Where were you when...?

Colindale, London, England // 10.55 am // Partly cloudy 22ºc / 72ºf

• I woke up on a Sunday morning sometime in the Autumn of 1997, around 8am, and turned on the TV in my bedroom. I had the four main TV channels plus a link from the Sky box downstairs. The last channel that my mum had the Sky box on was UK Living. Usually complete drivel as far as I was concerned, but before I turned it over I noticed a caption on screen. "For coverage of a major news story, turn to BBC News". Eh? Why were UK Living telling us to turn over to the BBC. So I did. Immediately I realised what had happened when they were discussing the legacy of Princess Diana. She had died in a crash in Paris. I remember every step I took towards my mum's bedroom where I woke her and told her the news. It turned into the eeriest Sunday yet.
  

• It was Tuesday afternoon in late summer 2001. I was moving away from home in 11 days to go to university. Even at 18, I ironed my own clothes, and I had just set up the ironing board to do my shirt before heading into town to get some more essentials before moving away. My mum was chatting to a friend in the kitchen, so I felt free to turn off whatever shite Jerry Springer was sprouting on UK Living (that channel again!) and instead switch over to CNN International, which I often did. Literally seconds later, they switched to a simulcast of CNN domestic, reporting on an incident which had just taken place in New York. One of the World Trade Centre towers was ablaze. It was just after quarter to 9 in the morning over there. A few hours later, the world would be a very different place. I never did iron that shirt.

• It was a warm, muggy night in North West London in early summer 2009. I was sitting on the couch with Elle after a lovely dinner, watching a bit of TV. Just before 10.30pm I switched over to CNN International (that channel again!) just to see what was happening in the world before bed. Again, somehow, I managed to catch the few seconds before a major story was about to break for the first time. Maybe it's a sixth sense. In fact the news appeared in vision, on the flipper, before it was announced. Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. Shiiiit. That can't be right...he was due to start the gigs which would surely only resurrect his career in a few weeks time. Elle and I discussed the fact that this would surely delay the gigs, meaning we wouldn't be seeing him live on September 1st at the O2. Little did we know at the time that he was already dead. No one will be seeing him live.
  

These are the three events where I will always remember where I was and what I was doing, even how I was feeling, when I found out for the first time that these events were unfolding. And even though I thrive on news and big events, and even though unfortunately much of that is bad news, I do sincerely hope that there won't be many more of these kind of memories.