Les Riceys

I said that I would get to Verdun and now is the time. The drive to Verdun was epic and everything a soft top roadster is designed for. Winding roads, great weather, hardly any traffic and great vistas. The only thing that spoils the experience is French drivers who have to drive right up to your bumper before overtaking, wherever you are, town, city, open road. Complete chimps, I think they see the GB sticker and see it as a bit of sport. Anyway, the Cathedral at Verdun is an amazing place, with beautiful stained glass, and steeped in history. When I was there it was empty and very cool away from the hot sun outside. My drive to the combined war memorial was equally grand and as you approach it you can see literally miles of old WW1 trenches just left as a monument I guess. The memorial is significant and is testament to the 120,000 plus souls who lay in the ground in front of it, and the other 125,000 buried elsewhere or never recovered. My drive back to my digs left me with mixed emotions of an epic day tinged with a sadness that only comes with seeing so much loss. I have come to understand better that the French people did their fair share of fighting and dying in protection of their own soil, no doubt led by a desire to save France. I am humbled as ever by that loyalty to their country. I doubt the UK could ever muster such patriotism today. You come to realise that the tyrants who have emerged since the great wars trade on that even today, the likes of Putin and Trump understand the apathy that exists in people and steamroller their own agenda through, safe in the knowledge that most people can’t be assed or are too scared to argue. I guess you learn to fight for and tend to your own business as best you can, and keep your head down about the rest. Such as it’s ever been I suspect. Anyway there you go another life lesson I can put to rest and be thankful as ever for what I have from the sacrifice of others. I have also learned that the beauty of these blogs is that you can get things off your chest and say whatever you like. I’ve been thinking about keeping a journal for a while, the form matters not really. My concern is what happens if find penguins gives up, I guess you save it all somewhere else. I can see why some people still prefer pen and paper!Read more