Gig Report

It was an unusual Remembrance Day.  The supposed future king was there, but hadn't waited for us.  Unusual in that there was no snow, sleet or wind, only sunshine and blue sky from horizon to horizon.  Unusual in that the Grannies laid a wreath, crowded with white poppies for peace, which Shannon spent many hours creating.  She also brought white shawls for us to don. 

We assembled a short distance from the north side of the monument, where there were several official wreaths, but also a bare space "right in the middle!" as Shannon pointed out.  We walked slowly to the monument and up the steps, humming The Strangest Dream, Jane and Ria holding our wreath, and they carefully placed it in the spot.  Cathleen then took her place facing us, and spoke about what our little ceremony meant:  how we respected and honoured our forces who sacrificed in war, but that war was not a solution to anything;  that we, as Grannies, are too tender to want our children to kill other people's children.  We then held a minute of silence, after which Cathleen asked if anyone else wished to speak, and a man took her place and spoke about the wealth spent on wars that could be used for more worthy needs, and he mentioned the thousands of civilian casualties so ignored by the media. 

There were still people around, observing us, and several took our picture.  Shannon took pictures, too, in which of course, she will not be featured, as usual.  I think we were all glad we did this.  Next time, probably in the cold and wet,  shouting against the wind.

We were:  Jane, Ria, Cathleen, Jeanette, Hazel, Jo, Shannon, Rosalie and Pat.

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