11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month ...
.. takes on a greater numerical significance this year with it being the 11th year too.
It's a comprehensively observed remembrance here in the UK, with most workplaces, public spaces, train stations and shops halting for two minutes silence.
How widely is this followed abroad?
It's the start of Carnaval here (kind of like what they do in Brazil, but without the Brazilians). It's Awful, but it will erupt somewhere in Feb when it really does become GawdAwful.
No remembrance here. I do see people on the Beeb with the poppies on, so that's how I always know it's remembrance in the UK.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Aye, we were neutral in the first world war, so no remembrance (4th of may for us). I'm belgium it's a national holiday I think.
A friend of mine asked why graham norton was wearing a poppy on a tv talk show earlier this week..
Veterans day here, the whole flower thing doesn't exist over here. Its more a day to hit the beach, clean the house, or go shopping.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Start of Carnival here.
"Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt
That's odd, 'cause where I'm from in Massachusetts, there's always veterans outside of shopping centers handing out poppies.Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way...
Poppies were first sold by Americans a year before Brits historically.
Interesting note on the day and time today.
We stop work for remembrance, most workplaces still do this but it is not compulsory. Aussies traditionally listen to the bugler play The Last Post, we then observe a minutes silence and the bugler plays Reveille to end the silence (thankfully most decent radio stations observe this tradition so we don't require an actual bugle player) - the sombre notes of The Last Post dissolve into the silence where we are left with our thoughts and then the uplifting sound of Reveille rightfully stirs us from our dark thoughts and tells us that we must make the most of the days we have... takes on a greater numerical significance this year with it being the 11th year too.
It's a comprehensively observed remembrance here in the UK, with most workplaces, public spaces, train stations and shops halting for two minutes silence.
How widely is this followed abroad?
For me personally the sound of the bugle playing on Remembrance day and ANZAC day are like the bookends that accentuate the small amount of our time that we stand to remember and honour those that have fallen, the sound of the bugle gives the silence a greater depth. On ANZAC day this is accompanied by a reading of The Ode (see below) usually by a war veteran at dawn on the 25th April.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Such is Life...
16 years old when I went to the war,
To fight for a land fit for heroes,
God on my side, and a gun in my hand,
Chasing my days down to zero,
And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died,
And I never did get any older,
But I knew at the time that a year in the line,
Is a long enough life for a soldier,
We all volunteered, and we wrote down our names,
And we added two years to our ages,
Eager for life and ahead of the game,
Ready for history's pages,
And we brawled and we fought and we whored 'til we stood,
Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,
A thirst for the Hun, we were food for the gun,
And that's what you are when you're soldiers,
I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees,
Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother,
And I fell by his side, and that's how we died,
Clinging like kids to each other,
And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood,
And I wept as his body grew colder,
And I called for my mother and she never came,
Though it wasn't my fault and I wasn't to blame,
The day not half over and ten thousand slain,
And now there's nobody remembers our names,
And that's how it is for a soldier.
In the future, the Berlin wall will be a mile high, and made of steel. You too will be made to crawl, to lick children's blood from jackboots. There will be no creativity, only productivity. Instead of love there will be fear and distrust, instead of surrender there will be submission. Contact will be replaced with isolation, and joy with shame. Hope will cease to exist as a concept. The Earth will be covered with steel and concrete. There will be an electronic policeman in every head. Your children will be born in chains, live only to serve, and die in anguish and ignorance.
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
Government holiday here, but most people down here don't know what the hell the poppies are about. Someone asked me why I was wearing a [plastic] flower (stupid fucking drug laws), and what it was, and I said it was a poppy, to express my support for heroin legalization. Pretty sure no one caught that I was being less than entirely serious. Oh, and no moments of silence here, well, except for the time between I said that and shrugged my shoulders and walked off.
Guess the Americans don't have that poem [Flanders' Fields] or cemeteries for WWI/II dead where poppies (used to) grow like weeds and all that, so they don't know how disrespectful and and hostile their stupid drug laws are to war heroes and the like.
Spoiler:
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson: American Founding Father, clairvoyant and seditious traitor.
Not to everyone. Veteran's Day is huge in Pa. Parades and commemorative ceremonies that go on for about a week. Flags flying everywhere, a very patriotic and often somber time. Especially in nursing homes and hospitals with veterans.
I quoted the same poem to my friend who asked about the poppies. I guess I have to thank my highschool teacher for that - we went into the first world war pretty deep, and had a field trip to flander;s fields, visiting cemeteries, museums, and old trenches (it;s only about an hour drive from where I grew up).Government holiday here, but most people down here don't know what the hell the poppies are about. Someone asked me why I was wearing a [plastic] flower (stupid fucking drug laws), and what it was, and I said it was a poppy, to express my support for heroin legalization. Pretty sure no one caught that I was being less than entirely serious. Oh, and no moments of silence here, well, except for the time between I said that and shrugged my shoulders and walked off.
Guess the Americans don't have that poem [Flanders' Fields] or cemeteries for WWI/II dead where poppies (used to) grow like weeds and all that, so they don't know how disrespectful and and hostile their stupid drug laws are to war heroes and the like.
Spoiler:
Still, that's not because of drug laws - different poppies, different climate. good luck getting high of flanders poppies - they grow abundantly here next to the roads.
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
Amusing clip you don't expect to see every day. 89 year old woman in the House of Lords did not like her age getting mentioned ...
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