Meanwhile...

[Dunckel]

I haven't worn a poppy for years, I fear now that the whole idea is slowly being taken over by the St George's flag brigade for their own ends.

[JohnToo]

I wear one on the 11th and on the Sunday only. Round here, that constitutes an act of protest. I was influenced as a teenager by my grandfather who had (reluctantly) fought in the trenches. He abhorred the social normalisation of the horror of war that the spread of poppy wearing represented, but still felt it was important to remember. I try to honour that in my choices.

[Rocky]

Trish and I saw Peter Jackson’s film They Shall Not Grow Old, this afternoon. It’s on the Beeb tomorrow. Well worth a watch.....the complete futility of war. All those young lives lost. How anyone could glorify war, I don’t know.

[JohnToo]

The Shrouds of the Somme installation at the Olympic Park. One shrouded figure for each of the 72,000 dead -and that’s just the ones who have no recorded grave (and just the British ones).

[Iris]

(and just the British ones).

Grrrrrrr

The ceramic poppies at the Tower a few years ago - which were also rather kitsch for my liking - suffered from the same problem. This year, more than ever, we should be avoiding national special pleading.

[JohnToo]

I (like i’m presuming most of us here) react against things I perceive as manipulating my emotions. I thought the Tower ceramic poppies undeniably a “pretty” artistic spectacle but counterproductive as an act of remembrance. I find the Berlin holocaust memorial disquieting as it seems questionable to memorialise something on the scale of the deaths by creating something artificially that attempts to impress with its scale. However I find the military cemeteries in France moving for the simplicity and because their scale isn’t artificial, it genuinely reflects the event it memorialises - the letting the facts speak for themselves without attempting to ram it home. And I found the Shrouds of the Somme this week fairly moving for the same reason - it speaks for itself.

The Albert Hall thing that is on the telly now is truly revoltingly obscene.

[Regulator]

I’m cooking lunch today, and then we’re taking it round to Jon’s parents. His dad is out of hospital but finds moving about difficult still. I’m doing pot roast pheasant with mashed potato and green veg. Not quite your traditional Sunday lunch but rich and warming, on what is a bloody miserable day. Who ordered all this rain? Jack’s refusing to go for a walk.

This time next week, we’ll be on the ship in Genoa...

[Lullabelle]

Glorious and sunny here now, we had a really heavy downpour in the early hours.

[Lullabelle]

I (like i’m presuming most of us here) react against things I perceive as manipulating my emotions. I thought the Tower ceramic poppies undeniably a “pretty” artistic spectacle but counterproductive as an act of remembrance. I find the Berlin holocaust memorial disquieting as it seems questionable to memorialise something on the scale of the deaths by creating something artificially that attempts to impress with its scale. However I find the military cemeteries in France moving for the simplicity and because their scale isn’t artificial, it genuinely reflects the event it memorialises - the letting the facts speak for themselves without attempting to ram it home. And I found the Shrouds of the Somme this week fairly moving for the same reason - it speaks for itself.

The Albert Hall thing that is on the telly now is truly revoltingly obscene.

As you may or may not know, yesterday there was a walk to show respect for the owner of our local football team and the 4 other people who tragically lost their lives in a helicopter crash a couple of weekends ago. Now I don't doubt that some people are genuinely sad and want to show their respect for the 5 people and their families, however I can't help thinking some only went along so they could post on facebook.

[Regulator]

I got another 'Instant Award' at work today... plus I got told to buy myself a decent bottle of plonk and stick it on expenses.

Do you think I could get away with getting one of these?

[Rocky]

I got another 'Instant Award' at work today... plus I got told to buy myself a decent bottle of plonk and stick it on expenses.

Do you think I could get away with getting one of these?

Just don't try and drink it out of @Dunckel's Brexit mug

[Joan]

I got another 'Instant Award' at work today... plus I got told to buy myself a decent bottle of plonk and stick it on expenses.

Do you think I could get away with getting one of these?

Well, no. Obviously. If you'd been told booze or grog or piss, then yes. But plonk is wine. So maybe this?

[Regulator]

This time tomorrow I'll be finishing my packing and thinking about heading for the airport...

[Rocky]

Today I’ll mostly be doing this:

[Dunckel]

Sat at DeMontfort Hall waiting for Seaaick Steve.