Asides from Glyndebourne #2

Asides from Glyndebourne #2

A second outing to Glyndebourne (see previous blog July 2015), this time by taxi from a Lewes B&B.

Alas, no warm sunny weather this time _ rather, intermittent fine drizzle floated in from the Downs. So, the lawns were largely empty, apart from some hardy hold-outs, among whom we were numbered. A picnic blanket with a reasonably waterproof backing and a golf umbrella balance on a low stone wall provided a dryish encampment, supplemented by cagoules. Good subject-matter for a Bateman cartoon.

Preservation of a massacre: Oradour-sur-Glane

Preservation of a Massacre: Oradour-sur-Glane, France

I spent much of my childhood visiting the sites of battle. This wasn’t because of any unhealthy obsession on my part (though obsessions can doubtless be inculcated) but because my father was a career army officer, and my mother’s father also. They had both served in the Second World War, which in the 50s and 60s was very close in recent history (although to the mind of a child growing up in peaceful England, or even in army quarters in relatively peaceful Germany, it was an incomprehensible distance away).