Hugh would be proud. Saturday pudding was another leftover affair. Chocolate and banana ice cream (made with bananas that were brown and spotty and quite horrid to eat as a banana - but mighty fine in ice cream), some leftover (home made, she adds virtuously!) chocolate sauce, palmier butterflies (puff pastry trimmings from another pud), and in season English strawberries. It was clean dishes all round chez Stash Basket!It seems almost flippant to talk about eldest son's trip now and I don't want to appear morbid, but I shall just tell you very briefly that he enjoyed the whole experience. I wonder if 'enjoyed' is the right word. He went to France to the Battlefields of the First World War and came back with a great many pictures - I shall just show you this one, my favourite of the whole lot.
I cried looking at the photos. Such a waste. So many young lives snuffed out. It affected him too. He had not wanted to go on this trip, but both Mr Stressy and I insisted that he should go.It shocked him to see graves of soldiers who died at the same age he is now - remember that naive certainty that you're immortal? He even found the name of a soldier whose body had never been found with the same name as him. He has grown up a lot in the last 2 days.
I really do strongly believe that this sort of trip should be compulsory. But I also fully recognise that it is not a cheap trip. I also fully recognise that no way could I ever go there - I would cry all the time and would be a complete and utter wreck.
Suffice to say, Lest We Forget.
10 comments:
One Daddy got the Dangerous Book of Heroes by Conn Iggulden and David Iggulden today. I cried reading the chapter on the Unknown Warrior.
A book highly recommended, such stories and such lives. Inspiring to read.
We shall remember them. Lest we forget.
Definitely food for thought Michaela. A very worthwhile trip.
Lucy x
I was going to make a flippy comment about the pud, but...
Semper Fi
(Semper Fidelis is Latin for "Always Faithful". Well known in the United States of America as the motto of the United States Marine Corps, this phrase, often shortened to Semper Fi (/ˌsɛmpər ˈfаɪ/) in Marine contexts)
Remember to Annapolis Grad pics? My nephew was commissioned into the Marine Corps. And America is again at war. This is one family that will not be forgetting.
My niece will go on a similar trip next year with her class. My dad's father died in Natzweiler in 1944. I haven't been brave enough to go myself...
So glad your son found the trip worthwhile.
My daughter went last year - she asked to go! She found it fascinating and very moving, it was all we heard about for weeks! She still has reminders around her room.
i agree that such a trip should be mandatory for otherwise all their sacrifices will be forgotten.
x
Three of my boys have done the battlefields trip with school and it has had similar sobering effects on all of them. It is good for our young people to realise what life was like.
I went to France on a school trip when I was 13, we went to see the trenches and a cemetary. I can remember it all and even then I thought what a waste of lives, when all you can see are grave stones. All children should go on these trips.
Andrea x
I totally agree - this trip should definately be compulsory. Life is treated with so little value these days thanks to TV and computer games - a bit of harsh reality could do wonders.
Great pud by the way - most impressed with the use of leftovers :-)
xxx
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