10 years ago tomorrow marks probably one of the most memorable days ever for me. Right along with the day my mum died, the 7/7 London Bombings, and the birth of my little sister.
I may not be American, but September 11th, 2001 has stuck in my mind ever since it happened, which I’m sure it has for a lot of people on this planet.
I was 16, fresh out of school and job hunting like a mofo. In fact on this day i was decided to take a break from job hunting and chill out at hime with my mum. I’d slept in so much that day that i actually didn’t get out of bed till after 1pm. It actually freaks me out how much i remember of this day. I clearly remember climbing out of bed, sitting with my mum in her room for a bit before heading downstairs to see what food we had.
I remember boiling the kettle and grabbing a pot of noodles, and pouring the water in before disappearing back in my room. My mum was in her room watching her soaps, and back then i could only get 4 channels on my tiny box tv, so i settled on my bed reading to eat my noodles and watch a soap i never watched when the news flashed up.
My pot of noodles never even got eaten. I didn’t even stay in my room that long. Once i saw the second plane crash into the second tower i was in my mums room, asking her what film was on instead of the soaps. I didn’t even believe her when she said it was actually happening. I moved downstairs and stuck the cable on, trying to see what was going on. As i did that the first tower came crashing down and there were still reports of hijacked planes and all flights being grounded.
By the time my brother came home from school me and my mum was glued to the TV. He had heard from words of mouth at school that there was a terrorist attack in America, but being 12 he didn’t really know what it was, but i know for sure that after that day every kid who saw it on TV was more aware than ever.
I actually had a friend who lived in NY at the time that happened, and back then i only had dial up internet. I couldn’t get online, even our phone lines and internet was out because of people frantically calling overseas trying to desperately find out if their family and friends were ok.
My friend was ok. She had actually been in Boston with family that week, which i was glad about. But i was still in edge over it all. I think i watched the news all night before trying to block it all out my mind. I think up until that day no one ever thought that something like that could happen.
Even to this day i still can’t quite believe it did happen. In 2008 i visited ground zero, and the eerie silence as everyone paid their respects to those who lost their lives was so loud. I was emotional, looking around just trying to picture that day, remembering all the images that I’m sure we all have etched in our memory. I managed to get some pictures of the site itself, which pretty much looked like a building site, which now we know is. I can’t wait to see the new buildings in their full glory, but it can’t help but freak me out at the same time.
So i may be British, but tomorrow i will be embracing my American side and wearing my “I <3 NY" hoodie with pride.
And i will be making that pot of noodles just like i did last year, and i will eat them, and i will remember.
Here's some pictures i took in 08
