13th November 2011

Memories, like the corners of my mind...
At the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th month of the 11th year, we stood on our French balcony staring up through the autumn canopy of our majestic trees. How our lives have changed!  Now we 'do as the Romans do', following the French way. National days here are always on the exact date, rather than the following Sunday or Monday as in the UK. Usually I can't remember them all, so am grateful to our local Intermarche supermarket, who always alert me by sticking a large poster on their door:  'We are open on the morning of......'  On Friday a number of French were wearing the Bluet de France cornflower, which acts as support for France's armed forces. Funds raised are used to provide social and recreational aid for the wounded.  I'm all in favour of teaching our children the meaning of the past.  To those who say 'what's the point? forget the past', I say it's only by understanding the past that we can know who we are, our failings, and aim for a better future. 
.....of the way we were.... postwar deprivations, hardships...but decades later, our generation's been lucky.  Property, employment came easily. But now the difficult bit...growing old. Him indoors: '...it's not younger I want to get, but older.....'