Tragic day is still fresh

9/11. I beg everyone’s pardon. My tears are wetting my reporting.

I love the United States of America. I love New York, or what it used to be.

We’re approaching 9/11. I remember that day exactly. I was awake. In bed. Reading newspapers which get delivered to me early every morning. Phone rang. A friend screaming. Asking did I have TV on.

I didn’t. Then I never shut it off. The subsequent sounds did not stop.

On my Manhattan avenue traffic was removed. Empty. No cars, no trucks, no vehicles, no people, nothing. Sirens. From closed curtained locked windows could be seen — and heard — only emergency vehicles. Ambulances. Fire trucks. Police cars. Official vehicles. No private transportation. Emergency equipment. Hands to help. Medics.

Nobody out. Nobody walking. Nobody talking. Nobody anywhere.

Dr. Robert Lahita, author and VIP in New Jersey’s medical team, ran his side’s lifesaving triage unit 24 hours nonstop.

America invaded? New York City attacked? By haters? Mongrels?

All night long. The sound of motor vehicles speeding past. Always heading uptown. As one hospital filled up, it was onto the next.

And — 25 years later — can we believe THEY are done? Over? Finished?

No. Never.

Celebs have normal issues, too

Björk: “Iceland wanted to give me an island but I didn’t want it. I was going to buy myself a small island to get privacy. In Iceland tourists poke me with their finger like they’ve just bought a trip to Disneyland. That’s why it’s great to be in New York. Nobody here gives a f - - k.”

Claire Danes: “I’ve been living in Santa Monica. My brother’s in New York. I miss him. Suddenly I’m at the center of everything. That’s really unhealthy. I always wanted to be an only child but he’s smarter, cooler. He still has this power whenever I’m around. Also he’s 6-foot-5.”

And Justin Timberlake? Scared of spiders. He said: “I’m really scared of them. Just hate them. Once, staying at a posh hotel, I had to call reception because I spotted one in my room. I was too scared to get rid of it myself.”

Pure arthouse

Art lovers can now get a Lichtenstein at a discount. No painting. His Southampton house. Originally $20 million now a $17.95 million bargain. Bought in 1970, oceanfront, almost 2 acres, five bedrooms, six johns. Not sure he painted any of the walls. Call Sotheby’s International. OK, but listen. Summer’s kaput. Gone. Finito. Enough with shacks available on the water, in the water, all available for next year. I mean, please. A $5 million house in some Hampton could be a $500,000 teardown with a multi-million dollar fireplace.

Talking policy

ADVICE. I am here because of my enormous maximum wisdom. I tell you this — and you never heard it before — that 85% of Americans polled are completely confused about the USA’s foreign policy. Pretty alarming — especially when you consider that the poll was taken at the State Department.

BROOKLYN guy: “I know a husband and a wife who have separate bedrooms, drive different cars and take individual vacations. They’ll do anything to keep their marriage together.”

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.