Fill in: is, are, was or were

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James Ellis  went on a business
trip last week. He  was visiting some customers in Frankfurt. He left home early on Monday morning and  took a taxi to the airport. He got there at about 8 o'clock. He checked in and went to the airport lounge. He baught a newspaper and went to get a coffee. 
He was drinking his coffee when he saw an old friend, Bob. He was very surprised that Bob was in London and  found out that he was starting a new job in the city. As they 
were speaking they heard an announcement. "Would all
passengers for the 9.30 flight to Frankfurt please go to boarding gate
10". James said goodbye to Bob and
as they were leaving Bob 
gave him his business card and 
asked him to phone when he returned from Frankfurt.

Everyone had some accidents at least once in his life, and I am not an exception.  It happened to me 5 years ago, I was 10 years old at that moment. Just as summer began, I went to the summer camp where I always spent my holidays.  I met my friends there again and we had fun together, we swam in the river, sunbathed, played football and took part in different competitions. One day, while I was sitting with my friends on the bench, we heard a girl crying. She was younger than we were and she looked so sad. I suggested my friends going there and asking the girl what had happened to her. She told us that her kitten had climbed  the tree to catch a bird. However, the bird wasn't caught because it had flown away. And the kitten could not get down to the ground and cried. 
My friends just listened to the story and decided to go away, but I felt for the girl and her unlucky kitten. Hoping that I would be luckier, I decided to climb up the tree and save the kitten. It had been the first time I climbed such a high tree, by the way. So as I was very close to the kitten I took him with my hand. Suddenly the branch where I was sitting cracked and broke and I fell down to the ground. 
As a result, I broke my hand and was taken to a local hospital. But I wasn't dissapointed  at all, because the kitten was saved.