[remembrance sunday] the armistice story part 2

Read of the magnificent Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance

On Sunday, a two-minute silence and various events across the UK mark Armistice Day, the anniversary of the official end of World War I on 11 November 1918.

The Royal Family, leading politicians and former servicemen and women take part in the annual service of remembrance at the Cenotaph in London. The Queen lays the first wreath in memory of those who gave their lives in the two World Wars and other conflicts and the customary two-minute silence at 1100 GMT i followed by buglers playing the Last Post and a march past of thousands of veterans.

More than one million men and women from Britain and the Commonwealth died in World War I between 1914 and 1918, and nearly 500,000 in World War II from 1939 to 1945. The number of British service personnel who have died in Iraq since the start of hostilities in 2003 stands at 121. Since 2001, 41 British Forces personnel have died while serving in Afghanistan.

More at this site

[marks and spencers] kicking the disabled out

If this is so, it is really not on.

Hookie has posted on the 58 year old disabled woman who dared to use the emergency cord in the toilet at Marks and Spencers:

But the next time she came into the shop in Stockport, Greater Manchester, the manageress handed her a 'trespass order' telling her she was banned from every branch in the country.

In the name of all that is abhorrent, doesn't that just take the biscuit? Right, so that's M&S off my Christmas list. Where did compassion, sense [I shan't call it common], some sort of perspective go? What's going on with people today?

While we're there, how about this one from Hercules?

[A] ban on poppies at full state banquets at Buckingham Palace. Staff said they were told the poignant symbol might offend ambassadors ...

Oh, I've had enough of this. We wear the poppies, we fly the flag, we celebrate Christmas, OK? To hell with the PCers at important times.

[thought for the day] saturday evening

'Tis strange but true - for truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.

Difficult day but a symmetrical one. Sleep tight.

[safely moored] no shifting this craft

Not easy to see the name but it is "Temporary Insanity".

[har megiddo] the massing of the armies

The map is much clearer at the original site. Click on the map.

Sometimes I want to visit the Valley of Jezreel and sometimes I don't.

Most historical places we visit, we can feel the history right there, for example, Whitby Abbey or some battlefield but when the place we visit is the site of some future event, a cataclysmic event, then it takes on a special significance.

My final novel [of three] is set in this roughly 25 mile by 20 valley and it took some research to try to get authenticity. How can you get authenticity for the end of the world though? For it is on the southern side of the valley that the hill called Har Megiddo or in the Hellenic form Armageddon lies.

At one end is Mt Carmel and Haifa and at the other, the Jordan River and the road to Jerusalem. Here, it is written, the final battle will take place and this valley will be for the massing of the armies against Israel. The hill itself, the "Har" of Megiddo, is run through with passages, a spring and many underground walkways.

It's a mystery in itself and a source of fascination for me. Below are some shots of the valley and the hill.

[the old values] one by one they pass away

Every so often, someone puts up a post which gets under the guard and not for any obvious reason.

Someone once said my views were from a world now long gone. Yes they are - G-d, Queen and country, the C of E, the sanctity of the family and so on. Freedom to run about safely as a child, to have virtually not a care in the world, to open doors for women and to give up your bus seat, home-cooked meals every evening, riding bicycles on the main roads.

Jams has run a post on Sydney Lucas, the WW1 veteran who moved to Australia and died in a retirement resort the equivalent of Cornwall.

When I look at him, I see my father one generation on - that jacket, the medals, the jumper, shirt and tie. That was my father from the second war, even down to the NHS glasses. These sorts of things bring you up short really.

I suppose my own generation is the last with these values forged in a society now truly gone. Will they ever return?