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[What's Burning?]

Certain moments in life always stay with you, the death of a major celebrity or an influential person, and obviously an historical event, they seem to stay with you always, you never forget where you were, what you were doing and the general mood and reaction of people at the time.

The ones that have stuck with me are;

deaths;
John Lennon
Elvis Presley
Michael Jackson

events;
WTC on Sept 11th
Richard Nixon's resignation
Space Shuttle Challenger

[LRW]

I can vividly picture exactly where I was for two news events only.

Diana and Sept 11.

[geetface9]

Sept. 11 is the only one where I remember where I was.

[LRW]

Oh and the July 7 underground bombings. But that was easy to remember as I was in central London.

[Jabberwocky]

WTC. I was at work, working on an Navigation Aid equipment. A lad came in an said about the 1st air craft hitting so we turned the TV on then about a minute later the second one hit. I have 3 memories of it really.

The most senior boss who worked in out area said "It goes to show how well Americans build things. I am suprised the towers have not fallen down yet!" Within about 5 seconds the first tower collapsed.

Some lads had been out servicing the ILS system (it controls aircraft flight path too touch down on a runway) they walked in and everyone said they had messed up an caused the crash.

I was on camp security the week before and was on standby. I spent the next 2 weeks armed and at high alert (which was not fun)

Challenger I was watching TV and the show got cancelled and cut to what had happened.

Lennon and Presley I am not old enough

Jackson I was driving to work. I hate his music and that is all the radio played for the next 2 weeks

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[Denthúl]

Was at school for the WTC, though we weren't told about it so I didn't find out until I got home. Was pretty scary to see the footage in the news reports, even at that age.

The only other one from your list that I was even alive for was Michael Jackson and I didn't even find out about his death until a few days later. Like LRW I can remember the death of Diana being announced (and the funeral - I remember grumbling at the time because most of the things I wanted to watch had been canceled for it).

[LRW]

Oh yeah. Michael Jackson. I was at Glastonbury Festival, for my stag weekend, just havibg a major crash from a Jäger and Red bull all nighter. Was eating a £9 fry up and It came on the Radio.

[CookinFlat6]

The only I was really around for where Sep 11. I had taken a rare day off work because I had a gf visiting from overseas and we stayed in bed. No tv on or anything else except the obligatory market prices feed showing the value of my book (I was a prop bank trader with some relatively small positions). I kept noticing my feeds were acting up with funny prices and activity) So I call up the desk to say wtf, and the guy interrupts my rant to say incredulously, 'you are not watching the news?'

So I put the tv on just as the second plane hits and i thought it was the end of days or something, so a few minutes later Im in the car heading into work listening to the radio and think how clever it was to be heading to a tall building in the center of the financial district when people were doing the opposite.

[operaman]

Excellent topic.

For me:
JFK Assassination - I was in class (grade 7), when the teacher was called into the hallway. After about 5 minutes he returned ashen-faced and informed us of the events in Dallas. The rest of the day was spent listening to radio reports and discussing the possible ramifications both in the USA and in Canada.

The Challenger - By this time I was a grade 7 teacher, but was home with the flu. I was watching the launch live on TV, mostly because a teacher Krista McCauliff was among the crew.

9-11 - I was teaching a class on the Kinetic Molecular Theory, when the school caretaker knocked on my door and said, "History is being made right now, you might want to change your plans for the morning." I took his advice, hooked up the TV and we watched the developments in silence the rest of the morning. Perhaps the most chilling moment came when I left school for lunch. Our school was close to Pearson International (one of the busiest airports in North America) and at any one time there were often as many as 10-12 planes in holding patterns visible from the school. On that day, there were none. The silence was deafening.

Gulf War - I was in an electronics store, shopping for a new stereo. As is the custom in the big box stores, there were at least 50 televisions (all brands and sizes) tuned to the same station. When that station switched to the initial assault of the war, we had all 50 TV's doing the same.

John Lennon - I was in bed with my gf, when a friend called to inform us.

Paul Henderson's Goal - I was at York U. in Toronto. Classes were cancelled and we were watching the game on cc monitors in one of the large lecture halls. Bedlam ensued.

[Jabberwocky]

Diana - for some reason I went through a stage of waking up early after going out on the beer. I got home at about 3 and got up at 5ish at that time they where saying she was injured.

Gulf war 2, I was in what became the M.O.B it went from sleepy hollow 2-3 flights a week. To the 3rd busiest British runway in about 24 hours. At one point an aircraft had to be kept in the air because they did not have enough real estate to park it on

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[sagi58]

Great topic!!

But, I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember the exact activity I was involved in,
so much as I remember how I felt!

WTC - chilled to the bone as I couldn't believe the U.S. of A. could ever be targeted
by anyone, let alone in such a tremendously destructive manner. It worried me, since
we're (Canada) just a hop, skip and jump away! My heart broke every time another
image of someone who'd been hurt, was running, sat in disbelief was shown!!

The deaths of so many people, famous or not, just hurt my soul. Especially those who
die young or tragically. Lennon, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Diana... all hurt!!
Too young to remember JFK, except that I have a sense of my parents whispering sadly.

Paul Henderson's goal to win the very first Canada-Russia series, is probably the only
historical event I can say with any certainty where I was! I had just started high school
and that year, there was a football game every day there was a hockey game. We had
a shorter day, so we were allowed to leave early to go to the football game... I headed
straight home to watch the hockey game.

One other sporting event: Joe Carter's home run!!

[racechick]

Some stick in my mind, some no idea.

Diana's wedding. I was in Vienna. Watching it on another British families TV. It was hot and they lived on the outskirts of Vienna next to a vineyard.

Diana's death. I was in France and coming home that day on a coach, it went very close to the place it happened.

WTC- I was teaching and a grandma of one of my kids told me when she picked her grandson up. Details were sketchy and it was unbelievable.

Sennas death. I watched it on T V And then had to drive to pick someone up from a dance festival. I still didn't know if he was dead when I drove there, it was on my mind the whole time and I was hoping and hoping he'd be ok.

Lewis losing the 2007 world championship by that mysterious 'glitch' . I was in Prague with friends in a bar and it was on a big screen.

Chernobyl. I remember being in hospital when that happened and thinking I'm glad I'm inside!

[sagi58]

I do remember the massive blackout that hit Toronto, 10 years ago!!
I needed a visa to go to Brazil; but, couldn't get it!! Ended up missing my flight,
which ended up being cancelled anyway!!

Also remember I was at up north at a family's cottage when Italy won in 1982!!

[operaman]

Sometimes the "Headlines" hit a little close to home. I had just finished my B.Ed., and was doing some sub teaching before my career started in September. The plan was to work in May and June, so I could spend the summer at the beach. I was subbing at a Jr. High School when this happened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Secondary_School_shooting

I was at the "feeder" school for that High School, and many of the students in my class had brothers, sisters and friends that went to Centennial. The kids in my class would attend that school in a few months. There was very little solid info, all of it second hand, ..... just that there had been shootings and deaths (suspected) at Centennial. The students were kept in home form for the remainder of the day, as we waited for information. From time to time worried parents would come to get their kids. Some of the students wanted to talk, others said nothing. Several sobbed throughout the wait. It was one of the most difficult days of my career, especially since I had only met these kids that morning.

People say, "Life goes on." This seems to be a fav reflection of the pro-gun lobby, along with "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Don't try telling me that.

[sagi58]

People say, "Life goes on." This seems to be a fav reflection of the pro-gun lobby, along with "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Don't try telling me that.

I remember that shooting!! It was devastating!! I remember thinking how could anyone "snap" like that!
But, it would seem we have become almost "desensitized" to that kind of tragedy!!

As a parent, I would hate to know that I was responsible for my child having access to that sort of firepower!!
Unfortunately, not everyone follows the law when it comes to storing guns and ammunition!