11th of September - Ten Years Later

Ten years ago today, I was returning from Chichester, in the Southern English county of West Sussex - my mother and I had gone to the Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages to have five copies of my birth certificate done, for my impending marriage and emigration to the USA. I had just come back from the U.S., just two days before, ironically I had even thought about returning that morning, but the $800.00 price tag that British Airways had asked for to change my ticket, was just too much.

We had not long arrived home, and preparing to eat lunch - my dad was sitting in his armchair reading the newspaper, my mum in the kitchen, cooking. The time was about 13:40 BST (British Summer Time). "Do you want wine with lunch?" my mum called out - both my dad and I replied yes, almost at the same time. My mum left the kitchen, and went in the living room to get a bottle of wine from the rack - the television was on there, and my mum called, seemingly in distress: "An accident in New York, an aeroplane crashed into a skyscraper,"
My dad turned on the TV, and I went into the living room to see what my mum had called us about. There it was - the BBC was showing, I imagine, a re-run of an airliner crashing into what I would later learn was the North Tower of the World Trade Center, (WTC). The next scene showed the building burning, and smoke billowing, black and thick into the sky. Then I noticed that, in the top right corner of the screen, the word 'LIVE' appeared. "Oh my God, it's happening now, it's live!"

My immediate thought was to call my fiancée in Morgantown, W.Va., to see if she had heard this tragic news; I  rushed to the hall and picked up the house phone, dialling Bernie's work number - after I was connected to her and asked if she had heard the tragic news, she told me that it was all over the news, things in this busy hospital were at a standstill, everyone in shock. Televisions had been set up in the cafeteria - everyone in awe at the tragedy which was unfolding before. She told me later that not much work occurred after that, apart from essential assistance and providing patients with their medication, it seemed the whole world was hungry to know of this accident, it seemed.

Then, back in the UK, quite a while later, I heard an audio-only report on the TV: Some radio chatter was being reported, live it would seem, from the commander of an Air National Guard interceptor flight from Michigan  asking the other party to verify his last order to fire upon a U.S. commercial passenger jet, which had failed to respond to repeated requests to identify itself. Two, maybe three seconds later, before the confirmation kill order could be provided, a very frightened voice, probably that of an incredulous pilot, came on: 'Guys, we're Americans, don't shoot, don't shoot! We'd had a problem with the radio, that's all, it's fixed!' The Guard Flight Commander then came on again: 'Glad you're OK, you guys gave us a little scare,' The pilot of the airliner came back on: 'We're fine, we're great now - and by the way, you guys gave us a big scare!'

I don't remember much else after that, the details get a little sketchy, with the amount of time which has passed since that fateful day. Certain things stick in my mind - especially things that Bernie and I have talked about since, and the various documentaries we've watched.

Four months later, I would get the notification from the U.S. Consulate in London, that my appointment to emigrate to get married had been arranged; Bernie would come over at the end of January, 2002 and we'd both return, on 9th February, to begin the preparations to get married, which occurred on 23rd March, 2002. There is one document that I look at, from time to time, a copy of those birth certificates I'd got done - dated 11th September 2001!

Coldest Winter Since I Emigrated

This is definitely, the worst, coldest and most unfortunate Winter so far, since I emigrated to Morgantown, W.Va. Not only did the temperature drop to an all-time low ( -6F/-20C so far), but the heating furnace has quit twice in the last three weeks, and we had to get the engineers out to fix it, costing more money.
Anyone else finding that this cold is worse than usual?

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Cold, Frosty, Autumn Morning

Cold this morning, frost all over the grass and a chill in the air. The Winter is clearly going to be a one of low temperatures and bunches of ice & snow.

Annual Review

Had my first annual review yesterday, since starting with GCS, working at the NASA IV&V Facility, in Fairmont, W.Va. It wasn't too bad -- there are things that I know I need to work on, like prioritizing my tasks, and ensuring that I work on the things which bring the greatest benefit or reward to my job. Initially I was a little disappointed with the review, but realized afterwards that it was very fair.

Good Friday

Only worked until 14:00 today, then collect Bernie at 16:00. She took me to Shoney's for a fish dinner.