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Shame on the delivery drivers who didn't respect the two minute silence and were banging doors and had their engines going to spoil it for everyone else
Is this a personal experience?
[Post edited 8 May 2020 15:07]
You might think I've forgotten, but one day, when you least expect it, my time will come.
I'll raise a glass to General Eisenhower and Marshall Chuikov who accepted the Germans surrender, but more importantly I'll be raising a glass to the truly heroic "GI Joe" of all the united nations, who liberated Western Europe.
Marshall Zhulov wasn't it? That was the second surrender in Berlin on May 8, staged for Soviet propaganda. This is why Russie celebrates VE day on the 9th, so I've read. The first surrender was in Reims on the 7th.
PS, we shall be remembering, we have a VE poster in the window but no bunting, the rest of the street has loads of bunting though, we are having a back garden party (in our own gardens) and our neighbour has done bingo, that's for the wife, I shall have a cold beer and say thank you. Not just to the soldiers, one grandpa was a Royal Marine but the other was a miner, a reserved occupation. Just like the land army, the ARP, the home guard, they deserve remembering too.
Marshall Zhulov wasn't it? That was the second surrender in Berlin on May 8, staged for Soviet propaganda. This is why Russie celebrates VE day on the 9th, so I've read. The first surrender was in Reims on the 7th.
PS, we shall be remembering, we have a VE poster in the window but no bunting, the rest of the street has loads of bunting though, we are having a back garden party (in our own gardens) and our neighbour has done bingo, that's for the wife, I shall have a cold beer and say thank you. Not just to the soldiers, one grandpa was a Royal Marine but the other was a miner, a reserved occupation. Just like the land army, the ARP, the home guard, they deserve remembering too.
[Post edited 8 May 2020 13:49]
Here’s actual footage of one of the surrenders.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I may well be alone in this but I’m finding the celebratory tone being adopted today a bit distasteful.
Fair enough to have the two minute silence, and I personally found the quiet reflection of the simple wreath laying necessary because of the situation far more poignant than the pomp and circumstance we’d have otherwise seen, but when hundreds are dying every day and essential workers are putting themselves in danger to help the rest of us, the jingoistic fervour being encouraged by the tabloids and media in general and the laughably described ‘socially distant’ street parties being enjoyed by people who couldn’t normally tell you the date of VE Day strikes me as jarring (and in many cases will be pretty unsafe as well).
There is no particular reason why the 75th anniversary is more important than the 76th. We don’t usually do this. They should have deferred ’celebrations’ until next year when the country could have genuinely given thanks for being able to enjoy its freedom again. perhaps in a rather more somber way.
Those that have lost loved ones in the past few weeks may find this triumphant mood quite hard to bear.
Each to their own, but surely there are better times for a party.
Shame on the delivery drivers who didn't respect the two minute silence and were banging doors and had their engines going to spoil it for everyone else
Give them a break...they’re out working hard at the moment.
I may well be alone in this but I’m finding the celebratory tone being adopted today a bit distasteful.
Fair enough to have the two minute silence, and I personally found the quiet reflection of the simple wreath laying necessary because of the situation far more poignant than the pomp and circumstance we’d have otherwise seen, but when hundreds are dying every day and essential workers are putting themselves in danger to help the rest of us, the jingoistic fervour being encouraged by the tabloids and media in general and the laughably described ‘socially distant’ street parties being enjoyed by people who couldn’t normally tell you the date of VE Day strikes me as jarring (and in many cases will be pretty unsafe as well).
There is no particular reason why the 75th anniversary is more important than the 76th. We don’t usually do this. They should have deferred ’celebrations’ until next year when the country could have genuinely given thanks for being able to enjoy its freedom again. perhaps in a rather more somber way.
Those that have lost loved ones in the past few weeks may find this triumphant mood quite hard to bear.
Each to their own, but surely there are better times for a party.
I understand what you’re saying but perhaps one of the reasons this anniversary is quite poignant is because it’s possibly the last big one we’ll have with veterans still alive. By the time the 80th comes around in 2025 a lad who was 20 when war ended will be over 100. It’s worth celebrating just for that reason.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I may well be alone in this but I’m finding the celebratory tone being adopted today a bit distasteful.
Fair enough to have the two minute silence, and I personally found the quiet reflection of the simple wreath laying necessary because of the situation far more poignant than the pomp and circumstance we’d have otherwise seen, but when hundreds are dying every day and essential workers are putting themselves in danger to help the rest of us, the jingoistic fervour being encouraged by the tabloids and media in general and the laughably described ‘socially distant’ street parties being enjoyed by people who couldn’t normally tell you the date of VE Day strikes me as jarring (and in many cases will be pretty unsafe as well).
There is no particular reason why the 75th anniversary is more important than the 76th. We don’t usually do this. They should have deferred ’celebrations’ until next year when the country could have genuinely given thanks for being able to enjoy its freedom again. perhaps in a rather more somber way.
Those that have lost loved ones in the past few weeks may find this triumphant mood quite hard to bear.
Each to their own, but surely there are better times for a party.
People want good news, anything to raise the spirits. I see nothing wrong with in invoking a bit of war time spirit, or using a bit of trench humour either. How about a song,
I understand what you’re saying but perhaps one of the reasons this anniversary is quite poignant is because it’s possibly the last big one we’ll have with veterans still alive. By the time the 80th comes around in 2025 a lad who was 20 when war ended will be over 100. It’s worth celebrating just for that reason.
But as I said there’s no intrinsic difference between 75 and 76.
We didn’t have a bank holiday for the 70th anniversary (we did for the 50th).
People want good news, anything to raise the spirits. I see nothing wrong with in invoking a bit of war time spirit, or using a bit of trench humour either. How about a song,
We get through the bad times the best way we can.
This isn’t a war. We don’t have an enemy. Every human is on the same side. If anything, this shows even more starkly how deeply futile and nonsensical wars are. It’s only by working together we’ll thrive.
And, unlike the war, where people found solace in one another, huddled close to family and friends, this is in many ways a deeply solitary fight. I dislike the war language used to describe what we’re going through. I’m afraid much of it comes from our ‘great and glorious‘ leader’s desire to emulate Churchill although we’re not the only country evoking such language. No one will emerge triumphant from this. Only deeply aware of our insignificance and impotence.
This isn’t a war. We don’t have an enemy. Every human is on the same side. If anything, this shows even more starkly how deeply futile and nonsensical wars are. It’s only by working together we’ll thrive.
And, unlike the war, where people found solace in one another, huddled close to family and friends, this is in many ways a deeply solitary fight. I dislike the war language used to describe what we’re going through. I’m afraid much of it comes from our ‘great and glorious‘ leader’s desire to emulate Churchill although we’re not the only country evoking such language. No one will emerge triumphant from this. Only deeply aware of our insignificance and impotence.
VE Day isn’t about celebrating war though. It’s about winning peace. The triumph of hope that a bit of light might shine through the darkness. When the news broke in 1945 that war was over in Europe it wasn’t the end. There were still thousands fighting in the Far East, stuck in camps building the death railway. They still had cities to rebuild, lives to repair, little food. Unknown to them they’d have to spend the next few decades in fear of the atom bomb. But they had that hope, that flash of light that things might get a bit better. That makes it entirely appropriate for the current situation, although I do agree the papers as usual are going over the top but that’s their job I suppose.
The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
VE Day isn’t about celebrating war though. It’s about winning peace. The triumph of hope that a bit of light might shine through the darkness. When the news broke in 1945 that war was over in Europe it wasn’t the end. There were still thousands fighting in the Far East, stuck in camps building the death railway. They still had cities to rebuild, lives to repair, little food. Unknown to them they’d have to spend the next few decades in fear of the atom bomb. But they had that hope, that flash of light that things might get a bit better. That makes it entirely appropriate for the current situation, although I do agree the papers as usual are going over the top but that’s their job I suppose.
My comment about war was in response to Catullus saying to invoke a wartime spirit.
I don’t have a problem with a celebration of VE Day. The defeat of the Nazi threat throughout Europe is worth celebrating. As I said, it just seems a distasteful time to party and I think it would have been better to postpone it until next year.
I could do without some of the overtly nationalistic nonsense that comes with it mind you whatever year it is.
I plan on cutting the grass and rewarding my efforts with a few cold ones.
I've done exactly that today too but I also cut down some really ugly willow with a chainsaw. It had been bothering me for a few weeks. Now sitting out in the sun on the patio with a cold drink while typing this inconsequential drivel.
I've done exactly that today too but I also cut down some really ugly willow with a chainsaw. It had been bothering me for a few weeks. Now sitting out in the sun on the patio with a cold drink while typing this inconsequential drivel.
Blood brothers we are. I’ve got Spotify throwing our some cracking tunes as well.
Blood brothers we are. I’ve got Spotify throwing our some cracking tunes as well.
Just listening to a nice gentle album off my tablet with the old blue tooth earbuds in. Nice. I hope this doesn't turn into another bleedin' lawnmower thread.
Just listening to a nice gentle album off my tablet with the old blue tooth earbuds in. Nice. I hope this doesn't turn into another bleedin' lawnmower thread.
Cheap Trick just popped up. Prosser gets everywhere.
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