5 years ago today

Though it was an entirely uneventful day of my life I remember it to tedious detail. I got up at 5 PM. GMT+1. I was living with two other people, one was watching TV. The other had written a song while the attack was happening. Not having TV or radio on he had no idea of the events that took place half an earth away. The song was called Nightride, then he went to bed. BBC World was on the telly. I sit down and see a burning WTC, then a plane slams into the other tower. I said: Tell me it is an ad for a new action movie.

But he did not. I ate chicken and french fries. I sat watching the gruesome events unfold. I spoke with my parents on the phone. They were in greece on holiday, they were frightened, they could not understand the greek newscasters, they said people in the bar were pointing at the burning towers and laughing. They were horrified. I spoke on the telephone with a friend in New Jersey. Living in the historical district the WTC loomed in the immediate horizon. I could offer little consolation.

I went to work at 10 PM. Nightshift. I worked in a multicultural workplace, with many muslims and other immigrants. It was a factory. Talk was loud, fast, quiet and slow at the same time. The radio was on.

recommended reading

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1868732,00.html

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