Tuesday 11th September 2001

Woke early at 7.30 this morning, and tried to get on with some work at home in the limited amount of time I had before going to work this morning, as well as going to a quiz later this evening. Just Dad and myself [among my family] at work today, with Catherine taking part in some TV recordings for Patrick McCarthy and company, to be shown over four separate Sundays next month.

The work was running out today, except for yours truly or Martin Pudney. This was convenient as today was my last day of the week anyway, prior to travelling to Scarborough tomorrow. Went for a quick walk to loosen some of my joints at 12.45, feeling a little stiff either from trying to overcompensate for my lack of rest, or through simple over-exertion of my limbs at a computer terminal.

Mum telephoned the office in a rather fraught state of mind later this afternoon, to tell me that two airliners had been hijacked by terrorists and flown into the World Trade Center, with the second of the two towers collapsing (as had the first already) whilst Mum was speaking to me over the phone. Soon the news was common knowledge all around the office, and indeed anywhere one dared to speak today. It later transpired that four planes had been hijacked (possibly even five), another of which had crashed into the Pentagon at Washington D.C. Whatever the outcome of all this, I tried to keep a slightly distant view of it all, as I was far too busy with other things to be sidetracked by such tragic events.

Left work briskly as planned at 5.00, and decided to walk up Hythe Hill towards Jessops to collect my recent photos, and just got there in time once again. Saved my money by not having any dinner in town, and went straight home to cook a steak & mushroom pie together with some "Micro Chips" this evening, before having a bath in the time I had left before this evening's quiz at the Wivern Club. The rest of the family of course had spaghetti.

Took a 66 bus with Mum and Dad once again, meeting Mick Emmerson at around 7.45. We arrived at the quiz quite early, but nonetheless found ourselves saddled at the back of the lounge in a rather difficult location with a lot of chatter muffling out the sound of the quizmaster. We finished 9th on the night (penultimate in effect), with 75 points, and then headed straight for home because Dad and I need our sleep, such as we were able to get tonight. The events of today gradually seeped through to me when I watched Newsnight and saw for the first time the airliners crashing into the World Trade Center, the pinnacle of New York's business community, crumbling. It looked like the biggest atrocity, outside of war, that had ever been committed.

Scarborough - September 2001

Outside Ground Zero in 2011