A Sombre Week.
That was a week I’m glad to see the back of! I had a dreadful head cold that kept me in bed for most of it. Still it did give me the chance to hear on radio and see on television many of the week’s events that I would probably have missed if I’d been fit and moving about as normal. The Cenotaph on Sunday, the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month in the Abbey and the mispelt letter from the Prime Minister to the grieving mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan stand out. Oh yes, I managed to read the new Dan Brown book too.
As a child I lived through the whole of World War Two and understand as a civilian some of the terror war brings. Many of the men in my family fought as soldiers and I remember the worry we all felt for their safety. Thankfully, though we lost our home seven times during that conflict, none of our family were injured and all our men came home safely. What a different story to those who fought in the ‘War To End All Wars’ when so many men perished and virtually every family suffered a loss.
I only knew one man who fought in the First World War, he was my father-in-law. In all the years I knew him he never once mentioned his experiences except to say that he had “Seen things no man should”. He left a silver fob watch and inside the back cover is inscribed all the battles in which he was involved. He served in the Artillery and the list reads like a tour of the Battlefields. Number 26036. Driver Frederick T. Herbert was also commended for “Gallantry and Devotion to Duty” at the Battle of Cambrai. We understand why he didn’t want to speak of such things and we Honour his memory.
In previous wars the next of kin received the dreaded telegram. In the current war in Afghanistan….I suppose we should call it a war? those suffering a loss hear the dreadful news by different means. The Prime Minister in an effort to show his sadness and express his condolences to a grieving mother made time to write her a letter. Unfortunately and not for the first time his support staff let him down and the letter he sent had some spelling mistakes, with results that you will all know about. Does that negate the sympathetic intention of the Prime Minister? I don’t think so. It shows incompetence by those around him. I have no admiration for the Prime Minister but I have never thought him dishonourable or unfeeling. In this particular case I feel very sorry for him. He has been very badly served by those who should care more, and treated with grave disrespect by a newspaper that should have known better. I make no comment about the grieving mother, she must have suffered enough already.
Whilst on the sobering subject of remembrance, have you noticed those ghastly bunches of wilted flowers in their tattered and torn cellophane wrappers hanging forlornly from the railing near major roads, piled high on a grass verge or tied around the trunk of a tree? It seems that the decline in religious beliefs has given rise to a new practice. Surely those flowers would be better placed at the graveside or in a place of worship. They reflect no credit on the deceased and at worst could distract other drivers and cause more accidents.
Dan Brown’s new blockbuster book took my mind off the miseries of the head cold…well for some of the time anyway. What an imagination! How diligently he researched his subject and what a great marketing job by his publisher. It was another great read.
Reading through this week’s blog I realise that it is little sombre….still it was a sombre week wasn’t it!
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