The following was sent to Bullamanka- but returned; it was dated the 12 or 13
I don't remember. I am home now doing the mundane; and the simple. dangling
children on my knee. Michael

The morning sky was a brilliant azure with whiffs of high sirrus clouds
sun sparkled the deco chrome eagles of the Chrysler as tourists gathered at
the Empire and Trade center observation decks.
 We can see them from our eagle eerie here at the 60 Th. deck of the old Pan
Am; like ants we see the reflection of their lens and chrome covers
The view of the Trade towers is distant; but we have brothers there The steel
workers are my crew. We are friends and they do my rigging.
Sometimes in mornings we make pre arranged mirror flashes like clever boy
scouts then salute each other by cell phone over morning coffee confirming
our signal success and guffaw like errant school boys.
Eight am yesterday morning we are hanging rigs at the 57 floor; its a busy
morning
we are on the Vanderbuilt side with commanding views of lower Manhattan. The
Hudson is majestic in the September sun.The Circle line and the tugs dart and
ply the island like it was a holiday.
Office workers pour into there buildings many with coffee in hand. Its a
Tuesday its warm yet you can feel a cool Canadian front upon us.

Up high my foreman Tiny grins with his missing eye tooth. His rig rests over
the side of the 57 floor; appox half the distance in height  of the twin
tower.
We are gamming on about the weather; and and what we "gotta do"...When Tiny
(who weighs 275) breaks conversation and sez "Getta load of this asshole"

With that all eyes focus on this incoming 757 wagging  its wings coming over
the Pan Am just 200 feet from our deck.
As the huge jet approached it veered slightly to the right; the sparkle of
the
sun glistened its wings and the rays warmed its fuselage
 our men who hang precariously off the sides of buildings are outraged at the
total disregard for safety; stand and yell obscenity at the pilot shaking
their trowels as the jumbo careens over Broadway just broadside of us.
The sun is very bright just now we can see the white shirt of the pilot(?)
 and in the direct sun we can see the heads of passengers at their assigned
windows I distinctly see a blond woman at her seat.
This is unbelievable
Perhaps another low level tourist ride;
perhaps he came low to avoid another air craft;
perhaps ...perhaps ....
as we watch the plane pass the Empire State Building
and then  diminish in size utill .
...until.....poof
 a large ball of flame emerges from the twin tower....all at  once everyone
is screaming...radios crackle ..."IT hit the Trade Tower...Tower Hit...a
plane just hit Trade center!!!
We are slack jawed in disbelief; there is a deafing silence as we glance at
each other in momentary stillness;
radio calls are coming in from below asking for information..
.we watch the burning and tug at cigarettes and hang nails......minuets pass
and we observe what appeared to us an observer plane coming in  for a "look
see"
But suddenly it too plows into the other tower ...explosion .. fire ball ..
no mistake this time .. that's deliberate.....all of a sudden it becomes
apparent that we are a potential target....everyone starts yelling ..."get
down ..get down"
like submarines under depth charge attack,
 huge hanging riggs and their crews drop down the sides of the building in
fits  and starts ...cussing and yelling  as they push off the building face
and scale down in record time
Once down we head for the corner  Irish bars of O"Malleys And Patrick
Connellys and the TGIF where we stand six and seven deep gain
information from the sports TV 's over pints of black and tans.
Office workers
are ordered out of all buildings and jam into the saloons with us.
 There on large screens  the tragedy unfolds in Washington and Pa;
we think of our missing steel crew; un able to call loved ones; some crying
others vowing for revenge..all different nationalities all united as New
Yorkers and patriots in America.
There wasn't time for a second pint....Port Autority police from Grand
central burst in saying "Get Out ..Get Out..."Grand Central is going to
blow".....everyone dropped their conversation and took to the streets,(some
still holding their pints),
,I became separated from my crew as thousands ran down 44 th street to times
square .......with that the towers collapsed in front of everyone on the big
screen.
at this point mayhem broke out and for some reason I was swept up into the
tide of humanity along to   42 street  where many stood holding
hands in prayer others by the thousands trying to make Port Authority as
hundreds  stood beneath mega screens 3 stories
high trying to get some handle on it
trying to come to grips wih the totality of this criminal act .
.I wandered for hours ..all the while thinking and
praying that quite possibly that  the world as we know it has changed
. forever......I even took in 20 mins of the preacher on 42 and 8  who seems
to be a fixture there ..he was his usual fire and brimstone ...but this time
he had the crowd..and had the backdrop of  Armageddon ..I also took in the
wisdom of Rudys bar where self style policy makers were in full session.
There I witnessed bar flys transform into commandos  and old hands call out
the A bombs...from there I made my way to my apartment past the empty fire
houses that were wiped out to the man unable to realize the number of widows
an orphined children there ae
I do not know what future lays for us
..I do not know how to  get home (my flight was supposed to be fri)...my
first home call was at 2 am there was alot of crying and
relief because we sometimes go down to work in this area
 It seems back home there is a
run on petrol and ammo .
.It will be sometime before I can get a flight out
Second day
On the second day the crew returned to the work site to secure equipment and
there was a second incident (bomb scare) at grand central
only this time more surreal......I was underground at the time.in the parking
lot and went up to make sure everyone was down..off Met Life.
when I got down no one was there
so I walked the elevated highway along the west ramp of Grand Central there
was no cars and an eerie silence....I peered over to Vanderbuilt ..no body
I walked up to 42 nd street right under the statue and looked out
...nobody....not a soul.....slowly I looked west to the Public Library at 5th
and there was thousands of people at the barricades..
I looked east and the same view greeted me ....my humorous side wanted to
make a speech..but it was clearly not the time....just then a large well
armed swat team commando escorted me to the street ......where I received the
Laurel and Hardy commemoration from my crew.
*footnote-I was able to assist bring welding bottles and cutting lines down
to staging areas
.....
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