Where were you when <insert tragedy> happened?

cyberhog · 09-09-2011 04:28AM #1

When events like 9/11 are discussed in the media people are always asked where they were at the time of the event. Whether someone was climbing Mount Everest or at home sitting on the bog what is the interest in knowing where other people were at the time a tragic event occurred?

jive · 09-09-2011 04:34AM

So that on the off chance that you might speak to somebody who has an interesting tale. On 9/11, for example, I found myself on the roof on the WTC going for a cheeky base jump just before the first plane hit.

Jive 1 - 0 Terry Wrists

DEFTLEFTHAND · 09-09-2011 04:51AM

I was on a school bus in 2nd year when I heard about 9,11. My Dad climbed Everest with Russell Brice in 1984, 3 years before I was born.:)

Spread · 09-09-2011 05:09AM

Having a meal in a restaurant in Terenure.

later12 · 09-09-2011 05:52AM

I was asleep in bed when my sister walked in and said "Michael Jackson is dead"

Thinking she said another man, my friend, whose surname is Jackson, I immediately said "what?!"

She said "Michael Jackson. He's dead"

I said 'So fucking what?"

She said "It's a big deal, like"

I said "No it's not"

That was the last we ever spoke of it. It really wasn't a big deal.

Buddinplant · 09-09-2011 08:48AM

was in double art in second year when we heard over the radio (great art teacher

) that something happened in new york, didn't figure out about the planes until i got home and the mother had the sky news on.

was in mass when we heard that princess diana died.

cant remember where i was when Mr jackson expired, i was more broken up about Patrick Swayze a couple of months later.

MagicSean · 09-09-2011 08:49AM

I was in accounting in sixth year when I got a text from my friend saying Muslims had attacked the USA. My mother then texted me to tell me the Arabs had invaded America and blown up the two towers.

I was driving home from work when I heard about jacko on the radio.

I was getting ready for school when I saw the story about Diana on the news.

I was in a hotel in Rome when the big earthquake struck nearby.

o1s1n · 09-09-2011 08:54AM

Maybe it's an indirect declaration of an alibi?

Really annoys me anyway.

Marty McFly · 09-09-2011 08:56AM

For 9/11 I was just at to arriving home after going on the hop from school knowing there would be no one at home, turned on the t.v and saw one of the towers burning and just as i sat down the 2nd plane came crashing in was in shock sat there for hours that day watching the t.v.

For the Henry infamous handball incident i was in the Stade De France watching the game, none of us could see what happened no big screens in the stadium. But word quickly came through as people were getting texts from back home all around.

W.Shakes-Beer · 09-09-2011 08:58AM

I was breathing when all tragedy's from 7/3/1990->now happened.

Think that covers most.

biko · 09-09-2011 08:58AM

When Bambi's mother died I was at home watching a video.

Tubsandtiles · 09-09-2011 09:01AM

I was at home when the 9/11 attacks happened, but I was too young to really know what was going on

kingtut · 09-09-2011 09:01AM

Buddinplant wrote: »

was in mass church when we heard that princess diana died.

FYP

Orando Broom · 09-09-2011 09:06AM

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

I was in accounting in sixth year when I got a text from my friend saying Muslims had attacked the USA. My mother then texted me to tell me the Arabs had invaded America and blown up the two towers.

I was driving home from work when I heard about jacko on the radio.

I was getting ready for school when I saw the story about Diana on the news.

I was in a hotel in Rome when the big earthquake struck nearby.

On a Sunday morning??

Everyone in Ireland was on their way out the door for mass when they heard Diana died.

mrsdewinter · 09-09-2011 09:11AM

I was at a support group meeting for people trying to remember where they were when Kennedy was shot

seamus · 09-09-2011 09:11AM

Orando Broom wrote: »

On a Sunday morning??

Everyone in Ireland was on their way out the door for mass when they heard Diana died.

I wasn't. It was midday and I'd just gotten out of bed

carfiosaoorl · 09-09-2011 09:13AM

I was at home when 9/11 happened. My ex was watching sky news and said "Jesus christ a plane just flew into the twin towers" and I said "Is that bad":o I still get slagged to this day.

MagicSean · 09-09-2011 09:16AM

Orando Broom wrote: »

On a Sunday morning??

Everyone in Ireland was on their way out the door for mass when they heard Diana died.

Interesting. So either I slept for most of Sunday or watched coverage until the following morning. Childhood memories can be so confusing.

snowman707 · 09-09-2011 09:20AM

I was driving , chatting to my friend (hands free) in Vermont, with the jeep radio on in the background, when the news flash broke

he learned about 9/11 from me, we often reflect on that day when we chat.

foxyboxer · 09-09-2011 09:27AM

later10 wrote: »

I was asleep in bed when my sister walked in and said "Michael Jackson is dead"

Thinking she said another man, my friend, whose surname is Jackson, I immediately said "what?!"

She said "Michael Jackson. He's dead"

I said 'So fucking what?"

She said "It's a big deal, like"

I said "No it's not"

That was the last we ever spoke of it. It really wasn't a big deal.

Phone rings.
"Michael Jackson died!!"
"Eh..so what, is he related to us or something??" :rolleyes:

Tzetze · 09-09-2011 09:30AM

I was at my desk when boards 404'd. Will never forget it

McCrack · 09-09-2011 09:30AM

On an exercise bike in the gym and sky news was on, I watched the second plane hit and it just didn't dawn on me at that moment what I was actually seeing. It wasn't until I got home and watched the aftermath that the enormity of it all hit me.

antodeco · 09-09-2011 09:35AM

I was flying my lifesize self made remote control plane in a Phildadelphia at the time of 9/11

pebbles21 · 09-09-2011 09:43AM

I was driving a Fiat Uno through a tunnel in Paris,heard a big bang while i was looking for a radio station....eventually when i got a station i heard about Princess Di

stovelid · 09-09-2011 09:45AM

It's usually done to provoke a discussion between large groups of people based on shared experience or memory.

They do it on discussion forums a lot for some weird reason.

jonnyfingers · 09-09-2011 10:11AM

I was in New York in 2006 when a baseball player crashed his plane into one of the buildings. Everyone thought "Terrorists!"

I was in London, also in 2006 I think, when I walked past a car that an hour later was found with a bomb in it. Everyone thought "Terrorists!"

I was taking the Eurostar from London to Paris a few years ago when the tunnel caught on fire. Some people thought "Terrorists!"

I was on the East Coast of the USA when the earthquake hit last month. Some stupid people thought "Terrorists!"

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

kingtut · 09-09-2011 10:13AM

jonnyfingers wrote: »

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

You start every sentence with "I was"

jonnyfingers · 09-09-2011 10:17AM

kingtut wrote: »

You start every sentence with "I was"

I'll have to give you that one. Fair play.

py2006 · 09-09-2011 10:22AM

I remember waking up in the middle of the night for not apparent reason. I had the urge to switch on the tv and watched for a couple mins then...BREAKING NEWS...Diana was involved in a car crash.

newtoboards · 09-09-2011 10:31AM

People ask because its a blindside moment that catches you. For the Omagh bombing I was washing the floor at home with the radio on in the background. For 9/11 I was in Arthurs Quay in Limerick and saw it on the reply there. For the tsunami in the Indian ocean I was eating a mighty fine ham sandwich which I nearly choked on. For Michael Jackson I was on my way to my desk in work when my manager told me - I remember this because she had tears in her eyes which I found absurd.

Apanachi · 09-09-2011 10:32AM

Lady Diana's Death - On a spa holiday in the Black Forest, I couldn't sleep that night and had the radio on and they broadcast a news flash about the accident in Paris and that Dodi was dead, at this stage Diana was still at the scene of the accident and was still alive, a while later they broadcast an update that she had died in the hospital
9/11 - At school (apprenticeship) arrived home to hear a message from husband on the answering machine, he was at work (working at a place where the German politicians hold conferences and parties) he had heard "something" had happened in USA, and all the high rank politicians were in a tizzy but the staff were getting no information he and told me to turn on the TV when I got home and he'd ring me later to find out what happened, I watched it and it took me a few minutes to realise that actually happened - I think if I hadn't have got the call from him, I would have thought it was a film or something

London bombings At work listening to online Irish radio

Michael Jackon's death - at a Pet Shop Boys concert (hey, I won the tickets!!!)

Where were you when <insert tragedy> happened?

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