Awoke late that horrible morning, as one had been up late, sick the previous evening. While trying to get a bit more rest, couldn't understand why the telephone kept ringing (turn off call screening when retiring for the night,so didn't hear any messages).
When finally woke up around 11AM or so, did the usual morning routine, went into the kichen and started a pot of coffee,then booted up the computer.
Once coffee was made, sat down and began to read emails, then it began:
A flood of emails from freinds and family all over the world wondering if one was well. Still couldn't understand, especially as one's friends in France and Germany kept going on (in their native tounges), about planes crashing into the Twin Towers. Simply thought the world has gone mad.
Have been in and around the Twin Towers more times than one can mention, since one was an infant actually,and as one began work in the city, mainly in the Wall Street area, the things were common and known as the back of my hand, and that a plane could hit them and cause major damage simply didn'g register. But soon the horror began to unfold.
Went over to Google, and there one read what was going on. Quickly switched on the television, and local NYC news was live with the whole horrible event. Ran to open the drapes and peer out at the street below, and it was like something out of the TwlightZone. Tried to make a several telephone calls to check on friends and family locally, but both land and cell phone lines were tied up.
Quickly dressed and went down into the streets to see what one could hear and see. As you can imagine there was so much going on, mis-information and plain sheer panic it was hard to think straight. Mothers and nannies were running to schools to collect their children. Some persons wanted to and or were loading up their cars to get out of Manhattan. Then there were those who had friends and or family that worked in those two buildings. You could see the look of fear and dread in their faces. Frantically trying to reach someone via telephone, or somehow get any sort of news.
At first it seemed as if the buildings were only going to be a fire, then a major fire, and as there had been previous attacks on the WTC, there was a sense "we've been through this" and things would be fine.
As the avenues were closed to normal traffic, all one heard was the constant sounds of fire engines, ambulances, and such coming from all over as they made their way down Manhattan to the WTC. This went on for awhile, then "IT" happened. The buildings began to come down.
Think at that point all time just stopped. As there were live newsfeeds from the area, well you know; the images were horrible.
Shan't go on about the rest because most of you know all about that.
The balance of the day was spent either running indoors to check the answer phone/make phone calls or out on the street (for a calm up-scale area of Manhattan, everyone was out in the streets). By early evening, late afternoon one could see the first "survivors", those whom had been down around the area, and or even in the buildings start to make their way home.
Many were like literally the walking dead. Some covered in smoke and ash, stunned looks on their faces, simply walking as in some sort of autopilot. Mind you remember there was no public transportation or taxicabs, so these poor souls walked from literally the bottom of Manhattan to near the top.
By later in the evening a ghastly smell came over the area. Mixture of petrol, fire, burnt things and such. The wind had shifted you see, and now the air was coming from down town, bringing the foul odours with it.
Emergency cars and such were now going the reverse from when they came. It was becoming clear now that emergency medical and nursing care was not going to be needed any longer. Nurses and doctors standing guard at Saint Vincent's held a lonely vigil, all the expected patients never arrived.
All though the night the smells from the fires were a stark reminder of what was happening. In front of buildings and on streets many persons were looking for/waiting for someone they sent off to work that morning. Sometimes their wait was rewarded with a familar face, others sat waiting the whole night only to start calling hospitals (again), and continue to wait. Some are waiting still as their loved one's bodies or any sort of remains were ever found.
The next few days a new sort of horror developed. One began to notice persons one normally sees in the area, weren't there. Some were in hospital and came home a few days later, others, well they would never come home.
We lost several on our block, nice young lad from across the street, was a fireman and one used to see him jogging towards Central Park, and doing all the other things young healthy lads do. A few buildings away from his, more losses, and so forth. Today when one walks along streets in the area, there are memorial plaques in the tree beds in front of the buildings where victms lived.
As the days passed, there were funerals, shock, anger and bewilderment. One would see family and or friends arrive to clean out the home of a deceased victum, and it often was hard to watch. The family of the young firefighter took things hard, as one might imagine. I mean one literally walked into a place that someone had every reason to expect they would return to in several hours. Everything as they left it (hopefully, as there was reports of vandals going through obituaries and looting apartments of the deceased).
One thing about NYC that few understand,many people live alone and keep to themselves. Often neighbors and friends didn't know much about the person who lived next door, but the fact they hadn't come home in the weeks after 9/11, made them start to put two and two together.
