Where were you when...?

I remember being told from a young age that everybody remembers where they were when Kennedy was assassinated. In particular, I remember my dad saying that. Although he would make that comment he never volunteered where he was and I never asked. He always stated it as a fact and not a question to be asked. I must have been in my 30's when I heard him say it last and then I did ask him. He paused for a moment and thought. Then he laughed. "I can't remember where I was," he said.

I think that I must have been one of the last people to find out about 911. I was asleep on a yacht in a marina in Townsville, Australia. From what I remember local time was 4 or 5am when the attacks happened. A friend and I had planned a hike that morning and when we got up everyone else was asleep so we didn't switch on the radio and spent all morning hiking to the top of a lookout point.

Once at the top of the lookout point we talked to a technician who was doing some work behind the ubiquitous fenced off and "Danger" signed area that you find at the top of all high points in a populated area where all the transmitters etc. are. After answering our questions he switched the topic to 911 and after a bit of confusion realized that we were the only people in the area not to have heard the news and so he explained.

On the way back we walked through the town and stopped at a pub to see the news footage. The pub was packed with everyone staring at a telly. When they discovered that we hadn't seen any of this they all suddenly became authorities on the subject and fought over each other to tell us what had happened and out-shouted the commentary from the telly.