I was eating my dinner and watching Neighbours (I think) when the programme was interrupted by an RTE news flash where Brian Dobson had the story.

Rubberlegs

I was doing the washing up and heard it on the radio. I turned on the telly in time to see the second plane going in

Deebles McBeebles

9/11 I was at home and then immediately went to the pub. Seemed like the right thing to do.

Muller1991

I was walking home from School when 9-11 happened, I was 11 at the time and the was some building work going on at home , I walked into the house and everything was so silent , I walked into the sitting room and seen 10 or so builders glaring at the tv along with my parents, Not a word was spoken, Just silence.


On a more happier note I was in Landsowne road the night Shane Long Scored that peach of a goal against Germany

Ficheall

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Me too. Or just getting off.

You sick fuck

the beer revolu

I was in CDG airport when I got a text from a friend telling me to find a TV, that the twin towers were blown up. Couldn't find a tv in CGD :mad:
I was on the plane about to fly home when the passenger next to me told me that it was a plane that was flown into the tower:eek::eek::eek:
Must have been just before all flights were grounded.

Graces7

9/11

I was living on a North Sea island, with most of my contacts here on messenger etcin the US. I was actually on chat with a journalist friend when she broke off, saying something was coming in re a plane hitting a building... I spent the next 36 hours online supporting dazed US folk; no one there could cope and so they referred them to me on a quiet island. Total distress and panic

After 36 hours I thought a plane was coming in and ducked it was only the weekly flight, but I realised I had to get offline.

I never saw the film of the event and had and have no wish to, In terms of suffering and the emotional backlash of US folk.. people were falling apart.

Ger Roe

9/11

I was flying back from the UK when the first plane hit. Being in the air at the time, I knew nothing on arrival in Dublin.

By the time I got back to my car at Dublin Airport, the first confused reports were coming through on the radio talking of a small plane having hit a building in new york. Programmes continued as I made my way back to Wicklow and I stopped to get some groceries on the way. When I got back into the car normal programmes had been suspended and there was now rolling commentary of the events. When I got home, I rushed in to turn on the TV and saw the first tower falling.

This was during the days of dial up internet and I connected up and logged on to several radio stations in New York to get more direct info. Being a radio anorak, I was recording their output at the time. Gradually however, the stations dropped out, as broadcasting infrastructure in the Manhattan area failed. Some of the local NY stations had transmitters on the towers and others fell victim to damaged power and communications cables in the area.

The next few days were spent watching as much of the 24hr coverage as I could... it was hard to believe, even while seeing it unfold.

One of the stranger aspects of the event was a few days later when Ireland declared a national day of mourning and workplaces were requested to shut down in observance. This was contrary to the American view that life must go on, and America carried on, to defy the terrorists. I worked for a company that had close links with an American company that we were in contact with daily, and although we were free to take the day off, many of us came in and continued dealing with our american contacts, as normal. No one had the heart to tell them that we were offered a national day off to mark their loss, while they were still struggling on.

Bigbagofcans

Princess Di died:

I was up early watching a cartoon on TV when it was interrupted with breaking news of Princess Diana's death.

the beer revolu

Bigbagofcans wrote: »

Princess Di died:

I was up early watching a cartoon on TV when it was interrupted with breaking news of Princess Diana's death.

The only reason I remember where I was then was because I was in Havana!!:D

There were strong rumours going around that Fidel Castro had died, too. While I wasn't wishing anyone dead, the idea did occur to us that it would be amazing to be in Havana when Castro died. Rumours weren't true.

kowloon

Up Donegal wrote: »

Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard about the 9-11 attacks?

I have a twisted relationship with that date. Whenever anyone mentions it I just remember how good things were for me back then, and it was a particularly good day and week for me.

Gerianam

I ws at work. A support room was set up for American colleagues. The rest of us were glued to online news reports.

Lady Spangles

9/11 - I was at home in Liverpool but getting ready to return to university in Belfast. On the day, I'd arranged to meet friends for lunch and drinks (last chance before I went back to Ireland sort of thing). Anyway, I wasn't paying any attention at all to the TV and was last aware of Neighbours showing. As I went to switch off to leave, I caught a news clip of a burning skyscraper. I remember thinking it looked utterly horrendous, but just thought it was a regular fire.

By the time I got to town, people had gathered in groups outside TV shop windows to watch the news on the display TVs. It was then that I saw the full footage. Everyone was in shock and that's what I remember most. The shock and incomprehension.

B_ecke_r

just home from the school when 9/11 happened,



Princess Diana - my sister woke me up to tell me, I'd never eveb heard of her.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I was driving from Buncrana to Letterkenny on 9-11 when the news broke on the radio. Arrived home and put on Sky News and sat in disbelief for the rest of the evening watching the events unfold.

Sharp MZ700

I was in Bergen in the switch room of an oil rig. First I heard of anything was English speaking CNN on the telly that night, so the picture was pretty clear at that late stage.

Lady Spangles

Sorry, I missed the Princess Di question. Myself and my family aren't monarchists so we weren't exactly crying buckets over her, we just thought it was sad that a young woman (and a mother of young kids) had been killed far too soon. My strongest memory of that day is trying to avoid the hysterical press coverage tbh! We ended up taking our old granny to Cheshire and went on a long search for good fish and chips.

Gerry Ryan -- I was living in the UK and my EX GIRLFRIEND texted me to say he was dead. We were on good terms and all, but still. And it was just tacked on to the end of a message, something like "Not goin hme dis wkend goin to Bective wit Emily n Claire gona be a mad lol Gery Ryan died!!"

Princess Diana -- don't really remember, I was 10. I remember being annoyed because we had one TV and it was (I think) a Sunday morning and we had to watch the news instead of cartoons.

Seamus Heaney -- just scrolling through Twitter and saw some ominously elegiacal (he taught me good words) tweets mentioning him. I checked the Irish Times website and it was the main headline. I can't remember ever being so sad for the death of a stranger (let alone a naturalist). I went to the funeral with another friend, and can't see the 'Listen Again Now' exhibition in the OLd Bank of Ireland without tearing-up.

branie2

On my way from France, watching the 9/11 attacks on TV on the boat from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire

nullzero

RMAOK wrote: »

I was in school when the 9-11 terrorist attacks happened

Good to have an alibi.

branie2

I first heard about Gerry Ryan's death when my mother told me, but that was before the news was confirmed.

Feisar

9/11

Was over in a friend of a friends. He got a msg on WAP, turned on the telly so see one of the buildings smoking.

The fear of the big freeze. Not an exact time I know but spent it generally freezing me hole off in a kip in the Five Lamps

Arghus

Lasagna always reminds me of 9/11.

I was on the bus back from school on the day. There were vague mutterings from elsewhere on the bus that something "had happened in New York", whatever that meant, and the radio on the bus, which was pretty hard to hear at the best of times, did seem tuned into the news for background noise, rather than just the usual music. But there was too much other general mayhem going on in the bus at the time for a person to be too caught up what was supposedly happening in New York. It was one of those really fine early September days and everyone was a bit giddy.

When I got home the news was on and it was all explosions, fire, debris, death and Dobson. This was pretty big. We had lasagna for dinner that evening and I remember it being far more tasty than usual; crunchy and soft in all the right places. I vividly remember chewing on it and watching footage on the news of The Pentagon being hit.

Princess Di - I was in bed and my Dad came in and me. I remember being a bit surprised, but I wasn't blown away. But then the world went ga-ga for a few days.

Dermot Morgan - Once again, I was in bed and my Father came in and announced it. I felt that one alright; how could he be dead? Didn't they just finish filming the third season?

When's the next big day? I dunno the collapse of Lehaman Brothers? I was in college in one the PC suites drinking hot chocolate and preparing for a day of doing fck all and I read about it on BBC news. Seemed important at the time alright, but it's scary looking back and knowing that the whole global financial system nearly collapsed - while I sat there drinking hot chocolate.

The Tetrarch

In work. A guy showed my an image of the twin towers smoking. I said I had seen Towering Inferno and was not a fan of the Bruce Willis type of film. He said it was real. We watched it in work on TV for hours, then went home. In traffic it was obvious everyone was listing to their car radio.

I am old enough to remember when John Kennedy was shot. In those days there were not many TVs, and programs only ran for a few hours at night. There was no TV reporting from the USA. It was about a day before we knew he was shot dead.

branie2

On the treadmill listening to the radio when news came in about pope Benedict. I turned on the TV after coming off the treadmill to hear that he had announced his abdication.

TheValeyard

9/11. Was in school, history class, using staples and elastic bands against the other table when the teacher walked in and told us WW3 had just started. Switches on the TV to see the commotion. All sorts of rumours were going around.

Iscreamkone

Bigbagofcans wrote: »

Princess Di died:

I was up early watching a cartoon on TV when it was interrupted with breaking news of Princess Diana's death.

I was in Lanzarote on holidays.
Left the swimming pool to go watch the Liverpool v Newcastle game. It was called off. Still not over it.

branie2

were ye reenacting a battle when your teacher gave you the news?

TheValeyard

branie2 wrote: »

were ye reenacting a battle when your teacher gave you the news?

An no, just last class on a Tuesday and no intention of doing any work.

Jimbob1977

September 11th - I was InterRailing around Austria. That night, I phoned my Dad for the Champions League results. He said all the games were postponed because two planes hit the Twin Towers.

I asked him if there was dense fog over Manhattan and why didn't the Air Traffic Controllers tell the pilots they were flying dangerously. Then he said that the planes were flown into the Twin Towers. Ran back to the hotel and turned on CNN.

Lady Diana - I was sitting at home after getting the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire ferry. I had been at Manchester United v Coventry City. All the broadcasters interrupted their scheduled programming.

Gulf War/Desert Storm - everyone knew it was coming. My Dad woke me up at around 2am to say that Baghdad was getting pounded.

vriesmays

Up Donegal wrote: »

How about a thread asking where you were and what were you doing when you heard about some major event, national or international?

For example ;

Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard about the 9-11 attacks?

Swan Centre, Rathmines.

branie2

My father told me about the Gulf war when I got up in the morning.

ArnoldJRimmer

9/11: I was in college at the time and wandering to a lecture. Decided to skip it and call into my mate's to watch Neighbours instead. That was either interrupted or footage started afterwards, cant remember, but it was just after the first plane hit. Watched the whole thing unfold throughout the afternoon. Curiosity soon turned to horror when as details emerged. It was my friends 21st that night and the atmosphere in the pub was surreal. Instead of music, Sky News was blaring and everyone was glued to it

IRA ceasefire in 94. This was actually huge news at the time, although ultimately the Good Friday agreement is the biggest milestone people remember. Growing up near the border, peace seemed impossible at the time. I was caddying for my father in a golf tournament and strangers were actually sharing the information as they were passing each other at different holes

H3llR4iser

Pope resignation and plenty others - at work.

AF447 - at home, I had just moved to Dublin from Italy and was in the job-hunting process.

2011 Japan Earthquake - obviously...working, night time deployment and at the precise moment the earthquake struck, I was in a conference call that included one of the girls in the Tokyo office. She very calmly excused herself, saying "apologies - we need to evacuate". We thought it was a fire drill or something, until somebody checked the news when she didn't come back online some 20 minutes later. She sent a message later on saying she was OK and on her way home to everyone's relief.

Now the big one - 9/11; I was working in Italy at the time...in an office building that was part of a NATO / US military facility. At some point my boss goes "she thinks it's April 1st...my wife just texted me there was an explosion at the Twin Towers and they were knocked down!". We all went "oh, she's got great imagination!" until somebody tried to check the news and discovered the Internet was pretty much down. Literally 5 minutes later a group of soldiers marched into the room, declared the building was under reasonable threat of an attack and proceeded to evacuation.

Also, believe it or not, I was a wee lad at the time but I remember the Chernobyl disaster being announced on TV, the people rushing to buy every kind of food supplies and whatnot.

branie2

Anyone remember the news about the Cuban Missile Crisis, as in President Kennedy announcing the presence of the missiles on Cuba? It was before my time, but a fascinating subject nonetheless.

Gratzi22

The main ones ...

Elvis died.
My mum came into our bedroom to tell me and my brother The King had died. She was ironing in the kitchen at the time.

Bobby Sand died.
Got up for breakfast before school and mum said 'everything would be okay'. Didn't know what she was on about until I went into the kitchen and saw the news on our little B&W portable tele in the kitchen. Still went to school though in Belfast (East).

9/11.
My brother rang me in work to tell me about the attacks. Didn't really cop on what he was muttering on about until he told me mum and dad were in New York visiting (forgotten about that). Took them a while to get home, but at least they were unharmed.

FatherTed

9/11 - I was peeing in the toilet at work when one of my colleagues Tim came in and said did you hear about the plane hitting the WTC? True

irishguitarlad

Where were you when they built the ladder to heaven

TheValeyard

2004 Tsunami in Stephens Day.


Remember eating Christmas leftovers and the news broke, but then every hour the death toll was rising by thousands. Suddenly felt very guilty about stuffing my face and the impact of what was happening was unfolding.

Super-Rush

Hillsborough.

I was sitting on our kitchen floor watching the game while my mother was making dinner.

I couldn't understand what was happening and she switched the TV off and told me to go outside and play.

The news was on when we were sitting down to dinner and when the reports of deaths started coming in I was even more confused as to why people died at a football match.

I could see tears in her eyes as she tried explaining what happened.

It's my first really clear memory of football and when I think about it now it's like I'm back in the kitchen again sitting on the floor.

Go Home Paddy Cat!!

9/11 was queueing in the bank waiting to pay my first year uni fees and the tv was showing smoke emanating from one of the trade centres. I had thought a helicopter had hit it, but found out they were showing footage that had a news helicopter in it. Either way, a surreal experience.

Michael Jackson's death - was walking to the train station to get the train to work and looked at the front page of the free metro newspaper and couldn't believe it.

AF447 - was at a BBQ and a friend told me about it. Gave me chills to think a modern airliner could just vanish over the ocean.

the beer revolu

Gratzi22 wrote: »

Bobby Sand died.
Got up for breakfast before school and mum said 'everything would be okay'. Didn't know what she was on about until I went into the kitchen and saw the news on our little B&W portable tele in the kitchen. Still went to school though in Belfast (East).
.

I would have sworn that Bobby Sands died on a Saturday (or at least it made the papers on the Saturday) and I was with my parents going through Bandon. My dad went into the shop to get ice cream and came out with the paper and the news.

Turns out he died on a Tuesday in May. I must have been in school. Memory is not reliable.

aaqil jettson

9/11 sitting at home listening to it on the radio, took a while to realise it was something serious and there might be something on the TV about it...