[thechat] On July 20th, 1969, humans first set foot on the Moon.

[Paul Cowan]

isaac wrote:
> The "fucking" part of your tale reminded me. It was about 11pm-2am in AU
> when the news broke here. My (ex)wife and I were having a bit of fun on
the
> couch with the TV on in the background. The unexplained visuals of planes
> crashing into a building kinda killed the mood though

<blockquote cite="http://www.bringitonmovie.com/">
    Aaah! I didn't need to hear THAT. THAT was an overshare.
</blockquote>

Being only half-an-hour removed from isaac timezone-wise, similar thing
here. Admittedly, I was just getting ready for bed, not being the randy
little goat that isaac is, when my wife said "come and look at this...
the WTC is on fire". Then when I walked out, they were just starting to
play the initial footage they'd gotten hold of, of plane #1. 15 minutes
later, the second plane flies in. It was quite surreal (and more
than one person said this to me) that I realised that it was a second
plane, not a replay of the first, long before the announcers did.

They kept going for a good 60 seconds before they realised that it wasn't
a replay... being there must have been just so... overwhelming. Wow.

I'm trying to think of other "where were you when..." moments, particularly
Australian ones. The only one I can think of is the Whitlam dismissal,
but that was long before my time.

Probably the death of Princess Di is the only other one that I can
think of. I can't remember what day it was, but I heard the news very
early (around 9 is very early on a Saturday, trust me) before I headed
off to the football. News that she'd actually died came up on the
electronic scoreboard just before the game started, so around 2pm-ish.

As for the other events mentioned that are in my frame of reference:

- Gulf War: I was on holidays with my family in Deniliquin, in southern
  New South Wales. When the fighting actually started, I was on my
  way back from a doctor's surgery after getting swimmer's ear (yeah,
  yeah, I know. Hey, YOU asked) and it came on the radio

- Challenger disaster: hell, I was NINE. But anyway, I had just woken up,
  and turned on the TV to watch some cartoons (or, knowing me as a kid,
  "Meet The Press"), and flicked past the early morning news. I remember
  being absolutely horrified, and racing in to tell Mum.

- Berlin wall: I can't remember exactly. It was all happening while I
  was at school, but this one also happened over several days, it
  wasn't an "instant", really.

Being the pop-culture whore that I am, there are two celebrity deaths
I will never forget: Phil Hartman (I left the house, forgot my wallet,
walked back inside, and my then-girlfriend, now-wife, told me. I was
surprisingly heartbroken), and Douglas Adams (just came on as the
last thing before the "wacky animal-type story" during a news broadcast.
Closest I've ever come to blubbing at a celebrity death).

Paul