I can't believe that it's six years since September the 11th. I know it's also one year since September 11th, 23 years since September 11th and 1324 years since September 11th, but I am talking about September 11th 2001, when (I don't know if you remember) all those planes started crashing into buildings. On the day I was round at Al Murray's house, working on scripts for series 2 of Time Gentleman Please. I remember we wer e prevaricating by browsing the internet and saw the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Centre on the BBC news website, but for some reason when we clicked on it the link wasn't working (now I realise it was because we probably weren't the only people looking). We assumed that it was a light plane, which was still quite shocking and exciting, but carried on with work. Then a friend texted me to ask if I had heard about the planes crashing in America. "Planes?" I said. And as there was no joy on the internet, one of us suggested going downstairs to see if there was anything on the TV news about it. As it turned out there was. What an horrific, terrifying, unbelievable day that was. We sat waiting for the planes to start falling on London.
But it seems such a long time ago and I can't believe that it happened only 14 months before I started Warming Up. Of course, it was nothing compared to what went on on the 9th of November. Certainly that's the date that seems to have lodged in most people's minds.
Today is also a landmark day for me, I believe, in that I am the same age now as John Lennon when he died. As long as I stay alive tomorrow I will have outlived Lennon (in terms of length of life), which is a sobering thought. If you saw Christ on a Bike, you will know that getting to the same age as Jesus gave me pause for thought about what I had achieved comparatively, but Lennon is almost more of a landmark, not least because he definitely wasn't a fictional character.
The day he died was another of those memorable and shocking ones, even though I was only 13. The next day Matt Wheeler who I walked to school with, was wearing a black armband. At the time 40 seemed old to us, but now I am the same age as John Lennon it does heighten the tragedy of dying well before your time. Especially given that Mark Chapman was wiping out not only a man, but years of potentially amazing music.
Still I have now lived as long as John Lennon and I think I have to accept that I haven't achieved as much as him, or Jesus, or Mozart. I need to find some really old, old duffer who has done absolutely nothing with their time and use them as my benchmark role model.
Up in my bedroom this evening, I happened to look out of the window to see the sun setting behind the buildings opposite me. It wasn't the same as being in Thailand, but it is something that I would usually never have even noticed. It made me think.
