A Sobering Visit

It was a sober day in NYC eight years ago when we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and saw Stephen Kevin Tompsett's name on the Memorial and his photo in the Museum display. 

Stephen, an Australian victim, was my 3rd cousin. Robert and I both shed a tear or two during the visit as we heard the stories of victims and survivors of this tragedy.

Stephen's plaque

Tooting

Since Twitter's recent purchase by Elon Musk I am wondering what lies ahead for that platform. Many people in the Twitterverse are predicting dark days ahead for this platform. I hope these predictions are baseless and I can keep tweeting.

I'm a believer in INSURANCE (car, health, house, travel etc.). It didn't take me too long to arrange some insurance in case I find that changes that will come to Twitter under its new ownership unpalatable.  

Yesterday Daniel Loftus in Ireland was recommending  Mastodon as a viable Twitter alternative in his Twitter feed. As I know Daniel is a cluey chap who is on top of tech issues I joined up to one of the Mastodon servers. I discovered that several of my genimates had already joined the #TwitterExodus or put a contingency plan in place by setting up an  account on Mastodon. 

My Profile needs some more editing

It didn't take long for me to join up and get the hang of this new-to-me platform, I've still a lot to learn but I think I'm going to like it. I have been working on my laptop with the desktop app but last night I also installed the Android app on my phone. 

By this morning I had built up a small list of interesting folk to follow. Once I found some people that I knew on Mastodon I checked their lists of followers/following to add people to my list - easy. 

If you join up to any Mastodon server you can follow me via this link : @JillBallAu@toot.community

If you are on Twitter and need an Insurance Policy how about Tooting with me?

The Tonale Military Memorial

Driving through Italy we passed through the Tonale Pass. Apparently in winter this place is buzzing with the snow lovers who flock to the area  to participate in snow sports. When we visited in autumn the place was deserted, there was a chill in the air but not a snowflake in sight.

We made a stop there for a refreshment break and more importantly to pay our respects to those Italian military from the First World War memorialised at the Sacrario militare del Tonale. It was a sobering visit as we reflected on the loss of lives in all countries affected by war.

The building is right on the highway

The remains of many men rest inside the building

Perhaps occasional services are held in the building

A niche in the external wall

Information was displayed in English

Sarcophagi at Side

I was able to indulge my interest in taphophilia when we visited the ancient city of Side in Turkey tis week. 

The museum at the site had an impressive collection of very old sarcophagi. I used Canva to create a postcard of just a few.