Yes Fishy. I appreciate that. But I do think 100 years after 1918 may be a, if only marginal, turning point.
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Maybe our childrenâs children wonât be taken on school trips to visit battlefields and burial sites from before the birth of their great-grandparents, you mean? I felt that it was pushing it a bit that my lot got taken to WWI battlefields even though they were not doing that period for historyâŚ
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Interestingly - or perhaps it isnât that interesting - the late Ma-in-law, daughter of a WWI veteran whose later life was shaped and curtailed by his experiences, and widow of a highly decorated WWII veteran, said with considerable vehemence one Nov 10th when the television was in full Remembrance flood, that she thought it was about time it all stopped and that it did no one any good. I was somewhat surprised at the time; less so now.
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I hope that the poppy will continue to be a symbol of the waste of a generation of the fit young men
The invisible injuries carried by millions were as bad as the visible
And if pausing to reflect how lucky and privileged we are because some people were brave enough to object somewhat to the plans other mad people had for our nation means our decendants learn to avoid confrontation then so be it
There is a bit of good as a result
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Gus. I remind you of a passage from a book published in 1928:
All this remembrance-day business gets on your nerves, donât it? Itâs my belief most of us would only be too pleased to chuck these community hysterics if the beastly newspapers didnât run it for all itâs worth. However, it donât do to say so. Theyâd hoof me out of the Club if I raised my voice beyond a whisper.
Meanwhile here is a Bad Birdie:
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Just the one Hedgie ?? 
What would Susan Stranks say ???
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Tell you what, Spadger, I wish the local Bad Birdies would take up smoking. Maggenpies drive poor wee Pidgeylumpkin to distraction, flying about as they do without the appropriate paperwork, and Being Noisy. But the main annoyance at the moment is amorousness in the Pigeon Community. I might start chittering at the windows too if they donât pack it in and take up Bridge soon.
TUATBC and I claim my Lucifer. I know that the whole Remembrance theatre has been viewed with considerable scepticism since the outset, not least by serving or former service personnel, but it surprised me in this particular instance. But I didnât know her terribly well at all, it transpires. Anyway. I am blethering.
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The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club?
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Thatâs the one. Wasnât the bloke who said it shell-shocked or something?
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I was dragged up in Norn Iron
1690 is alive and well there
The spud famine is even closer to living memory
So the Somme which sacrificed Ulsterâs (as in the province) young is most definitely remembered
It is bred in the bone to remember
History is a living thing on this wretched iland
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My first thought was George, but I have a suspicion it was Wimsey himself - who was severely shell-shocked, of course.
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Definitely Wimsey.
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I canât see that harking back all the time to what amounts things well outside anyoneâs memory has ever helped Norn Iron much!
Yes, it was Wimsey, yes, he was shell-shocked. I meant that, having been a sufferer at close quarters, he was entitled to feel as he did about it.
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Thanks Gus - didnât have it to hand to check.
In other business, now that our Jules is back and on the mend, we still have another little problem to deal with.
Then:
Now:
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Not easy, being a Proprietor of Poultry, joe.
So pleased Jules is back, and fingers crossed for the wee dote. Not Wyandotte; wee dote.
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I agree entirely. I was simply saying that my first thought was that it was George whoâd said it, then had a vague memory that it was Wimsey. Both had every reason to feel as they did. As I recall it, Wimseyâs anger was directed at those who dismissed the suffering of the likes of George as âweaknessâ, saying that men didnât go to pieces in their day. Their day was most likely the Boer War, which - however grim - probably didnât compare to the Western Front or Gallipoli.
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After Diana died, the switchboards were overwhelmed at British Red Cross HQ in London
With people wanting to have the Red Cross changed to a Red Heart, in her honour/memory
You couldnât make it upâŚ
Carinthia.xx
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Somebody started a push to get Heathrow renamed âPrincess Diana Airportâ, and a friend of mine wrote to the Times saying âGood idea. A noisy, obtrusive nuisance that nobody really wants to have aroundâŚâ
She had been anything but a saint in many peopleâs eyes until the night she died; the early editions of the Sunday papers had been in full cry against her, and had to be recalled in a hurry. How do I know? A newsagent in Cornwall had already got them, and had the sense to hang onto one copy of each. They were being not at all complimentary about her and her affair with young Fayed.
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I may have said before that I was at an SF convention in the US when that lot happened. I was at a room party, and suddenly Americans started coming up to me and saying âIâm so sorryâ and giving me drinks. I didnât find out what was actually going on until rather later.
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By which time you were too generally numb to take it in?
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