Anzac Day

[rattfan]

I got to the Anzac Day service at 11 am this morning, which featured much threatening darkness of cloud and spatterings of rain.  It’s held outdoors at the local War Memorial gardens, mowed and done up for the occasion.  I think the weather is why the proceedings were unusually short, with less pontificating and no singing of Recessional or Abide With Me, [though the band did play Abide without singing happening] which was rather disappointing.  I like the music without being a believer at all.

The only song was the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, which a lot of the considerable crowd seemed not to know.   Only two of its verses ever get sung and only one on this occasion, so not that hard.   The rest of the song is a terrible cringe to Britain even though it was written by a Scot.  This was the first unrestricted “year back”  since the ceremony was cancelled in 2020 due to plague among us.

But it’s unheard of for things to wrap up that quickly, depositing me back home by noon.  The rain did get heavier about an hour later.   The MC’s notes got soaked, he said, which enabled him to get out of reading most of the wreath-layers names.  They introduced themselves to him as they came up.  Last was the Bassendean Funeral Home who, the MC commented, were hoping to drum up some business from the “old folks”  present!

I don’t believe there was a skerrick of tact there, no.  Military humour, the MC being a military veteran, but his fellow “old folks” did seem to find it funny, so that was ok.  This is their day.  Even though the ceremonial guard is teenaged military cadets, the atmosphere and the language is mostly that of decades ago.

The weather has continued quite cold and wet, with temperatures in the teens [Celsius].   My dressing gown is now officially in use.  I’ve spent the rest of the day pottering about and for some of it actually doing some writing.  I retrieved Birak, the book I’m writing on and off, mostly off lately, and was able to progress the ending some.   Don’t know what I’ll do with it if anything but it’s good to know that some of my creative brain cells are still with me.

I’ve got two more days free, the days I am usually not working unless the gulag is busy, and then back to the shackles on Friday.   I’d hoped the train service would be back by now as originally stated but seems work on the rail line is behind so we get the delights of the rail replacement buses for a few more days.