Insanity

It was, I think, exactly one year ago yesterday that I stood on top of the south tower of the World Trade Center (11th Sep 2000). Like many others I expect, what happened yesterday hasn't really sunk in yet, all the more so when I look at the shots and think, I was up there, but now it's all gone... I keep thinking there must be people I met or saw that day who are now dead. The people who worked in the shopping area near the top. Those who staffed the escalators and lifts. Dozens of others who just passed by during their normal day.

As a mark of respect to the dead, injured and relatives, my web site will be offline until midday Friday 14th September. If you're reading this expecting to find my SGI, FutureTech or N64 pages, please instead stop and think for a moment about what has happened, and spare a thought for all those who have been affected by this tragedy. If anything can come of this, I hope it's that people with petty differences such as Catholic vs. Protestant, black vs. white, left-wing vs. right-wing, can look at these events and realise that this is what happens when such hatred is taken to its extreme. I hope those in N. Ireland moaning about who gets to walk up which street will realise just how childish and stupid they are - is this kind of destruction really the sort of world you want for your children?

I visited NYC from 2nd to 15th September 2000. It was the best holiday I ever had. New York is a fine city with a wonderful people. It is, without doubt, the only place I've ever been where I felt that the people around me had actually "got it right" somehow, in terms of how to live, how to run their lives, organise and manage their surroundings, transport, green spaces, etc., and how to get on with each other. I remember the locals offering advice on where to eat and visit without my even asking. I remember all colours and creeds of people playing basketball and volleyball on the courts in Central Park. I remember clean streets, a good atmosphere and a fine city.

Maybe what I saw was only Manhattan, maybe the Bronx and Queens, etc. still have the older problems, but what I saw was still an incredible eye-opener. NYC is clearly a place of which the resident population can be justly proud, and it showed.

With so many images of what happened on Tuesday, I wanted to remind myself of, and show you, some of what I saw... to show what can be when people get it right. To the people of NYC I say, don't lose or discard what you managed to create because of Tuesday's events. Don't let them get you down.

Here I present some short movies of some of the sights from my trip to the World Trade Center. These are all small-size MPEG files.

The plaza at the base of the tower (8.5MB)

At the top of the tower, with the clouds (2.2MB)

At the base of towers - huge! (2.4MB)

Looking back as the bus moved away (2.6MB)

Little building... big building... bigger... (5.3MB)

You don't want to eat there! (33.5MB)

mapesdhs@yahoo.com

Here are some extra images which I meant to include on 12th Sept., but didn't have time to do on the day. Click on each image to download the full size version.