As readers in Bermuda pick up their newspapers this morning and make their way to work, tens of thousands of New Yorkers will already have been up for hours honouring those who died in the terrorist attacks of one year ago.

Bagpipe processions of mourners and emergency service personnel began making their way to site of the former World Trade Center twin towers from the city's five boroughs as early as 1 a.m. this morning.

The processions will merge at Ground Zero where - as at hundreds of other locations across this city of 8 million - people gather and offer memorials to the 2,801 dead in the 9-11-01 attacks which devastated this city last year.

But while the city pauses to commemorate the passing of a year since the unthinkable tragedy, life in New York has largely returned to normal.

As the countless tributes posted last year to victim begin to fade on their perches attached to the barricades surrounding Ground Zero, a city known for looking to the future rather than the past is finding its feet again.

Most people will be going back to work this morning - although, The Royal Gazette was told, many intend to go in late.

Bermudians Michael Pearman and Warren Fray - who have both made their homes in New York for several years now - said that while they still fear terrorist attacks such as those they witnessed last year, life must continue.

Both will make their way to Manhattan desks in the morning.

"Every building I ever go into now," Mr. Pearman, 29, a systems analysts qualifies, however, "I always check for the closest emergency exits."

Mr. Fray, a 32-year-old architect, particularly fears the trains which take him from his Jersey City home to Manhattan.

But a year of constant terrorism warnings have dulled the fears of most, he adds.

"At Christmas time I was so nervous because there were warnings and there were going to be so many people shopping. I had to go downtown to write an exam the day before. But it was OK. At every major holiday there are warnings and now, I think, people have regained their confidence."

He added: "Life has to go on and one thing about this city is it is resilient."

Despite renewed FBI warnings of possible terrorist attacks in both New York and Washington, the spirit around New York has been one of hope and recovery rather than fear or despair in the days leading to this anniversary.

Crowds continue to stream along the perimeter of Ground Zero to view the memorials undeterred by the threat of recurring violence.

On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, tourists mingle with TV news cameras while countless groups of pilgrims honouring lost loves and friends one pin up new memorials and pose with NYPD officers guarding the site.

"We're safer here than any where else," they say.

With hundreds of additional Police and security added to duty and alert for the anniversary, they may be right.

Attending the official memorial service at Ground Zero today will be US President George Bush, New York Governor George Pataki, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The speeches they will give are expected to draw on US history rather than make it. The Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence will be read aloud as well as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" speech.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will begin reading the names of the victims at 8.50 a.m.

As the names of two Bermudians - Rhondelle Tankard and Boyd Gatton - lost in the attack ring through the crowd, their former employers will be thinking of them and the others lost that tragic day one year ago.

Ms Tankard, 31, had been on only her second day of work at Aon's offices in the towers when terrorists struck. Today the company's offices around the world will observe a moment of silence at 10.29 a.m. "The moment the second tower - where our offices were - fell," an Aon spokesman told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Meanwhile, Fiduciary Trust International - which lost Bermudian Boyd Gatton along with 86 other employees - has planned a day-long open house at its new offices where family and loved ones are encouraged to gather and support one another.

Smaller but no less heartfelt tributes have been going on at Ground Zero all week.

Since early Monday morning, actor Carl Palmer has been conducting a one-man vigil at the site to read out tributes to 1,900 victims prepared in a book by the New York Times last year.

With a small group of helpers coming and going from his chosen spot alongside the craters which are all remains of two formerly 107-storey office behemoths, Mr. Palmer reads out the brief tributes as his voice cracks with emotion. At the start of each, he hoists the book above his head facing the crowd and repeating the name and the age of the victim as he points to the photo. Neilie Anne Casey, he tells the crowd, was planning a trip to Bermuda to celebrate her fifth wedding anniversary.

On the night of September 10, she watched a promotional video on the Island with her husband. The next day, she boarded American Airlines flight 11 for a business trip and was never seen again.

"This is just a way for me to honour the memories of those we lost last year," Mr. Palmer told The Royal Gazette. "These were just regular people like you and me, who went to work one day and never returned.

Mr. Palmer and fellow actor Jeff Pucillo divide reading the tributes with any number of passersby who stop to help. By Tuesday, the crowd the small, personal tribute drew had grown considerably. "We'll stay till we read every one," Mr. Palmer said. He expects to finish at some point this evening.

Renewed threats of terror seem to deter few from venturing to Ground Zero.

At a press conference at New York City Hall yesterday, Gov. Pataki reminded the public there was no specific or credible threat to the city or the state.

"Remember the spirit and the courage shown over the past year," he said. "Do not allow terrorists to have their primary weapon, which is fear."

Fear would not keep visitor Frances Malina from visiting Ground Zero yesterday. "I just feel we will be safe," she told The Royal Gazette.

Ms Malina, now of Florida, felt compelled to return to the site as she worked in the World Trade Center many years ago.

"It was such a wonderful place to work," she said. "I still can't believe it is gone."

Ms Malina spoke to The Royal Gazette as she bought one of the countless WTC souvenirs on sale about Ground Zero.

Inspecting a clear plastic paperweight with her former workplace etched on it, she explained she came to the site last October as well, when the mood at Ground Zero was significantly more sombre.

"It just looked like a war zone when I came in October," she said. "It was devastation - rubble, smoke, dust. People were crying. I came with my friend and we both broke down in tears."

While there was hushed awe and an emotional current at Ground Zero yesterday, there were few tears.

But for some the scale of last year's tragedy cannot be forgotten and must be redressed.

"I hope he is dead," a woman who would identify herself only as Gloria from Brooklyn told The Royal Gazette as she choked back anger.

Speaking of the mystery surrounding the whereabouts and health of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, she repeated calls for vengeance more common one year ago.

"I hope he is dead. And I hope they get each and everyone of those that did this terrible thing."