The world has vanished into white on white.

Overnight, the snowstorm wrapped every street, rooftop, and horizon in a seamless blanket of silence. Edges blur, colors fade, and the familiar becomes dreamlike. Stepping outside feels like walking through a freshly erased sketch, waiting for new lines to be drawn.

KINNOT

I've been coordinating with a researcher examining the history of ww2 pows, and the different camps. He had placed a “if you know of any more data on...” at the end of a post he had made a few years ago. I came across his post after I received my granddad's wartime service records — and managed to close out the information he was looking for with primary sourced materials from the Canadian archives.

Yesterday he reached out to me to inform that he had published an update — I have a link to those I grant access to, friends only in lj speak— and published a awesome update — including a photo of my grandfather in Greece after he was captured. But in discussion afterwards he asked me the meaning of "KINNOT" that was used in the cable describing the status of the three POWs described in the telegram. In discussion with him and another researcher.

Thanks for calling out my assumption :) I am so used to prowords from ham radio it just becomes natural when dealing with content transmitted at 12-15 words per minute by telegraph.

I recall there was a list of acronyms provided when I got the service records. I’ll check if this is mentioned. I also have a local resource, another sailor, that has done extensive research involving Canadian casualties. I’ll see if she has primary source for this.

I can also validate the dates my great grandparents were notified vs the date in the cable I shared.

My brain had immediately translated this to Kin Notified — but I don't have a source for this. As my colleague suggested:

If you come across the list of acronyms that came with the service record, I would very much appreciate your sharing it with me. It could be useful in the future!

I would not have figured out “kinnot” on my own, and AI was no help, denying it was a military term/acronym.

I agree with my colleague that this isn't googleable in any way shape or form, regardless of AI. We also don't have a primary source, and I might reach out to the Archives for clarification. It was not mentioned in the list of common acronyms they have.

It's an interesting problem to decipher these old records. 🤣

Lighthouse

Photo from last year's sailing trip from London to Brighton. This is the beachy head lighthouse.

Snow.

From our house, we can often see up to 70 km on a clear day—and for brief moments today, that was actually true. But when the snow started falling, the view vanished. One minute I could see for miles, the next I was lucky to make out anything beyond 100 metres.