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Description
My Account.. originally written Wednesday Sept. 12, 2001...

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, started for me much like any other day of work,
the only exception being that I was returning to work after five days vacation.
I had returned to NYC from Watkins Glen in upstate NY on Monday.
I bought my morning donut on the corner and went up to my office on the tenth floor of the building
I work in on 33rd Street. I got my coffee and went to my desk. The time was around 8:20 am.
I was just starting to get back into the groove of work when my phone rang just before 9:00 am.
It was my wife with the news of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center. At that point the
phones at work started ringing of the hook with people calling in with the news. My wife was panicking
and hysterical. I told her I would go look and call her right back. I left the building and went to the Wiz
on the corner of 30th Street and 6th Ave. There is virtually an unobstructed view of the WTC from 6th Ave.
I could see the gaping black hole in the North face of the North tower and thick smoke pouring from it.
People in the street could not believe what they were looking at. I returned to my job and called my wife
back. At that point, the people on my floor were saying that people were watching the event from our
other offices on the 11th floor which faces South. In the confusion of the morning, I had totally forgotten
about our 11th floor offices. The view was even more horrifying that from the street. As my co-workers
and my bosses looked on, we saw as the second plane hit, and the huge ball of flame that ensued.
People at work did not know what to do. The feeling was that if you had to leave to get out or to do
whatever you had to do to locate loved ones and children - don't ask - just do it.
I was facing a trip to Brooklyn full of unknown factors. Macy's closed, the Empire State Building was
evacuted, and the feeling was - it's not good to be in the vicinity of the Empire State Building.
The company owners asked me who was still down on the 10th floor. I told them. They told me to tell them
to leave. Then they came down from the 11th floor, now deserted, to make sure we were leaving.
I left work with two of my co-workers who happen to live in New Jersey. The plan was to make our
way to one of my co-worker's friend's apartment on 14th Street since the could not get a train or other
passage to Jersey. We started to make our way downtown. There was a steady flow of people making
their way uptown. Many more than were working their way downtown. About three blocks from work
we ran into two people who used to work with us walking uptown. One of them continued to his home
farther uptown. The other came with us to 14th Street. I ducked into a corner deli to buy water for us.
To the deli's credit, they were not price gouging on their sales. Viva New York. We followed Broadway
steadily downtown, trying to keep to the shade, as it was hot and sunny, and we had a long walk ahead
of us.
We made it to my co-worker's friend's place on 14th Street. The friend was not home. We exchanged our
phone numbers. My co-workers were going to stay and wait for their friend. I was going to continue on to
the Williamsburg Bridge. If I found that I couldn't get across, I was going to return to 14th Street.
As I made my way further downtown, I saw more and more people making their
way uptown. Many of them wearing face masks. I stopped by the offices of The Villaage Voice where I
have freinds working. They had already gone. I saw a Poland Spring truck driving uptown with huge
clouds of dust trailing from it. At first I thought it was vapor from dry ice or something, but I soon
realized that it was dust and debris fron the Trade Center. There were long lines at all the street corner
telephones. Some phones were workng, some weren't. I found a working phone at Ludlow and Houston
Sts. and called my wife and told her my plan - to get over the bridge and into Brooklyn or return to 14th
Street.
As the ramp to the bridge came into view, my heart lept. There were throngs of people in a mass exodus
from Manahttan. I would get home.
Once in Brooklyn, I made my way the rest of he way home. I ran into a couple who had just come over
the bridge and weren't quite sure how to get out of the area and back to where they lived. I told them
to come with me and would get them going in the right direction. They were heading to Park Slope and
wanted to get to Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I got them to Vanderbilt and
Willoughby and told them to just follow Vanderbuilt. That would take them right to Grand Army Plaza.
They thanked me and we parted friends. I made it the rest of the way home without incedent.
Through the entire ordeal, the gigantic cloud of dust and smoke could be seen from virtually everywhere
in the city. It took me around three and a half hours to make the walk home. Later in the afternoon, there
were times when we could actually smell the smoke in our home in Brooklyn. Phone service was sporadic
all day as lines were tied up. We did manage to get through to all our loved ones through the course
of the day to let them know we were alright.
One of the most poignant things I saw on the news was Dick Oliver from Fox 5 News reporting that
as he saw all the civilians running away and escaping from the disaster, all he could think about
were the hundreds of brave firemen, rescue experts and police officers running INTO the devastation.
As the day ended, we knew we would not wake up the next day the same as we would have before
the disaster. Rather than go to bed we decided to bring our pillows to our TV room and just keep
watching the news until we just fell asleep.
As I write these thoughts on 9/12/01, I realize the the date of the disaster was 911.
My thanks and love go out to all of our forum friends from all around the world and elsewhere on the web
who have poured out their hearts with their love, sympathy, condolences,
and support for all of us who are enduring this disaster.

Peace
Cap'n Skusting

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septembe…

Description
My Account.. originally written Wednesday Sept. 12, 2001...

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, started for me much like any other day of work,
the only exception being that I was returning to work after five days vacation.
I had returned to NYC from Watkins Glen in upstate NY on Monday.
I bought my morning donut on the corner and went up to my office on the tenth floor of the building
I work in on 33rd Street. I got my coffee and went to my desk. The time was around 8:20 am.
I was just starting to get back into the groove of work when my phone rang just before 9:00 am.
It was my wife with the news of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center. At that point the
phones at work started ringing of the hook with people calling in with the news. My wife was panicking
and hysterical. I told her I would go look and call her right back. I left the building and went to the Wiz
on the corner of 30th Street and 6th Ave. There is virtually an unobstructed view of the WTC from 6th Ave.
I could see the gaping black hole in the North face of the North tower and thick smoke pouring from it.
People in the street could not believe what they were looking at. I returned to my job and called my wife
back. At that point, the people on my floor were saying that people were watching the event from our
other offices on the 11th floor which faces South. In the confusion of the morning, I had totally forgotten
about our 11th floor offices. The view was even more horrifying that from the street. As my co-workers
and my bosses looked on, we saw as the second plane hit, and the huge ball of flame that ensued.
People at work did not know what to do. The feeling was that if you had to leave to get out or to do
whatever you had to do to locate loved ones and children - don't ask - just do it.
I was facing a trip to Brooklyn full of unknown factors. Macy's closed, the Empire State Building was
evacuted, and the feeling was - it's not good to be in the vicinity of the Empire State Building.
The company owners asked me who was still down on the 10th floor. I told them. They told me to tell them
to leave. Then they came down from the 11th floor, now deserted, to make sure we were leaving.
I left work with two of my co-workers who happen to live in New Jersey. The plan was to make our
way to one of my co-worker's friend's apartment on 14th Street since the could not get a train or other
passage to Jersey. We started to make our way downtown. There was a steady flow of people making
their way uptown. Many more than were working their way downtown. About three blocks from work
we ran into two people who used to work with us walking uptown. One of them continued to his home
farther uptown. The other came with us to 14th Street. I ducked into a corner deli to buy water for us.
To the deli's credit, they were not price gouging on their sales. Viva New York. We followed Broadway
steadily downtown, trying to keep to the shade, as it was hot and sunny, and we had a long walk ahead
of us.
We made it to my co-worker's friend's place on 14th Street. The friend was not home. We exchanged our
phone numbers. My co-workers were going to stay and wait for their friend. I was going to continue on to
the Williamsburg Bridge. If I found that I couldn't get across, I was going to return to 14th Street.
As I made my way further downtown, I saw more and more people making their
way uptown. Many of them wearing face masks. I stopped by the offices of The Villaage Voice where I
have freinds working. They had already gone. I saw a Poland Spring truck driving uptown with huge
clouds of dust trailing from it. At first I thought it was vapor from dry ice or something, but I soon
realized that it was dust and debris fron the Trade Center. There were long lines at all the street corner
telephones. Some phones were workng, some weren't. I found a working phone at Ludlow and Houston
Sts. and called my wife and told her my plan - to get over the bridge and into Brooklyn or return to 14th
Street.
As the ramp to the bridge came into view, my heart lept. There were throngs of people in a mass exodus
from Manahttan. I would get home.
Once in Brooklyn, I made my way the rest of he way home. I ran into a couple who had just come over
the bridge and weren't quite sure how to get out of the area and back to where they lived. I told them
to come with me and would get them going in the right direction. They were heading to Park Slope and
wanted to get to Grand Army Plaza near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I got them to Vanderbilt and
Willoughby and told them to just follow Vanderbuilt. That would take them right to Grand Army Plaza.
They thanked me and we parted friends. I made it the rest of the way home without incedent.
Through the entire ordeal, the gigantic cloud of dust and smoke could be seen from virtually everywhere
in the city. It took me around three and a half hours to make the walk home. Later in the afternoon, there
were times when we could actually smell the smoke in our home in Brooklyn. Phone service was sporadic
all day as lines were tied up. We did manage to get through to all our loved ones through the course
of the day to let them know we were alright.
One of the most poignant things I saw on the news was Dick Oliver from Fox 5 News reporting that
as he saw all the civilians running away and escaping from the disaster, all he could think about
were the hundreds of brave firemen, rescue experts and police officers running INTO the devastation.
As the day ended, we knew we would not wake up the next day the same as we would have before
the disaster. Rather than go to bed we decided to bring our pillows to our TV room and just keep
watching the news until we just fell asleep.
As I write these thoughts on 9/12/01, I realize the the date of the disaster was 911.
My thanks and love go out to all of our forum friends from all around the world and elsewhere on the web
who have poured out their hearts with their love, sympathy, condolences,
and support for all of us who are enduring this disaster.

Peace
Cap'n Skusting

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septembe…