Where were you?

Duck59

Duck59

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There are certain moments in history where everyone is supposed to know exactly where they were and what they were doing. I tend to find that I have no such amazing recall. Is anyone better with memory than me?

I can, however, remember some significant moments, so here's an example to get us started. It was November 1989 and I was sitting in a hotel bar in Luxor. During the course of the evening, one of our fellow tourists, a relatively elderly Englishwoman, came into the bar in a state of some excitement.

"The old bat's gone!" she announced, with evident delight.

A great cheer went up from the small group of assembled drinkers. The "bat" in question was none other than Margaret Thatcher, who had just resigned as Prime Minister. A very fine and somewhat drunken evening ensued.
 
I was at work, September 11, 2001. I was in school, 1st grade November 22, 1963.
 
I do remember 9/11 - I was chairing a University meeting at the time and we stopped for a coffee break. My P.A. came into the room and said she had had just heard the news breaking. I extended the coffee break...
 
I had just gotten home from work on 9/11/01 and turned on the TV just in time to watch the second plane hit. I hopped in my car to get back into work figuring they were going to need all hands on deck since our transmitters were on the towers, and especially for the Broadcast Alert System. However, I was turned away at the GW bridge, even when I tried to explain this to the cops showing them my FCC credentials. No one was getting in our out of the city at that point.

I got back home a few minutes later to watch a couple of fully loaded fighter jets flying circuitous routes really low and slow over the city, passing over my house every now and again.

It was a very bad day.
 
I can remember being at a Malay party (no drink) to celebrate the 40th year of Malaysia's independence (Hari Merdeka) from Britain on 31st August 1997 when it was announced that Princess Diana had died.

On 11th September 2001 I was playing snooker at the Petchkasem Hotel in Surin when the attack was shown on the television. We thought it was a movie.
 
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Yorky said:
I can remember being at a Malay party (no drink) to celebrate the 40th year of Malaysia's independence (Hari Merdeka) from Britain on 31st August 1997 when it was announced that Princess Diana had died.

On 9th September 2001 I was playing snooker at the Petchkasem Hotel in Surin when the attack was shown on the television. We thought it was a movie.
Click to expand...

I think you mean September 11, 2001?
 
Craig called me after the first plane hit on September 11th. I remember telling him it was probably just some idiot private pilot who was flying too close. This was before any news had gone out on the radio other than 1 of the towers being hit by a plane. I was working at home but decided to turn on the TV anyway a few minutes later and saw that it was an airliner and then I saw the second plane hit, and then the towers fall.

I'm several years younger than Craig and don't remember much about 11/22/1963. I only remember all the adults being extremely upset, which caused me to become extremely upset and scared, and I went and hid behind 1 of the end tables in the living room until my mother thought to come looking for me. It wasn't until several years later when I was studying that period of history in school that she told me what day that was when I asked if that was the day everybody was so upset and she found me hiding and crying.

I was in school on January 20, 1981. They let us out of class and opened up the cafeteria and larger rooms so they could put TVs in them and we could watch the ongoing news reports.

On 07/20/1969, I was glued to the TV, along with a whole bunch of other people at my mother's place of employment, which happened to be a TV station.
 
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I must be quite good at remembering political events because the (UK) general election of 1997 stands out. I wasn't in Britain at the time - I was working in Africa. I recall staying up to listen to BBC World Service for the coverage and getting increasingly enthused by what was going on. Britain had had a Conservative government since 1979. I have never voted Tory in my life and never will, so the prospect of a Labour government was verging on amazing. Okay, Tony Blair wasn't exactly my ideal leader, but after so long, anything with Labour on it looked good.

As the night went on, it became more and more obvious that the Tories were gone and at one stage (it was on hearing of the defeat of the cabinet minister Michael Portillo), I was jumping up and down on the bed shouting "Yes!" to nobody in particular. By the time I got to work at six o'clock that morning, I was feeling pretty tired, but survived the day on pure adrenaline.
 
Was it Blair who installed that pillock Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer?
 
Never been much interested in elections - same lies different colour, and none of them hold to their promises once elected. I remember the moon landings [I was at school] Kennedy assassination [same] and 9/11 [also a classroom but on a work related course] - Thought - maybe I should stay out of the classroom
 
Lol, sidevalve. Yes, please stay away from schools.

That reminds me of a joke I heard about when the band U2 performed in Edinburgh years ago to benefit medical and food relief in Africa.

In the middle of the concert, Bono stopped everything and walked out alone in a single spotlight. He dropped his head, and very slowly, about once a second, started clapping.
Clap......clap.......clap.
He then said, "Every time I clapped my hands, a child in Africa dies."

Without hesitation, a guy in one of the front rows shouts, "Well then, stop clapping you evil bastard!"
 
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November 1990, Thatchers resignation, in the local A&E.

11th September 2001, at an auction near my old school. in Lloyds later, when the tower fell.
 
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