Remember 9/11

[Sundae]

One of our delivery drivers came in and told us about a plane crash in New York. Half of us had been there, and of those all had been up the Twin Towers. By the time we switched the news on we knew it was a terrorist attack.

We were a telephone helpline department, so took it in turns to go into our Director's office to watch the news. By the end of the day, only one person was needed to man the phones - sales dropped off rapidly as people stayed home.

There were rumours that Canary Wharf was going to be hit, and people worried about getting home - we worked in West London and all but one of us lived in East London, so it was a good hour on the Underground. I was annoyed at people trying to borrow trouble, and the fact that some of the secretaries were crying because they knew people in America (none of them anywhere near the places targeted). The idea that hours later the terrorists were going to strike again just seemed like scare-mongering with everyone already on Red Alert.

To be honest we found it all quite exciting. The reality didn't hit home for quite a while. It seemed like something out of a film to start with.