Poppies

Nobody carries cash/loose change any more. Probably pointless sending people out to sell in those circumstances.

Could it be geographic ?

I noticed quite a few old style box of poppies and collection pots in shops and bars in Gloucestershire at the end of last month. There were a couple of on street collectors too. I put a couple of quid in but didn't take a poppy, a bit insensitive given where I live.

Hey bpg what's the poppy for ?

It's to remember the people who dropped the bombs you're still digging up.

Astonishing letter in the DT yesterday. A bloke wearing a poppy was walking through Bangkok airport and was accosted by a young white woman who asked him why he was wearing a symbol of a racist regime supporting the death of Palestinians.

Not quite sure what the RBL would make of that. Anyway I remembered last night I had an enamel poppy, so I made a donation online and am wearing the poppy now.

Poppies were on sale at the Tesco store with a card reader. I think there were a few options for how much you gave but the lowest one seemed to be £3.

Talking of the wars and remembrance, found my great grandfather's medal from WWI at my mother's recently. Something I did not know was the name, regiment and rank of a soldier is on the edge of a medal. So my great grandad's SJT (sargeant) and Welsh regiment and his first name and surname I share.... my mother used to say my name had nothing to do with relatives on my father's side but it seems too much of a coincidence. Now the middle name of my uncle and brother came from my grandfather and is far from common... but I'll not post that on here.

Having never been in the military, with none of my immediate family serving either (father too young, grandfather in an occupation that meant he did not need to serve) I have limited experience of what is 'fetishist' but I know that as a community we are glad that people served and gave up their lives so that others can live in freedom. Espadrille's great uncle died in WW2 and is buried in Coriano, near Rimini, after being killed in the Battle of Coriano Ridge. The Commonwealth War Grave commission site is beautifully maintained and we have visited it twice. Not too many Stars Of David on the stones but enough to show that we didn't just benefit but participated. My synagogue has an annual brief ceremony on the Saturday before Remembrance Sunday which includes all those members and sons of members who give their lives, including a pilot who gained the DFC.

In a country like Britain celebrating the military who serve under a democratic government should be a given and I do despair that youngsters do not understand what they do. And without Scotland where would most of our squaddies come from these days?

My father was in the RAF and was south of Rimini in Ancona. The planes were used across the Adriatic when the Germans were around Zadar. That was as much as he would tell me about his time there. He would rather talk about the times he was not patching up planes and roaming the Italian countryside. He loved the people and their way of life. My maternal grandfather was in north Africa during WW2, he didn't talk much about it.

My grandfather (mother's side) didn't serve in WWII because he was deemed an essential worker - he worked down the coal mines. My other grandfather did service and shot and killed just before the end of WWII by a sniper. He's buried in northern France.