Armistice Day

Today is Armistice Day. So feel right to remember my Mum’s Dad. Meet Albert (my Grandfather). He was born in 1897 and died before I was born so I never met him. My Nanna used to tell me we were similar. Seems I got my love of horses from him.

When WWI broke out, he was working in a mine in South Wales. As he had come from a farm in Somerset and they had put him to work with the horses.

He tried to sign up but he was under age and in a reserved occupation so wasn’t allowed to join up. He took the King’s shilling and joined the Middlesex Regiment on the 15 January 1917 he went to France and worked with the horses there, driving a supply wagon between camps.

He was gassed at Ypres (known by the troops as “Wipers”) and later came home with Bronchitis. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 2 December 1917 where he was in France until the end of the war in 1918.

He came back, but war changed him. He wasn’t the same, how could he be?! The price of victory was huge. It was meant to be the war to end all wars. Sadly we’re still fighting. I wish I’d had the chance to meet him and say thank you.

We will remember them.

Robin Hood

I’ve felt wrung out today. All of the emotions from yesterday (and the past few weeks) have taken their toll. My Dad was feeling the same. So we watched one of my Mum’s favourite Disney film, Robin Hood.

I’ve seen it so many times, I practically know all the words. When Prince John gets called ‘PJ’, it always makes me smile. I’m a PJ too. So it was a running family joke when I was a kid.

The subject matter is a bit topical too. The nation being taxed to the brink isn’t new it seems. Very sad that we have seemingly learnt so little from history. Back then it was fund wars and conquests. Now, I’m honestly not sure what it’s to fund?!

I wonder how much I’ve paid in taxes so far in my life. A lot more than I’ve spent I’m sure. At least in Robin Hood’s time, the taxes were more obvious. Now they’re so widespread, it’s hard to even tell what you’re paying out.

I know I’m in a heightened emotional state, so forgive me if I’m off here, but the world seems very weird right now. What is it they say about the two things in life you can count on – death and taxes.

Thank goodness for Disney and a bit of escapism.

D-Day

Today is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. In 2012, I got the chance to visit Normandy Beach and see the landing sites for myself.

The craters are still there. The reminders everywhere. The landscape permanently scarred. As were those ‘lucky’ enough to come home. The horrors they experience we fear to imagine. Sacrifices made we barely comprehend.

This was no Hollywood action movie. War knows no compassion. Violence is indiscriminate. The First World War was meant to be the ‘war that ended all wars’. We’re not doing so well there, are we? Sadly wars still rage around the world.

One day, I pray we learn the lesson.

Sitting in quiet contemplation at the graveyard, I’ve never felt so humble or close to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

We will never forget.