A Significant Date

I Hello Subscribers – and welcome new ones!

Today, I uploaded a new post on to the DT blog that is about today’s date, 4th of July. In the USA it’s a big anniversary, Independence Day, but in other parts of the world this date is also of significance, including for rather dark reasons. For instance, 4th of July is also Jewish Genocide Memorial Day in Latvia, as it was 80 years ago today that the Holocaust began in that country following the Nazi German occupation in WWII – many Latvians were often also enthusiastically collaborating in (and profiting from) the atrocities. On 4 July 1941 the Great Choral Synagogue in the capital city Riga was burned down (with people inside it)! Hence the choice of date for the commemoration. See also this piece from a Latvian television website, which also features an illuminating video (external link).

In the new post also added a few bonus extras of photos featuring the Stars and Stripes, and the featured photo above is one of those, taken in New York in 2002. It’s one of my favourite “reflective” photos involving a US flag. What you see here is the reflection of the famous and iconic Chrysler Building, from which the flag was flying, seen in the glass facade of the building opposite.
  

Other than that, what’s happened on the DT front since last Sunday? Well, in the previous newsletter, in which I lamented the fact that I’ll almost definitely have to postpone my planned trip to Namibia by yet another year because of the pandemic, I already indicated that the Baltics might be a doable travel destination. And indeed, over the course of this week I put together a nine-day itinerary for Riga and Tallinn and booked flights and accommodation, all cancellable, just in case, plus a few tickets (bus transfers between the two cities, and for tours of the KGB Building in Riga).

Let’s hope the pandemic with its ‘Delta’ virus variant won’t throw another spanner in the travel works! At the moment, the restrictions are few for travel to the Baltics from Austria, at least for people who can show an EU Digital COVID Certificate. You still have to register online before entering Latvia, and we may also still have to do that for Austria within 48 hours before our return. Although Austria is currently lifting a whole host of restrictions … and I just hope that these measures won’t turn out to have been too much too soon. Fingers crossed!
  

And speaking of fingers, my ring finger on my left hand that underwent an operation (for ‘trigger finger’) 17 days ago is still rather stiff. The op wound still has a hard time healing, as we’ve had such a heatwave that it was impossible to keep the palms of my hand dry. Maybe the stitches also came out a little early last Monday under the heatwave circumstances (though the last couple days it has been cooler, which I find quite a relief, but a return of the sweltering heat is already forecast for this coming week). … anyway, it’s a rather nasty-looking half-healed scar that’s forming on my hand (I’ll spare you a photo of it) and it will probably be quite a while before I can properly embark on rebuilding flexibility for that finger. Hopefully over time that will come back …

But I’ll keep this newsletter short again and sign off with this.

Have a good week and, as always, stay safe!

Best

Peter