Every Man Remembered

One hundred years ago on 4th August 1914 Britain, France and Russia declared war on Germany after the German army invaded Belgium. To commemorate this occasion there have been parades, Candlelit vigils, Church services and many other celebrations held throughout the country.

One of the leading organisations behind these commemorations is the Royal British Legion a charity set up in the 1920's to help injured and disabled ex-servicemen. The symbol of the Legion is the red Flanders poppy which we all wear with pride on Remembrance day each November. The reason that the poppy was adopted was because in the shell ravaged no mans land of the Western Front this was one of the only flowers that thrived (Another was the corn flower which was adopted by the French as their flower of remembrance).

The British Legion have created a data base called 'Every Man Remembered' which anybody can access and make a dedication (for a small donation) to one of the 855,000 men and women from Britain and the Commonwealth who paid the ultimate sacrifice during WW1. 

Many thousands of Ceramic red poppies have also been commissioned, one for each of the fallen, which can be bought as a keepsake. All these poppies are being displayed as a cascade in the moat of the Tower of London until after Remembrance Sunday when they will be dispatched to the purchasers. You can also request for the name of your chosen Serviceman or Woman to put on a list to be read out by a Yeoman Warder at a ceremony each evening at 8:30 p.m. 

My Sister-in-Law applied for the name of her Great Uncle, George Read who died at the age of 17 in May 1916 near Arras, to be put on this list. His name was to be read out last Sunday evening so we made a family trip to the Tower of London to witness this event. Just before 8:30 p.m. a Yeoman Warder and Bugler from the Guards Division marched into the centre of the moat amongst a field of these ceramic poppies. 

The crowd became silent as the Warder began reading the long list of names for this evening. We held our breath as George's name and regiment, one of the last on the list, was read out. At the end of the reading the Bugler approached the microphone and blew the Last Post in remembrance of these brave men and women. It was a very emotional experience and as the last note died down the crowd began to slowly drift away in silence, several of them had tears in their eyes.

A stroll around St Katherine Docks and Tower Bridge

Our house is in a bit of a mess at the moment and has been for the last three weeks. We are virtually confined to one room downstairs because we are having building work carried out. Our kitchen is being knocked through to the dining room to form one large kitchen-diner, which apparently, according to the home decor/interior design media, is all the vogue at the moment.

Both rooms have been emptied of furniture, ornaments, pictures and all other sorts of paraphernalia which are temporarily being stored in the study and spare bedrooms. Every surface has a thin layer of fine dust covering it, even though our builder is meticulously tidy; cleaning up each night before he leaves. Consequently I have been out and about with my camera rather a lot lately.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of visiting our son at his London office adjoining St Katherine Docks. I had to collect a computer hard drive from him that I had inadvertently left at his flat a week earlier. This visit gave me the opportunity to explore the Docks that I hadn't been to for over thirty years. In my youth, friends and I spent many a happy evening drinking in the Dickens Inn, a delightful pub situated in the heart of the dock, which was converted into a marina in the nineteen seventies. It would be great to see how the area has changed over the intervening years.

After collecting the hard drive I was treated to a coffee at 'Starbucks' next to Tower Bridge by the Young Master who insisted on taking a couple of 'Selfie' photo's (encouraged by me) on his phone of us both sitting in the warm sunshine with Tower Bridge in the background.

These pictures were immediately transferred through the ether to Mrs C who was diligently working away in her office in deepest darkest Kent. We got the result that we expected, a quick response expressing deep envy and accusations that I had deliberately forgotten the hard drive in order to visit the Young Master's totally cool and buzzing place of work. It saddened me to think that Mrs C could believe that I would be so duplicitous! (LOL).

The Young Master returned to work and I took a stroll around the dock and surrounding area taking numerous photographs as I went. The Dickens Inn is still standing and appears to be just as popular as it was in my dim distant past, however on this occasion I didn't go in for a beer. The marina is like a little piece of the West Country amongst the tower blocks and offices of the city.

There were some beautiful luxury yachts and traditional Thames barges moored alongside quays which housed designer craft shops and restaurants. Several market stalls had been set up, each selling hot food from all around the world which were proving to be very popular with both the tourists and office workers alike. Just like the Young Masters office there was a real vibrancy to the dock even better than when I hung around here in the early eighties. I think that I shall have to return here with Mrs C in the near future.

Winter Wonderland, Liberty & Christmas Lights

Yesterday Mrs C and I went up to London. This is something that we don,t do very often since moving to Deepest Darkest Sussex. However with Christmas on the horizon we decided to visit 'Winter Wonderland' in Hyde Park which opened last weekend. It would have been better to wait until closer to the Festive season in order to get that real Christmassy spirit but this is a very busy time of year for us. Wonderland had been hyped up in the media and proved to be as great as I hoped that it would be with a Giant Ferris Wheel, Fairground rides, a Christmas market, a Bavarian village and loads of places to eat and drink.

After a slow journey through the beautiful Sussex and Kent countryside, our train arrived at Victoria Station at about noon. We then took a slow stroll up Grosvenor Place past the rear of Buckingham Palace and Wellington Arch to Hyde Park corner, where we entered 'Winter Wonderland'. It was a crisp cold day so our first port of call was to one of the German bars for a glass of mulled wine to warm us up.

We enjoyed a lovely couple of hours strolling around the Bavarian village and the various market stalls soaking up the Christmas atmosphere. I drew the line at the rides though, some of them I was much to old for and the others looked too scary. At my age I am no longer an adrenaline junky. I limited my excitement to the food and drink. If anybody is looking for a good day out on the run up to Christmas I can thoroughly recommend a visit to 'Winter Wonderland'.

As the sun began to set we decided to visit Regent Street to see the Christmas lights which were as spectacular as ever. It has been a few years since I last saw them and they did not disappoint. Mrs C somehow persuaded me to visit Liberty store to see their decorations as well. We then walked down to Piccadilly Circus where the statue of Eros had been decorated as a giant snow globe. From here we continued into the bright lights of Leicester square and Charring Cross road, back to the station to get our train home to the sticks. It was a really fantastic day and a brilliant start to the Festive season.

This Policeman is in an amusement arcade somewhere near Piccadilly Circus and I'm sure that I used to work with this guy some time in my dim distant past.