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Thu Sep 13 01 / 7:06 AM

While on a bus for a day and a night, going to sleep somewhere new and waking up somewhere new, always travelling further into this sunburned country - you can forget, if you want, about all the other smaller larger countries.

Every few hours there is a rest stop at any 24 hour restaurant, and most of the seat-weary seatmates file in for ten minutes of clean washrooms, snacks, and cigarettes. At 11:45pm on Tuesday night, the routine and the restaurant was the same. I sat in the lounge drinking watery unchocolatey hot chocolate, watching the other passengers; some were chatting familiarly and introductorily, some were watching the television perched in the corner.

I hadn't been paying attention to the TV because the volume was too low, but when someone rushed forward to turn it up, I had to watch. I don't know what the announcer said, I don't remember how the story was being presented, but it was simply stunning.

There was footage of a plane crashing into a building. It seemed a horrible accident was breaking on Australia's nightly news. But quickly it was revealed to me that there was no accident. The story I was watching, that everybody was watching, was an hour old: because at 8:45am on Tuesday a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centre towers. Twenty minutes later, a second plane was crashed into the other tower.

The bus group had stood up to return to the bus, but continued to stare at the television. It was a scene that would be repeated at further rest stops and hostels in the following days: a small group staring quietly at a television, thinking how unbelievable it all is. More news came that a third plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth into a field. The World Trade Centre towers completely collapsed, the stock market closed, air traffic in the entire United States was halted. Thousands missing, dead, unknown.

Even to travellers so far away and those who have never left Australia, the news is just as shocking as it must be for those nearby. We are all thinking thoughts of home no matter where that is, because what happened is of such a global scale.

The President has ordered retaliation, war, and a target to point the American finger at. He wishes to make even bigger news with his revenge.

A new generation's Kennedy moment, a new generation's war. This is the beginning, this is the end.

</>

Lisa Higgs

.

*where I was*
.
latest archive about email links yearbook japan photoblog wish list	Thu Sep 13 01 / 7:06 AM While on a bus for a day and a night, going to sleep somewhere new and waking up somewhere new, always travelling further into this sunburned country - you can forget, if you want, about all the other smaller larger countries. Every few hours there is a rest stop at any 24 hour restaurant, and most of the seat-weary seatmates file in for ten minutes of clean washrooms, snacks, and cigarettes. At 11:45pm on Tuesday night, the routine and the restaurant was the same. I sat in the lounge drinking watery unchocolatey hot chocolate, watching the other passengers; some were chatting familiarly and introductorily, some were watching the television perched in the corner. I hadn't been paying attention to the TV because the volume was too low, but when someone rushed forward to turn it up, I had to watch. I don't know what the announcer said, I don't remember how the story was being presented, but it was simply stunning. There was footage of a plane crashing into a building. It seemed a horrible accident was breaking on Australia's nightly news. But quickly it was revealed to me that there was no accident. The story I was watching, that everybody was watching, was an hour old: because at 8:45am on Tuesday a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Centre towers. Twenty minutes later, a second plane was crashed into the other tower. The bus group had stood up to return to the bus, but continued to stare at the television. It was a scene that would be repeated at further rest stops and hostels in the following days: a small group staring quietly at a television, thinking how unbelievable it all is. More news came that a third plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and a fourth into a field. The World Trade Centre towers completely collapsed, the stock market closed, air traffic in the entire United States was halted. Thousands missing, dead, unknown. Even to travellers so far away and those who have never left Australia, the news is just as shocking as it must be for those nearby. We are all thinking thoughts of home no matter where that is, because what happened is of such a global scale. The President has ordered retaliation, war, and a target to point the American finger at. He wishes to make even bigger news with his revenge. A new generation's Kennedy moment, a new generation's war. This is the beginning, this is the end.
	</>
Lisa Higgs
.