The first two hours of the Long War
Two stories from the afternoon of 11th September, 2001 that you won’t hear anywhere else.
1. I’m standing in Throgmorton Street with my face pressed against the glass of a private banking building. The TV in the corner opposite the reception desk shows the collapse of a tall grey structure. It’s the WTC, North Tower. The channel is Sky News. At the bottom of the screen the LSE stock ticker is scrolling. The prices are changing.
2. I’m in the mail room of Tower 42, the basement of the building formerly known as the NatWest Tower. It’s forty minutes later. Rumours are going around that several airliners are missing over the Atlantic, perhaps heading for London. The workers in the 183m of building above have been told to evacuate. To go home. “Why are you all still here,” I ask the postroom workers. “We’ve been told we have to stay.”
As I understand it, shortly after 9/11, a very large bank in London, whose skyscraper headquarters were still under construction at that point, swapped round its floor allocation of the IT department and the executive’s offices.
Guess who got the lovely view from the 40th floor?
Richard – I’ve heard something similar from a banker friend. It used to be that the bigger your wallet, the higher your office. Now, they stick all the admin staff on the upper floors. Gotta love capitalism.