Remembering 9/11
I remember where I was when the Twin Towers fell. Normally I wouldn't, as my memory is comparable to that of a mollusc, but like most people I have vivid memories of the 11th September 2001.
Fiance and I were on holiday in Greece, and we'd had a nice day at the beach, me turning an attractive shade of pink, Fiance going steadily browner. We walked leisurely back up to our apartment complex, intending to go for a drink in the bar (to replace the gallons of fluid I had lost in sweat - I don't handle the heat very well, in case you hadn't guessed). Fiance bypassed the bar to go up to our room, and when he came back down he found me standing in the bar, mouth agape. The bar was full, but silent - they had CNN on, and the 2nd plane had just hit. We watched, in horror, until both towers had collapsed and for a long time afterwards.
We couldn't believe what we were seeing - at first I'd thought it was a horrible wind-up, or a disaster movie, and then I saw the CNN logo and realised that it was actually happening. I remember thinking that we were watching history unfolding in front of our eyes. The man sitting next to me at the bar obviously agreed - he was British, very lean and wiry, and darkly tanned and lined (his face looked like a leathery old football). He had sat in silence like the rest of us, watching quietly, smoking a cigar and drinking a G&T. Then the second tower collapsed and he said, to no-one in particular:
'The Arabs are in for it now.'
I have such a clear memory of that moment, it could have happened yesterday.
He was right though (a bit politically incorrect maybe, but right nonetheless).
Fiance and I were on holiday in Greece, and we'd had a nice day at the beach, me turning an attractive shade of pink, Fiance going steadily browner. We walked leisurely back up to our apartment complex, intending to go for a drink in the bar (to replace the gallons of fluid I had lost in sweat - I don't handle the heat very well, in case you hadn't guessed). Fiance bypassed the bar to go up to our room, and when he came back down he found me standing in the bar, mouth agape. The bar was full, but silent - they had CNN on, and the 2nd plane had just hit. We watched, in horror, until both towers had collapsed and for a long time afterwards.
We couldn't believe what we were seeing - at first I'd thought it was a horrible wind-up, or a disaster movie, and then I saw the CNN logo and realised that it was actually happening. I remember thinking that we were watching history unfolding in front of our eyes. The man sitting next to me at the bar obviously agreed - he was British, very lean and wiry, and darkly tanned and lined (his face looked like a leathery old football). He had sat in silence like the rest of us, watching quietly, smoking a cigar and drinking a G&T. Then the second tower collapsed and he said, to no-one in particular:
'The Arabs are in for it now.'
I have such a clear memory of that moment, it could have happened yesterday.
He was right though (a bit politically incorrect maybe, but right nonetheless).
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 11, 2006 at 1:03 pm.
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