I can’t let today pass with a normal blog entry, the events of ten years ago having an impact around the world which are still being felt. I remember exactly where I was, and what happened as if it were yesterday. I had decided to take voluntary redundancy from a Tech firm during a merger despite being asked by the CIO at the time to remain with the organisation – I’d worked my socks off and had had enough. I was offered a substantial amount of money to stay on a further 4 months taking up up to the 1st of September.
I that time I had convinced my wife that a trip round the world was in order – a break from reality for a while, but little did I know that reality would be dispensed with far sooner than I had realised. For the first week, I went and found as many travel guides as I could muster from various libraries and had started to formulate rudimentary itineraries. As with any time off, some of these tasks started to spill over into the second week, little did I know what was around the corner.
On the fateful day, I was ensconced in my office, which in those days resembled something akin to Cape Canaveral with the number of machines that I had in what was effectively a box room, browsing the internet for more information (books are so last century) when my wife emailed me saying I should go check out the news as there was something happening in NYC.
We had had a connection with the city, having visited the year before (flying on Concorde, aah those were the days), and so when I turned on the TV and saw that a plane had crashed into one of the towers I was shocked to say the least. I was watching in real time as the second plane then approached and impacted into the second tower – I can honestly say that my brain wasn’t able to take in what I was watching.
Well, that was all ten years ago, and they haven’t been easy years for anyone around the world, hurricanes, invasions, rebellions, financial meltdown, earth quakes, famine – it seems that whenever you turn on the television there is nothing but bad news.
Ten years has seen a massive change in photography and my outlook on what was only an interest which has become a personal definition – I am first and foremost a photographer… well, I like to think so!
Andrew Skelton: 
I was in my fourth grade class. I remember looking out the door way into the reading specialist room and seeing both twin towers ablaze. I began to wonder what was going on. Other teachers were in the room watching as I kept trying to get a better look at the television. Soon a teacher realized I was looking into the room and immediately blocked my view.
By: adrianduque89 on 11/09/2011
at 11:04 pm
Nice blog Andy,
Like you, I also watched it in real time. I remember walking into my lounge and switching on the TV just as the whole episode began to happen. I just stood there in silence unable to believe what I was seeing. And now 10 years later, watching the recent TV footage in the UK in the programmes to commemorate that terrible event, I had exactly the same feelings of despair, disgust and a sadness I couldn’t explain, all exactly the same feelings I get whenever I see footage of the Holocaust and the two World Wars. The whole sorry episode MUST be remembered every year – ‘Lest We Forget’. Without getting into any racist discussions, I understand that there is already a faction of society that proclaims that the Holocaust did not actually happen. From their lips to G-d’s ears.
By: Mark Goodwin on 13/09/2011
at 11:59 pm