VE 75

[Tim Hall]

I went past a house yesterday displaying: The Union flag, the South African flag, the Irish flag (I think) and the student's favourite, a Che Guevera flag.

The Village Flag Man (big flag pole in the front garden, flags displayed for any occasion) had a Stars and Stripes hanging from a first floor window, something I can't remember on the fence and a Union flag upside down on his flag pole. He might have meant it, but otherwise I think his post as Village Ensign is up for review.

[Deano]

Apart from the usual bunting, I was pleased to see someone in Barnie with Aus and NZ flags, and I was wondering if there might be an India flag as well, but I was surprised to see a French flag. At that point, they ran out of space on their van.

[Ginger Cat]

The Tory government. It swaps a holiday celebrating Labour for a nostalgic distraction.

This.

I took the Monday off and worked Friday. I am fed up with WW2 "nostalgia" being rammed down my throat, Germany has been a responsible member of Europe for a long time now and I find it a bit nauseating this jingoistic celebration of defeating a nation that is not only an ally but in fact a place to look up to in many ways.

GC

[SteveC]

https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/EN/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2020/05/200508-75th-anniversary-World-War-II.html

[Hair_Today_Gone_Tomorrow]

The Tory government. It swaps a holiday celebrating Labour for a nostalgic distraction.

This.

I took the Monday off and worked Friday. I am fed up with WW2 "nostalgia" being rammed down my throat, Germany has been a responsible member of Europe for a long time now and I find it a bit nauseating this jingoistic celebration of defeating a nation that is not only an ally but in fact a place to look up to in many ways.

GC

Shame for you it's a celebration in Germany of Liberation Day.

They celebrate being freed from the tyranny of the Nazis

[quixoticgeek]

Shame for you it's a celebration in Germany of Liberation Day.

They celebrate being freed from the tyranny of the Nazis

Yet, the day after, there are protests by far right groups in Alexander Platz in Berlin.

J

[mllePB]

https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/EN/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2020/05/200508-75th-anniversary-World-War-II.html

Wonderful speech.

"Human dignity shall be inviolable." 

[hatler]

https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/EN/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2020/05/200508-75th-anniversary-World-War-II.html

That is really powerful. Thoughtful stuff.

[Cudzoziemiec]

(There was also a house with a creepy scarecrow of a nurse in the front garden.  The Uncanny Valley supports our NHS heroes, or something.)

Some village scarecrow competitions/festivals this year have had an NHS theme. My favourite that I've seen so far was a farmer in wellies, legs akimbo, upside down with his head stuck in a hedge and the label NHS on him (also upside down).

I hope sociologists, anthropologists etc are noting the role of the scarecrow as "village festival item". There might be comparisons to be made with the changing role of pumpkins and the decline of Guys.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

"Never again," we vowed after the war. But for us Germans in particular, this "never again" means "never again alone". This sentence is truer in Europe than anywhere else. We must keep Europe together. We must think, feel and act as Europeans. If we do not hold Europe together, also during and after this pandemic, then we will have shown ourselves not to be worthy of 8 May. If Europe fails, the "never again" also fails.

Hence the irony of post-Brexit British Street parties.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Some friends were expecting a baby. It was born on 8th May, so that's good. They'd been wanting a baby for years, a couple of attempts had resulted in miscarriage so VE Day could now stand for Victory over Empty womb day. 

[ian]

Posh, big-housed, old, white bits of Oxted. Flags aplenty. Everywhere else, less so.

[rogerzilla]

Posh, big-housed, old, white bits of Oxted. Flags aplenty. Everywhere else, less so.

Basically the inverse of St George's flags during a football tournament, then.

[ian]

Precisely.

And not one single English flag with ENGLAND printed across the middle.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

See a few Zwift riders with the England flag altho' most have the Union emblem.  I am a Canadian at the moment but may decide to emigrate to an African country soon, not Kenya, that's too obvious.  Or maybe Finland.  My Zwift name is a transnational one.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Some friends' baby was born in May. I just discovered it was actually the 8th of May. A boy. They didn't call him Victor or Winston.

In fact they called him, rather inappropriately,

(click to show/hide)

August.

[nicknack]

Some friends' baby was born in May. I just discovered it was actually the 8th of May. A boy. They didn't call him Victor or Winston.

In fact they called him, rather inappropriately,

(click to show/hide)

August.

Conception?
Date of, that is.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Some friends' baby was born in May. I just discovered it was actually the 8th of May. A boy. They didn't call him Victor or Winston.

In fact they called him, rather inappropriately,

(click to show/hide)

August.

August Thyssen was a German industrialist, a steel magnate.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Some friends' baby was born in May. I just discovered it was actually the 8th of May. A boy. They didn't call him Victor or Winston.

In fact they called him, rather inappropriately,

(click to show/hide)

August.

Conception?
Date of, that is.

Hadn't thought of that, but I guess the timing works!