Paying our respects.

I hadn't intended on blipping anything from our Remembrance Day service today but at the end, as we stood at our village War Memorial for the laying of the wreaths, I was struck at how well today brought together both old and young.

Afterwards, I told my children some of my late father-in-law's 'war stories'. He was just a little boy during World War II but I used to love hearing about what his life was like back then. Like how he and his friends used to empty out the gunpowder from unexploded shells in a big pile then light it! And later, when rationing was still in place, he used to secretly syphon diesel from his own grandfather's tractors so he could take my mother-in-law out on his motorbike when they were courting. Despite the many sadnesses and hardships of those times, his stories always made me smile.